Thursday, August 26, 2004

Kosher demonstration?

Rabbi Jeremy Rosen's weekly email Dvar Torah begins this week with the following anecdote:
Last week in Belgium the papers were full of the story of three young Chassidim from America who were arrested for using fake credit cards to pay for luxury car rentals and five-star hotel rooms. When the news of the arrests leaked out, a group of Chassidim demonstrated outside the local police station against ‘police brutality.’ Apparently the police were refusing them kosher food because, according to the young men’s credit card records, they had been feasting at several well know non-kosher establishments in town and didn’t seem that much committed to kosher food.
Jeremy's point is that Hassidim are essentially like all other Jews -- some good, some bad, 'with their fair share of saints and sinners,' and you can't tell anything about anyone's standards of observance by their dress or their affiliation.
But what do you think? Did the police act correctly or not?

UPDATE: In the meanwhile, A federal magistrate rules three Oklahoma inmates have a right to eat kosher food paid for by the state Department of Corrections.

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