WONKO THE SANE WAS RIGHT…
[Update at 0842 on 18 March: What’s in store in Cleveland?]
It has taken me more than 12 hours to calm down from an experience last evening that has left me nearly ready to follow the example of Wonko The Sane and just walk away, accept that the World has gone crazy and start building my own asylum.
Last night, I took part in a conversation with a half-dozen or so fellow Jews that were all a twitter about our local Costco stocking kosher meats. As near as I can figure, Costco has been stocking kosher meat for about a year now, but not here in Cleveland.
One of the reasons I converted to Judaism a quarter century ago was that I was drawn to its emphasis on social justice and advocacy as exemplified by great rabbis like Abraham Joshua Heschel and Arthur Lelyveld, among many, many others.
Judaism has a strong central theme of caring for the orphans and widows and strangers at our gates.
Judaism also has a strong commitment for caring for its own, or so I thought. I’m aware of three kosher butchers here in Cleveland. They’re all small, family run business that would easily fit in any urban neighborhood of 50 years ago. Because of their size and hyper-specialized clientele they charge significantly more for their wares than similar, but non-kosher, meat products in any of the area supermarkets.
If a family wants to buy kosher meat, however, that’s where you shop, and by doing so you support the infrastructure that supports you.
All of that means nothing based on my tiny, non-representative sample from last night. All of those gathered were enthusiastic that they could save 50 percent on their kosher meat purchases by shopping at Costco. When I attempted to argue that Costco owed nothing to the Jewish community and was only interested in gaining market share, I was rewarded with looks of are you crazy? I can save 50 percent!
When those three butchers lose enough of their already tiny market — there are only 80,000 Jews in Cleveland and I imagine that perhaps 10 to 20 percent of those buy only Kosher meats — and go out of business and Costco decides that it can make more money by selling something else where it is stocking the kosher meats, Cleveland’s Jews will have only their selves to blame.
Price trumps tradition. Price trumps ethics. Price trumps everything.
It’s a shonda.
What did you think of the Colorado Kosher Meat you purchased?
Shalom Julie,
First, thank you for stopping in, for reading and, most importantly, for taking the time to enter the discussion. We build our community with our conversations.
I didn’t, so I can’t comment there, but I have no doubt that the products from your company are of first quality. That’s not the issue. That you sell your meats to Costco isn’t even the issue. Colorado Kosher Meat is a company doing its best to turn an acceptable profit and I’m OK with that.
Colorado Kosher Meat is not the problem. Jews who value price over community are the problem.
So let me ask you this: when you sell chicken, how much of a discount for quantity do you offer Costco over the price you might charge a small butcher shop (if you supply small butcher shops)?
If, say, I were to order 100 pounds (or whatever you might consider to be a minimum order) of chicken from Colorado Kosher Meat, at wholesale, how much more per pound, as a percentage of the wholesale cost, would I spend compared to a business that placed an order for 10,000 pounds? If my numbers are inappropriate, please feel free to substitute your own to illustrate the difference between a small and a larger order.
B’shalom,
Jeff
[...] is one of my posts from The Writing On The Wal. I don’t usually cross-post full text this way, but I feel passionately about this issue and [...]
[...] WONKO THE SANE WAS RIGHT… It has taken me more than 12 hours to calm down from an experience last evening that has left me nearly ready to follow the example of Wonko The Sane and just walk away, accept that the World has gone crazy and start building my own asylum. Keep reading… [...]
I’m sorry Jeff. Not sure how to approach this with your community, just remember it’s all your community and they need to be reminded of that too.
Shalom, Antichue,
You know I’m all about community. Our local Jewish Weekly is expected to run a story on my post this Friday. If it does, I’ll post a link here so we can all watch the reactions.
Thanks for noticing.
B’shalom,
Jeff