{"id":548,"date":"2013-08-15T19:48:37","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T19:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/?p=548"},"modified":"2018-12-05T16:02:46","modified_gmt":"2018-12-05T16:02:46","slug":"a-cut-above-shechita-in-the-crosshairs-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/548\/a-cut-above-shechita-in-the-crosshairs-again\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cut Above: Shechita in the Crosshairs, Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Published Fall 2012<\/em><\/p>\n

The Community and Its Shechita<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most basic features of a functional Jewish community, no matter the size, has historically been the shochet<\/em>.\u00a0 Rabbis are a necessity, but were not always available; access to kosher meat is indispensable. \u00a0The original American Jewish community of twenty-three Dutch Jews from Brazil, who landed in New Amsterdam (later, New York) in 1654, was led by the celebrated Asser Levy, who was also the shochet<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 Well before the first ordained rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Rice, arrived in 1840, shochtim<\/em> served the needs of American Jews.
\nIn the more established kehilos<\/em> of Europe, the shochet<\/em> was also deemed critical.\u00a0 An intrepid shochet<\/em>, who risked his life in the early 1930s to provide kosher meat to Jews in Soviet Russia, remarked during an interview:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was formerly a shochet<\/em> in a neighboring town, where I was persecuted so relentlessly that I had to pull up my stakes and leave. \u00a0The rabbi and the other religious functionaries also had to give up. \u00a0But without a rabbi, a Jew can get along. \u00a0Without a teacher, perhaps also. But without a shochet<\/em>? Judaism, G-d forbid, would then disappear altogether!\u201d1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

This close knit relationship between the community and its source of meat existed up until the second half of the 20th century. \u00a0As late as the 1960s in the United States, it was not uncommon to see the poultry peddler going door-to-door selling live chickens. \u00a0The kosher housewife picked one out, and either she or one of the children would walk the bird to the neighborhood shochet<\/em>, who would return it wrapped in newspaper ready for cleaning, salting, and finally, cooking.\u00a0 If you were lucky, the shochet<\/em> owned a plucking machine and would de-feather the bird for you.2<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Over the past half century, economic forces have subsequently eroded these familiar communal structures.\u00a0 In a sharp departure from tradition, nowadays, the vast majority of beef and poultry are shechted<\/em> and processed in large facilities, usually far away from where consumers live.3<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Most often, procuring kosher meat has become no different than purchasing any other packaged goods in the supermarket.<\/p>\n

