The Orthodox Union: Reaffirming the Standards
This was a great week for the Orthodox Union (OU). Despite enormous pressures that were brought to bear on the organization and its officers, they took the time, deliberated, and came up with a wise and compassionate decision, and re-affirmed my confidence in them. I write this week to celebrate this great moment – but first, a bit of background. From my earliest youth, the OU has been a major part of my life. Long before most had heard of virtually any other Kashrus organization, we were trained, “if you want to know that a product was kosher, look for the OU symbol”. I assumed that the OU was a Kashrus organization, and that was the extent of it. I didn’t know how wrong I was. As a young adult, I encountered the OU in a whole new light when I became an NCSY advisor on an Israel program. The care and concern for all of Klal Yisrael, the innovative, spirited, the deeply spiritual way in which they demonstrated the importance of outreach an...