"It gives taste to the text we study," Gartenberg said, "and I think that is valuable because taste forms memories."
For many Jews, the question was once whether to follow the Torah's dietary laws. The book of Leviticus, for example, requires that meat come from animals that chew their cud and have split hooves in order to be considered kosher. But for "eco-kosher" Jews, those laws have come to represent only part of the equation -- particularly as they relate to the consumption of meat.
Kosher meat has long enjoyed a reputation -- among Jews and non-Jews alike -- for high quality and an expectation that it is produced in an ethical manner. But that status was badly shaken last year by allegations that the country's largest kosher slaughterhouse, in Iowa, abused workers, animals and the environment.
In horrified reaction, a group of Conservative rabbis designed an additional food certification known as Magen Tzedek, or shield of righteousness, that sets standards for protecting workers and the environment. The Conservative leaders expect to announce by the Jewish new year in September a first round of companies adding the voluntary seal to their products.
Morris Allen, a Minnesota rabbi who came up with the idea, describes the seal as a complement to kosher certifications -- but one that should carry equal force.
Allen said he hopes the undertaking will allow Jews to "return to that notion that keeping kosher is responding to a higher authority. It will be a recognition that what we eat is central to who we are."
His effort has earned mixed reviews from Orthodox leaders. Some dismiss it as unnecessary, saying rabbis should leave oversight of worker safety and the environment to the government.
Other Orthodox leaders, however, have taken up a similar cause, including a group of rabbis in Los Angeles. They are pursuing a voluntary certification that is focused on the wages and job conditions of workers employed by local businesses, schools and synagogues, starting with those along Pico Boulevard, which cuts through the heart of an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. Orthodox rabbis and activists in New York, meanwhile, are preparing to launch a seal for restaurants.
The Iowa raid also helped inspire another response. Some businesses have started selling another variety of kosher meat -- this one from grass-fed cows that are raised humanely in open pastures rather than in stalls or pens.