While easier on the wallet, this situation is not without its adverse effects.\u00a0 Rabbis who are not affiliated with a kosher certifying agency involved with shechita<\/em> lack firsthand information to guide their congregants in what is and is not acceptable.4<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Furthermore, the numerous steps and intricate skills required to produce a piece of kosher meat are sorely underappreciated by the general public.5<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Subterfuge!\u00a0 Attack On Shechita<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When threats arise against our right to perform shechita<\/em>, ignorance is no longer an option.\u00a0 One must be concerned and formulate a response.\u00a0 Our adversaries understand very well the link between the existence of the Jewish community and its shechita<\/em>.\u00a0 Therefore, as Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski wrote in a letter dated 1927,6<\/sup><\/a> an attack on shechita<\/em> is no more than a thinly veiled challenge against our right to exist.\u00a0 The real aim of those who purport to champion the cause of humane treatment to animals, he asserted, is either to starve the Jews and force them to leave the country, or to eat non-kosher and thereby assimilate.7<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s issues are merely a further progression of what began 150 years ago.\u00a0 Therefore, it is worthwhile to review some of the history regarding the freedom to shecht<\/em>.
\nAnti-shechita<\/em> propaganda first appeared in Switzerland, at a time when Jews were not yet granted citizenship.8<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 In 1860, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals persuaded the canton of Aargau, a notoriously anti-Semitic region bordering Germany, to require that all cattle be stunned before slaughter.\u00a0 This move effectively made shechita<\/em> impossible.9<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Empowered by victory, the Society\u2019s members eventually succeeded in bringing this motion to a plebiscite.10<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 In 1893, Parliament ratified a constitutional amendment expressly forbidding the bleeding of meat animals without preliminary stunning.11<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 This remains the law in Switzerland until today.12<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Based on the Swiss precedent, Germany and other European countries followed suit and opened their own discussions on the subject.\u00a0 In the 1890s, scientific studies were commissioned in Prussia and Russia to investigate the impact of various modes of slaughter.\u00a0 The conclusions were in favor of shechita<\/em>, with the Russian report published by Dr. Issac A. Dembo in 1894, going as far as to assert that shechita<\/em> was actually the most<\/em> humane<\/em> of all slaughtering methods.13<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Exposing The Roots<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is noteworthy that \u201cstunning\u201d in the 19th century did not refer to an electric shock, captive bolt, or nitrogen gassing, as these methods were not yet developed. \u00a0Rather, it referred to rendering the animal unconscious by a blow to the head with a poleaxe or heavy mallet. \u00a0Anti-Semitic motives notwithstanding, how were voting populations persuaded to accept the incredulous proposition that such stunning fits \u201chumane\u201d criteria, more so than shechita<\/em>?
\nFor millennia, the Torah<\/em> has mandated practicing sensitivity toward animals. Tzar ba\u2019lei chaim<\/em> is an injunction against causing undue duress or harm to an animal, whether physical or emotional.14<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0The rest of the world was largely unfamiliar with such a concept.\u00a0 Until the late 1800s, it was acceptable at the highest echelons of nobility to crudely exploit animals for their entertainment value, in activities such as cockfighting – or worse.15<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Western countries experienced an awakening in the late 19th century with the emergence of advocacy groups for animal protection, and governments began legislating animal welfare laws.16<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 One observes that these developments occurred concurrently with two other factors:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Darwin\u2019s On the Origin of Species<\/em> was published in 1859, introducing humanity to the Theory of Evolution.\u00a0 A worldview where human beings are considered no more than advanced primates became popular.<\/li>\n
  2. People began to feel a kinship to animals, and transposed human experiences onto wildlife.\u00a0 Emblematic of this attitude was the fictional Alice in Wonderland,<\/em> published by Lewis Carroll in 1865, which attributed humanistic qualities to forest creatures.\u00a0 Anthropomorphism in tales and fables previously existed, but in the mid-19th century they gained a widespread audience.\u00a0 Eventually, this genre exploded in the cartoon industry of the 20th century.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The convergence of the above factors makes it conceivable how an animal sympathizer, imagining his own fright when thinking about a shochet\u2019s<\/em> sharp knife pressed against his own throat, might presume that a cow is similarly traumatized. \u00a0After all, if humans and animals share a common swamp ancestor, don\u2019t they share similar perceptions?17<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0This wholly unscientific reasoning permits one to believe that an unforeseen bloodless bludgeon is (slightly?) preferable to exsanguination through a direct, frontal cut.\u00a0 To promote the anti-Semitic cause, such logic is sufficient.<\/p>\n

    Relentless Resumption<\/strong><\/p>\n

    After the dust settled from WWI, the subject of shechita <\/em>was reopened in Europe. Animal activists exposed their true diabolical motives when shechita<\/em> was disparaged in newspaper articles using rhetoric against Jews in general. \u00a0A bright spot appeared in England in 1925, when the official report from the Minister of Health came out in favor of shechita <\/em>finding \u201cno cause for complaint on humanitarian grounds against the Jewish method of slaughtering, if efficiently carried out, as was usually the case.\u201d The prestigious Veterinary Journal<\/em> wrote that shechitah<\/em> was \u201cpractically and physiologically the best method\u201d.\u00a0 Legislation to permanently protect shechita<\/em> in England was passed in 1933.18<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    When the Nazi party gained power in Bavaria in 1930, not surprisingly, shechita<\/em> was immediately banned. In 1933, barely three months after Hitler, yimach shemo<\/em>,became chancellor of Germany, shechita<\/em> was outlawed in the entire Reich.19<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 Enforcement officials confiscated knives from shochtim<\/em>.20<\/sup><\/a> Part of the distorted propaganda against Jews was to disparage them as cruel and barbaric, with shechita<\/em> being a prime example.\u00a0 The irony is not lost that the most sadistic clan known to mankind made such a claim.21<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0As other European countries came under German influence during the war, Shechita<\/em> was immediately discontinued.23<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    The main rabbinical spokesman for German Jews at that time was Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, head of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary<\/a> in Berlin.\u00a0 He worked tirelessly and wrote voluminously,23<\/sup><\/a> in a valiant attempt to alleviate the suffering caused to German Jews because of this ban.\u00a0 He was alarmed at the prospect of so many thousands of Jews relenting and eating non-kosher meat.\u00a0 He searched for creative solutions that could possibly satisfy the legal constraints, and yet be acceptable to halacha<\/em>. \u00a0In the end, however, he bowed to the ruling of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky and other leading European gedolim<\/em>, that the integrity of shechita<\/em> should not be compromised one bit.24<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0After Kristelnacht in November 1938, he ceased his efforts when it became obvious that Germany was determined to eradicate the Jews and would never accommodate any form of shechita<\/em>, even if it technically conformed to the law of the land.<\/p>\n

