Rabbins: Do not Cross Stop & Shop Picket Lines for Kosher Items Pessa – h | The Berkshire eagle

By the Berkshire Eagle and the Associated Press

BOSTON – While thousands of Stop & Shop workers are on strike in New England, Jewish families are preparing for Passover without the largest supermarket chain in the region, deeply rooted in the local Jewish community.

In the Berkshires, as well as in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, rabbis advised their congregations not to cross pickets to buy necessities for Jewish holidays in the store, which says a analyst, achieves the highest sales of kosher products among grocery stores in New England. Passover begins at sunset on Friday.

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat of the Beth Israel Congregation in North Adams is convinced that food items purchased through a picket line are not kosher under Jewish law. Passover celebrates the Jewish liberation from slavery or "close compression", she said.

"As we prepare to celebrate our liberation from this place of restraint, it would not be kosher, it would not be right, neither appropriate nor just to do it in a way that exploits others," he said. she said. "It is very timely to think about labor rights and fair work practices as we prepare to celebrate our freedom."

On April 11, more than 30,000 workers at Stop & Shop quit their jobs due to an unfair contract offer, which the company would dispute. There are three local Stop & Shop stores; two in Pittsfield and one in North Adams.

Rabbi David Weiner of the Knesset Israel Congregation said that people had asked him to cross the picket line.

"It just seems unacceptable for holidays on liberation, slavery to freedom, etc.," said Weiner. "People have spoken to me and asked what to do, they do not want to cross a picket line for Passover food, and I think it's a good instinct."

This decision is not without cost, he said.

During Passover, extra precautions are taken to ensure not only that food is kosher, but that they never come in contact with sourdough products, he said. Stop & Shop, especially Dan Fox Drive in Pittsfield, typically offers a significant kosher selection, including dairy products such as cottage cheese and yogurt, he said.

This year, some Berkshire Jewish families will dispense with some of these products because the selections from other markets "are not wide enough" for those observing the Passover, he said.

"I do not shop at Stop & Shop until the workers' demands are properly resolved," he said, adding that he had already made trips to Albany, New York. and Hartford, Connecticut.

Barenblat said he heard that Market 32 ​​in Pittsfield offered a good selection of kosher food, as did the Wild Oats Market in Williamstown.

Further east, Rabbi Barbara Penzner of the Hillel Temple B & n Torah, Boston, also believes that it is "not kosher" to buy "products from oppressed work ", while the Jews mark the flight of their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.

"The food you buy is the product of an oppressed job, and it's not kosher," Penzner said. "Especially during Passover, when we celebrate the liberation of slavery, it is particularly egregious."

Rabbi Jon-Jay Tilsen of the Beth El-Keser Israel Congregation, a conservative synagogue in New Haven, Connecticut, cited an ancient Jewish law prohibiting artisans from making the living of their fellow artisans.

Tilsen stated that this ban was related to the use of replacement workers by companies during the strikes, which were used by Stop & Shop.

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"I am not judging the current strike," he said. "I declare that we, local Jews, must respect the action of the workers."

But at Shalom Temple, a Reformed Synagogue located in Newton, a suburb of Boston, Rabbis Allison Berry and Laura Abrasley said it was ultimately a personal decision, although they suggest that this decision should be framed by the long tradition of support for work organized by the American Jewish community.

"Jewish law is interpreted in different ways," they said by e-mail. "We encourage our members to celebrate the next holiday in a way that respects both the Jewish value of freedom and the dignity of the workers."

Penzner and other rabbis recognize that their call to avoid ubiquitous groceries can be a challenge for some, especially in the more remote communities where Stop & Shop is the most affordable – and sometimes the only – kosher kilometers.

Rachel Bashevkin, a resident of New Haven, said she had stocked basic necessities before the strike. And for anything else, she will not turn to Stop & Shop, which, she says, offers more difficult-to-find items that make the Pesach Seder a unique piece, like specialty pastries, desserts, sweets and teas.

"The Passover message is, for me, totally [that] you are not celebrating your holidays to the detriment of others, "she told the New Haven Register this week.

The dilemma is not peculiar to Jews either.

Rev. Laura Goodwin of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Sutton said that she had ordered the church's Easter flower arrangements from the Stop & Shop located nearby a few weeks ago. But when it became apparent that the strike would not end before the holidays, she rushed to buy enough tulips, hyacinths and daffodils in other stores.

"Personally, I was not comfortable crossing the picket line," Goodwin said. "The flowers are beautiful, but they are not as important as people's livelihood."

Religious demonstrations could have a significant impact on the Quincy-based chain's net bottom line, said Burt Flickinger, a grocery industry analyst for Strategic Research Group, a New-based retail consulting firm. York.

Stop & Shop, which operates approximately 400 stores in New England, New York and New Jersey, belongs to the Dutch supermarket operator Ahold Delhaize but was founded in the early 1900s by a Jewish family from Boston whose descendants remain the leading philanthropists and leaders of civic life in New England. .

Flickinger estimates that the company has lost about $ 2 million a day since the start of the strike, a financial burden that will only worsen in the coming days. Passover and the Christian Easter holiday typically account for about 3% of the annual business turnover of the company.

"They will see significant inventory losses, especially on profitable products such as fruits and vegetables, flowers, meat and seafood that will remain unsold," he said. estimating that losses for the company could reach $ 20 million for the period.

Flickinger said the competitors were already reaping unexpected profits, as crowded parking lots and long queues at many Stop & Shop competitors, including Big Y and Price Chopper in the Berkshires, attest. He estimates that competitors could see their sales increase by 20% over the holiday season, with the market leader largely being left out.

Stop & Shop declined to comment on Flickinger's forecast, but apologized to customers for the inconvenience. The company maintained most of its 240 stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, but bakery, deli and seafood counters were closed. The company's sites in New York and New Jersey are not affected by the strikes.

"We are grateful to the members of the Jewish community who rely on our stores for their kosher and Passover products," the company said in a statement. "We are doing everything we can to minimize disruption before the holidays."

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, Eagle Editor, and Associated Press contributed to this report.