Late last month the radical animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released an appalling video, shot surreptitiously inside a Kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. The footage showed some cattle ­ it is impossible to tell from the tape what proportion ­- released from their slaughtering pens, spurting blood, reeling and flailing, trying to get to their feet, in evident agony for up to a minute (or more?) after their throats were cut and wind pipes ripped out. The company running the plant, Agriprocessors, produces Rubashkin's products, found in Fairway and other grocers.

After reviewing of the video and the reports in the case, and pending fuller accounting from Agriprocessors, I myself will not buy Rubashkin's, and urge you to consider doing the same. This case is instructive to those who would like to learn more about Kashrut and about American Judaism, and warrants some reflection.

First, to be clear: I am not declaring Rubashkin's meat to be nevelah [the classical Hebrew word for non-Kosher meat, used in the sources the way people use the word treif today]. For one thing, as a Conservative rabbi, frankly, I know borscht about slaughtering, or Shehita. While laws of Kashrut are the backbone of Orthodox rabbinical training, we liberal rabbis get only a smattering of this material. I've done my best to become conversant with Kashrut as it applies to us and our kitchens, and can answer most questions that come my way. But me ruling on Shehita would be like a neurologist performing a knee replacement.

Shehita experts assert that some of those cows in the video would be rendered nevelah, as some percentage of animals inevitably are in Shehita, but that the vast majority of the 2,500 cattle slaughtered every week in Postville meet Kashrut standards. Moreover, they say without apology that, as a whole, the plant's procedures are scrupulously Kosher. Then again, plenty of things are legally permissible and still wrong. As Nachmanides famously said: "It is possible to be a scoundrel with the Torah's permission."

Another consideration: Jews should hesitate before pronouncing other people's food unKosher on non-technical grounds. Orthodox authorities have a track record of denying Kashrut certification to restaurants that have immodestly dressed staff, or who celebrate non-Jewish holidays like New Year's Eve, or are affiliated, God forbid, with Conservative Judaism. It is simply false to say that food is not Kosher because one does not approve of the way its preparers observe other mitzvot.

So I would concede that Rubashkin's/ Agriprocessors products are scrupulously Kosher. But it seems to me that one should not eat this Kosher food under the separate prohibition of messayin l'ovrei avera, or "aiding and abetting those who sin." The prohibition of Tza'ar Baalei Hayim, or cruelty to animals, is regarded as a biblical mandate [Shabbat 128b]. Though there is always room for technical counter-arguments in Halakha, it is difficult not to see Agriprocessors as causing needless suffering to the animals they kill. Buying their meat encourages them to continue in their business-as-usual. I myself do not wish to do this. You may wish to join me.

What precisely are they doing wrong? Two things, one of which has been changed since the video emerged, one of which has not. The plant has abandoned the practice of ripping the esophagus from the animals immediately after the slaughtering. Initially they claimed this act sped the animal's bleeding. The video demonstrates that it does not, and causes great pain while the animal is still sensate. But the plant will continue to slaughter the animals while they are held upside down in a rotating metal pen that looks something like cow-sized carnival thrill ride.

The plant's spokesmen insist that this is the most Halakhically scrupulous method, though they agree it is not strictly required. Interestingly, Dr. Temple Grandin, a non-Jewish food science professor in Colorado and a universally praised expert on Shehita­-and I do mean universally praised, with glowing articles about her in the ultra-Orthodox press-asserts that Agriprocessors is a rare exception in the Kashrut world. She reasserted on her web site that Kosher slaughter remains the most humane form of turning animals into meat ­ if it is performed when the animal stands upright with its head held gently. Under her influence, the Conservative Committee on Jewish Law & Standards voted unanimously in 2000 to prohibit meat slaughtered when the animals are held upside down, as is the case in Postville. Those who say the Conservatives are never strict on Halakha, take note! Even without the video, we have grounds to avoid Rubashkin's beef.

The ultimate problem underlying the Postville practices is industrial strength greed. After an animal's throat is cut, it takes between five and 20 seconds for its blood pressure to drop and for it to lose consciousness. Holding the animal in the pen long enough to be certain it is insensate slows the line down and mean fewer cows killed at the end of the day. The Postville video demonstrates that animals were released from the pen far too quickly, before anyone could ascertain one way or another if they were insensate. Agriprocessors' main responsibility is to slow down and care for the creatures.

Maybe you long ago drew the conclusion that the only way to care for animals is not to eat them at all. Fair enough. Perhaps you're right. But even if you choose to continue eating meat, this meat is not a good choice.

A few observations on Postville and American Judaism.

1. I am proud to avoid buying this meat. But it breaks my heart that Conservative Jews are mere flyspecks in this debate. We represent no critical mass among of the Kosher-buying public. Only an Orthodox boycott would make an economic difference to the producers. We should do what we can, but it is not much.

2. As always, when faced with constructive but serious criticism, the Orthodox rabbinical establishment circles the wagons. The Kashrut supervisors vigorously defended the plant and charged the critics with attacking Judaism per se. Admittedly, PETA has a radical vegan agenda, opposing slaughter in all forms. But can't we learn from the mirror they held up to us? Kudos and my continuing admiration to Chief Rabbi of Haifa, R. Shear Yashuv Cohen -­son of the "Jerusalem Nazirite," R. David Cohen, R. Kook's chief disciple ­ for telling it like it is.

3. This case is a fabulous reminder that as wonderful as Halakha is, not everything permitted is right; not everything forbidden is wrong. Sometimes ­ rarely, I hope but sometimes ­ obsessive attention to rules can impede attention to principles. One day, speedily in our days, Judaism may revisit questions of stunning before slaughter to make the process as humane as it can be, enabling us to fulfill the mitzvot of Kashrut and of Tza'ar baalei Hayim simultaneously.