    Uncompromising, With Sensitivity<\/strong><\/p>\n

    It is important to emphasize that throughout these ordeals, while the rabbinic leadership maintained a fierce, uncompromising defense of the act of shechita<\/em> itself, they were at the same time consistently willing to accommodate improvements in ancillary areas, such as transportation and the handling of animals prior to shechita<\/em>.\u00a0 This was not driven by political considerations.\u00a0 Rabbis were genuinely interested in maintaining the Torah<\/em>\u2019s mandate to treat animals respectfully, even as they are being prepared for human consumption.<\/p>\n

    Throughout the 1890s, Rabbi Michael Cahn of Fulda,25<\/sup><\/a> working together with Rabbi Hirsch Hildesheimer,26<\/sup><\/a> met and corresponded extensively with respected physiologists and veterinarians to combat the opponents of shechita<\/em>.\u00a0 Their efforts were largely successful.\u00a0 However, when an objection was raised regarding the way animals were bound and cast to the ground for shechting<\/em>, Rabbi Cahn worked with experts to develop mechanical methods to lay the animals down more gently.27<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    Indeed, the method of animal restraint during shechita<\/em> has been an ongoing point of contention.\u00a0 Traditionally, animals were shechted<\/em> while lying on the ground in a supine position (shechita munachas<\/em>).\u00a0 In the early 20th century, it was deemed unhygienic for the animal to come into contact with residual blood leftover from previous slaughters.28<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 For many decades, the alternative in both kosher and non-kosher slaughterhouses was \u2018shackle and hoist\u2019 (shechita teluyah<\/em>),29<\/sup><\/a><\/em> where the animal is shackled with a chain around one of its back legs and, using pulleys, is suspended in the air.\u00a0 A helper uses nose tongs to pull back the head so the shochet <\/em>can cut the throat.\u00a0 By the 1950s, activists called for the cessation of this practice, based on the assumption that the hoisted animals feel stressed.30<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    In 1955, Senator Hubert Humphrey introduced a bill requiring slaughterhouses to stun animals, accomplished with a captive bolt pistol, prior to slaughter.\u00a0 He also aimed to reform other cruel practices, such as instances in which animals were skinned or had their hooves cut off while still alive.\u00a0 Kosher slaughterhouses never had these types of problems, as only healthy animals are fit for shechita<\/em>.31<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    While developing the new standards, the Department of Agriculture contracted Rabbi Yoseph Dov Soloveitchik as its expert halachic<\/em> consultant. \u00a0He became deeply involved in the matter and made numerous trips to Washington in the years 1958-1962, where he testified before congressional committees in defense of shechita<\/em>. \u00a0When pressured by kosher slaughterhouses, which were to incur considerable expenses eliminating the \u2018shackle and hoist\u2019 mechanisms, Rabbi Soloveitchik replied, \u201cI am willing to fight to defend shechita<\/em>, but not shackle and hoist!\u201d<\/p>\n

    Similarly, the position of STAR-K is to preserve shechita<\/em> as an institution regulated exclusively by the highest halachic <\/em>standards without any outside interference, but at the same time accommodate reasonable improvements in animal handling.<\/p>\n

    A Standing Matter<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In Fall 2010, the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), the 15-member advisory committee to the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), received a proposal from its Livestock Committee requiring beef or poultry labeled as \u2018organic\u2019 to be rendered unconscious through stunning prior to slaughter. Fortunately, one year later, at the NOSB\u2019s Fall 2011 meeting, there were knowledgeable board members who rejected this motion, acknowledging the exquisite humaneness of shechita<\/em>.32<\/sup><\/a> A related proposal, that all organic meat animals must be slaughtered while restrained in a comfortable upright position was accepted.<\/p>\n

    This issue of upright shechita<\/em> (shechita omedes<\/em>) has made some recent headlines. Currently, it is the preferred choice by animal welfare advocates. Halachically<\/em>, some argue that it is problematic since the weight of the animal\u2019s head (a cow\u2019s head can weigh 30 lbs.) places pressure on the knife and will cause \u2018drasa\u2019<\/em>, which invalidates the shechita<\/em>.33<\/sup><\/a> In modern kosher slaughterhouses, this concern is negated since the animal\u2019s head is comfortably supported by a specially designed apparatus. Therefore, STAR-K and other national hashgachos<\/em> concur that this is an optimal form of shechita<\/em>.34<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    Another device used in some slaughterhouses is an inversion pen, where the animal enters and is gradually rotated until it is lying upside down.\u00a0 It allows the shochet<\/em> to cut with the more traditional downward motion.\u00a0 This machine was originally invented in 1927, called the \u201cWeinberg Casting Pen\u201d, with improvements made over the years. High costs and reduced efficiency preclude smaller operations from using it.<\/p>\n

    The Situation Today<\/strong><\/p>\n

    We, in the United States, are privileged to live in a country that protects religious practices. More than just protecting the right to perform shechita<\/em>, the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958<\/em>35<\/sup><\/a> states explicitly that shechita<\/em> qualifies as a humane method of slaughter.<\/p>\n

    Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, and a number of South American countries, also sanction shechita<\/em>, but in most countries it is only as an exemption to the law, without conceding it humane status. Debates in England challenging this allowance have raged since the 1980s.<\/p>\n

    Switzerland, as previously mentioned, does not allow beef shechita<\/em> without prior stunning.\u00a0 Many attempts have been launched to relax the law, but to no avail.\u00a0 Movements to ban even importation of non-stunned meat also arise, but this right was reaffirmed by the Animal Protection Regulation of 2008<\/em>.\u00a0 Similar bans are in place in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Lithuania, and recently New Zealand. Some surpass the Swiss precedent and outlaw even poultry shechita<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    In June 2011, \u201cThe Party for the Animals\u201d, a small political party in the Netherlands, made enough noise to induce the Dutch House of Representatives to vote to ban religious slaughter without stunning. \u00a0A year later, in June 2012, the bill was struck down in the Senate, saying it went against the law on religious freedom.<\/p>\n

    The biggest issue today facing countries that exempt religious slaughter from stunning laws is the push for labeling.\u00a0 Realizing that they don\u2019t have enough support to get rid of shechita<\/em> outright, activists in England and France would like every piece of meat slaughtered without pre-stunning to be labeled as such.\u00a0 This has the potential to significantly damage the supply of kosher meat, because shechita<\/em> is economically viable only if the hindquarters, or any animal declared a treifa<\/em> after slaughter, can be sold as non-kosher. \u00a0Given the inflammatory climate in parts of Europe, such labeling will likely curtail these necessary sales.<\/p>\n

    Australia, Denmark, Austria, and Finland require stunning, but not in a way that has an adverse effect on the shechita<\/em>.\u00a0 Instead of stunning cattle36<\/sup><\/a> before shechita<\/em>, they require administering a captive bolt immediately after<\/em> the shechita<\/em>. \u00a0This procedure dramatically cuts off the blood flow by ceasing nervous system activity and achieves a more aesthetically pleasing result. Although the shechita <\/em>itself is kosher, since the animal\u2019s blood does not drain properly, it causes a problem with regard to kashering<\/em>37<\/sup><\/a>the meat.\u00a0 Rema<\/em> (Y.D<\/em>. 67:3) allows such meat to be kashered<\/em> only after it is cut into small pieces, a considerable hindrance for meat processors and butcher shops.38<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

    Scientific Support<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Dr. I.M. Levinger39<\/sup><\/a> describes how the three basic precepts of surgery \u2013 cito, tuto et jucundo<\/em> \u2013 quickly, with certainty, and a minimum of suffering \u2013 apply to the shechita<\/em> procedure and all its details.\u00a0 The shochet<\/em> must cut with a swift uninterrupted motion (she\u2019hiya<\/em>).\u00a0 He must use an exquisitely sharpened knife, honed to perfect smoothness on par with surgical instruments, that cuts effortlessly (drasa<\/em>); not concealed by any foreign object (chalada<\/em>), allowing him to move with certainty.\u00a0 Both simanim<\/em> (trachea and esophagus), and ideally the carotid arteries and jugular veins, are severed, but not torn, thus inducing rapid blood drainage,40<\/sup><\/a> and immediate and irreversible loss of consciousness without any suffering.<\/p>\n

    There is extensive literature from the scientific community about the impact of shechita<\/em> on an animal.\u00a0 Methods to measure pain and stress in an animal were contrived, and results were compared to other forms of slaughter.\u00a0 A brief summary can be found in Dr. S.D. Rosen\u2019s article, Physiological Insights into Shechita<\/em>,41<\/sup><\/a> published in the prestigious Veterinary Record, <\/em>June 12, 2004. He reaches the conclusion:<\/p>\n

    \u201cCharacterisation of shechita<\/em> as \u2018cutting an animal\u2019s throat\u2019 with descriptions of blood spurting from the neck or of the late muscular spasms, are unattractive, to say the least.\u00a0 However, to the uninitiated, coronary artery bypass surgery is also visually unappealing! . . . after a review of the physiological issues involved and the experimental data, it is submitted that Shechita<\/em> is a painless and effective method by which to stun and dispatch an animal in one rapid act.\u201d<\/p>\n

    This outcome is confirmed by Dr. Temple Grandin, world renowned scientific expert on humane animal handling and slaughter practices, whose insights are not influenced by religion or politics. \u00a0She once commented about shechita<\/em> that is properly performed:<\/p>\n

    \u201cI was relieved and surprised to discover that the animals don\u2019t even feel the super-sharp blade as it touches their skin. \u00a0They made no attempt to pull away.\u201d \u00a0(Regenstein42<\/sup><\/a> and Grandin 1992)<\/p>\n

    Of course, shechita<\/em> opponents produce their own research to advance their agendas.\u00a0 Researchers in New Zealand published a 2009 report concluding that according to their EEG (brain wave) method to measure pain in animals, pain is indeed felt during a shechita <\/em>cut.\u00a0 Dr. Grandin was quick with her rejoinder dismissing their claim,43<\/sup><\/a> pointing out the study was fundamentally flawed in three ways:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. During actual shechita<\/em>,the cut is held open and does not allow nerve endings to touch.\u00a0 The research paper did not note if this was done during the study.<\/li>\n
    2. The knife used in the study was only 9.65 inches long.\u00a0 This is much shorter than a shochet<\/em>\u2019s chalaf<\/em>,whose length is double the width of the animal\u2019s neck, thus ensuring a swift and smooth cut.<\/li>\n
    3. A shechita <\/em>knife is sharpened by hand on a whetstone, and achieves a smoothness and sharpness unattainable by the mechanical sharpening devices used in the study.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Attacks On Shechita<\/em> As A Promoter Of Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Recent threats to shechita <\/em>are aimed not only against Jews, but against Muslims as well. \u00a0There are significant practical and theological differences between shechita<\/em> and halal<\/em>, but they both disqualify slaughter on animals that have been previously stunned.\u00a0 A refreshing benefit has been the amicable cooperation between religious leaders as they work together in their common defense.<\/p>\n

      Torah<\/em> Wisdom<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Scientific findings in support of shechita <\/em>have value when engaging in dialogue with lawmakers and rational advocates for animal protection.\u00a0 Nevertheless, for Jews who turn to the Torah<\/em> for direction in all matters, they are only nominally relevant.\u00a0 Proper treatment of animals is a concept originally introduced to humanity by the Torah<\/em>.\u00a0 The same Creator who created the animal kingdom and enjoined us to treat animals compassionately, is also the One who commanded us how to shecht<\/em> them.44<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

      The Ramban<\/em> writes in his commentary to B\u2019reishis <\/em>(1:29) that although man was granted permission to harness animals for food after the mabul<\/em>\/deluge, he must show respect for a creature\u2019s life-soul.\u00a0 Therefore, eiver min hachai<\/em>, meat removed before the animal has expired, is universally prohibited.\u00a0 The Jewish people exemplify a higher moral standard and, therefore, they must completely drain the blood before consumption since that is where the life-soul of an animal resides. \u00a0Shechita<\/em>, says the Ramban<\/em>, is the best way to fulfill this requirement and is Divinely designed to spare the animal from any pain or suffering.\u00a0 This sentiment is echoed by Sefer HaChinuch<\/em> (451).45<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

      Toras Hashem Temima<\/em>.\u00a0 Many of the Torah<\/em>\u2019s precepts, codified centuries ago, reflect a physical reality, some of which have only very recently been discovered by the scientific community.46<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Popular beliefs and even scientific opinions change from one era to the next.\u00a0 We will continue to adhere to the Torah<\/em>\u2019s eternal laws and values, patiently waiting for the day when its veracity is unanimously recognized by all mankind.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      \n

      1<\/a> J. Berman, Shechita<\/em>,Bloch Publishing Company, New York 1941, p.256; quoting, David L. Meckler, \u201cMentsch un Maschin in Soviet-Land<\/em>\u201d, Warsaw 1936, p.322<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      2<\/a> The easiest way to remove feathers is by scalding. However, this will cause the blood of the unsalted bird to be absorbed in the meat and render it non-kosher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      3<\/a> It\u2019s considerably cheaper to send a refrigerated railcar or truck packed with slaughtered meat from the Midwest, where most cattle is raised, to the East Coast, than to send live herds for slaughtering closer to the point of consump<\/a>tion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      4<\/a> Indeed, Shulchan Aruch <\/em>(Y.D. <\/em>18:17) records that in post-Talmudic<\/em> times special supervisors are commonly appointed to check shochtim<\/em>, instead of every rabbi being personally involved. \u00a0Nevertheless, rabbis were always kept busy examining abnormalities in chickens, such as broken bones or pockets of coagulated blood, to determine if they were treif<\/em>. \u00a0Today, a good hechsher <\/em>vouches for its kosher status. The story is told about a woman who brought a chicken to her rabbi every Friday morning, despite purchasing it in a supermarket with a fine hechsher<\/em>.\u00a0 The rabbi gently suggested that this was an unnecessary use of her (and his) time, but she insisted saying, \u201cMy mother always showed her chickens to the rabbi before Shabbos<\/em>, and I want to keep up the tradition!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      5<\/a> For a basic primer, see Kashrus Kurrents<\/em>, Kosher Chickens: From Coop to Soup<\/a>, and It’s a Siman that its Kosher.<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      6<\/a> Achiezer<\/em> IV:12<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      7<\/a> Rabbi Mordechai Breuer, Modernity Within Tradition<\/em>, p. 342, cites \u201cstriking proofs that the proceedings of the associations for the prevention of cruelty to animals were inseparable from the general anti-Semitic movement. The timing of the agitation spoke for this above all but so did the significant fact that these associations had never objected to the administration of the imperial armed forces, who had the animals for its army canned goods slaughtered in the Jewish fashion and not in the more usual way.\u201d He then quotes the aged Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, who put \u201cthis threat to Judaism on a scale with the worst religious persecutions of antiquity and the middle ages.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      8<\/a> Granted in 1874.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      9<\/a> \u2018Stunning\u2019 refers to a variety of methods to make an animal insensible.\u00a0 This is accomplished either with a mechanical blow to the front of the skull (with a mallet, or with a captive bolt, penetrating or non-penetrating) or electrocution (electrodes are attached to the animal\u2019s head and heart). \u00a0For poultry, immersion in electrified water or gassing is used. Any of these options will almost certainly injure the animal sufficiently to render it a treifa<\/em>, and in many instances cause death and render it a neveila<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      10<\/a> Berman p. 237, \u201cThe pre-referendum discussion was marked by misinformation and bigotry. . . Responsible elements in the country urged the rejection of the anti-shechita<\/em> proposal. . . the National Council sitting at Berne voted 61 to 49 to recommend to the people not to vote for the anti-shechita<\/em> measure. With the referendum impending, August 10th was declared a fast day by [the national Rabbis]. . . The \u2018American Hebrew\u2019 of December 1, 1893 said, \u2018It is stated that this majority was obtained chiefly in the German cantons and among the Lutheran populations, where the anti-Jewish feeling runs the highest\u2019 . . . the Anglo-Jewish Association observed, \u2018To the credit of the Roman Catholics it should be stated that their votes were solidly cast against the new clause, their priests having made it known that the movement was a religious attack on the Jews.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      11<\/a> See http:\/\/www.swissjews.ch\/en\/religioeses\/koscherfleisch\/schaechtverbot.php.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      12<\/a> The Swiss ban is not total; poultry shechita<\/em> and importing shechted<\/em> beef are permitted.\u00a0 Interestingly, during WWI (1914-1918), when Switzerland was surrounded by warring nations, the Bundesrat temporarily set aside the anti-shechita<\/em> article in the Constitution. (Berman p. 251)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      13<\/a> Berman p. 239. These reports led to the abolition of anti-shechita<\/em> orders in Saxony (1910) and Finland (1911).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      14<\/a> Physical: \u00a0The Torah <\/em>demands one who sees an overburdened animal to help lighten its load. \u00a0(Ki Seitzay<\/em> 22:4)\u00a0 Emotional: \u00a0Ba\u2019al Haturim<\/em> (ibid. <\/em>22:10) explains the Torah<\/em>\u2019s prohibition against harnessing an ox and a donkey to the same plow, because an ox chews its cud (ruminates) while a donkey does not.\u00a0 While engaged in hard labor, the donkey will experience anguish when it senses that the ox is satiated while it remains hungry.\u00a0 Also, the Torah <\/em>(ibid.<\/em> 25:4) prohibits placing a muzzle on an ox while attached to a threshing wheel, preventing the animal from nibbling grain while it works.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      15<\/a> Noda BiYehuda <\/em>(1713-1793) famously ruled that hunting for entertainment, still a favorite pastime in modern cultures, contravenes halacha <\/em>and Jewish values. \u00a0(Y.D. <\/em>II:10, cited in Pischei Teshuva <\/em>28:10)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      16<\/a> The ASPCA was founded in the United States in 1866. The Cruelty to Animals Act, limiting animal experimentation, passed in England in 1876.\u00a0 From a Torah<\/em> stance, protecting animals is a just and noble cause.\u00a0 This discussion is unrelated to the later movements for animal rights<\/em> or liberation<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      17<\/a> Studies show that the opposite is true; animals often do not share these human perceptions. Dr. I.M. Levinger, renowned animal physiologist from Basel, conducted an experiment in 1961 where a blood-stained slaughtering knife was shown to a number of animals. \u00a0Most of them paid no attention at all, while one animal drew close and licked off the blood.\u00a0 Only a human associates such a sight with danger and exhibits fear. \u00a0(I.M. Levinger, Shechita in the Light of the Year 2000<\/em>, p. 109) Also, Dr. S.D. Rosen (Physiological Insights into Shechita<\/em>, published in the Veterinary Record, <\/em>June 12, 2004, p. 762) discusses the limitations of measuring pain felt by animals since they lack articulate expression of feelings. One can only infer the presence of pain by observation of behavioral responses or through clear neurophysiological data, if available. See Wikipedia, \u201cPain in Animals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      18<\/a> Berman p.240<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      19<\/a> Unlike Switzerland, the Nazis also forbade poultry shechita<\/em> and importing kosher meat was restricted.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      20<\/a> Rabbi Dr. H.J. Zimmels, The Echo of the Nazi Holocaust in Rabbinic Literature<\/em>, Ktav<\/em> 1977, p.182<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      21<\/a> When defiling the \u2018New Beis HaMedrash\u2019<\/em> of Slobodka in 1941, the Germans rounded up all the stray animals in town, placed them in the shul<\/em> and shot them. \u00a0They then allowed the carcasses to rot and covered them with torn Sifrei Torah<\/em>s. \u00a0Such was their concern for animal welfare. (Zimmels, p. 320; Mi-Maamakim <\/em>by Rabbi E. Oshry, I:1.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      22<\/a> Norway (1930), Sweden (1937), Hungary (1938), Italy (1938 ), and then every subsequent country that came under German dominance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      23<\/a> Collected in Sridei Aish<\/em>, comprising hundreds of pages.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      24<\/a> A public letter (giluy da\u2019as<\/em>) dated Iyar <\/em>5697 (Spring 1937) stating the serious Torah<\/em> violation of stunningbefore shechita<\/em>,is printed in Achiezer <\/em>IV:14. It is signed by all European Torah<\/em> luminaries of the time, including: \u00a0Rav<\/em> Chaim Ozer, Rav<\/em> Chanoch H. Aieges (Marcheshes<\/em>), Rav<\/em> Shimon Shkop, Rav<\/em> Baruch Ber Leibowitz (Kaminetz<\/em>), Rav<\/em> Elchanan Wasserman (Baranovitch<\/em>), Rav<\/em> Avraham T.H. Kamai (Mir<\/em>), the Brisker Rav<\/em>, Rav<\/em> Menachem Zemba (Warsaw), <\/em>among many great leaders.\u00a0 The letter emphasizes the centrality of shechita<\/em> and kosher food in preserving the sanctity of the Jewish people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      25<\/a> Rabbi Cahn (1849-1919), an early graduate of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary, was rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva<\/em> in Fulda.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      26<\/a> Son of Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer, founder of the Seminary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      27<\/a> Breuer, pp. 342-343<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      28<\/a> U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 stipulates that, for sanitary reasons, an animal cannot be slaughtered on the ground where it will come in contact with the blood of another animal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      29<\/a>Rav <\/em>Eliezer Silver (HaMaor<\/em>, Teves <\/em>5719 \u2013 1959)objected to shechita teluya <\/em>on grounds that the animal\u2019s head invariably moves, and because the Ridbaz<\/em> also expressed displeasure. \u00a0Experienced shochtim<\/em> testify, however, that when held properly this method produces a superior shechita<\/em>. \u00a0Today, this issue is relevant to a difference between the way fowl is slaughtered in Eretz Yisroel<\/em> and in other countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      30<\/a> A different objection to this method is the grave danger it poses to workers in the event of pulley failure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      31<\/a> Another unrelated advantage of shechita <\/em>is that it greatly reduces the risk of infection from the incurable mad-cow disease, which is a virus in nervous tissue that can be transmitted from the brain to the rest of the body when the cow is \u2018stunned\u2019 by a blow to its head. \u00a0(Dr. Alex Leventhal, Israeli Ministry of Health)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      32<\/a> Instrumental to achieving this recognition were the efforts of Mr. Richard D. Siegel, Esq., as well as Dr. Wendy Fulwider, an animal scientist, who had become chairwoman of the NOSB committee on livestock in 2011.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      33<\/a> A kosher shechita<\/em> requires that the cut must be made solely by the sharpness of the blade, without any additional pressure, from either the shochet <\/em>or any external source.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      34<\/a> Some contend, based on Shach<\/em> (Y.D.<\/em> 6:8), that upright shechita<\/em> is only kosher bdi\u2019eved<\/em>. \u00a0However, there is no source in the Talmud<\/em> to support this claim and the Rambam<\/em> (Hilchos<\/em> Shechita<\/em> 4:7) explicitly permits it.\u00a0 See Mesora<\/em> Issue 23, where Rav<\/em> Belsky demonstrates how this assertion is a misreading of the Shach<\/em>. Teshuvos V\u2019Hanhagos <\/em>IV:178 encourages a community not to change its custom, but he also concedes that shechita omedes<\/em> is kosher, and the Satmar Rebbi<\/em> zt\u201dl<\/em> did not challenge it. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      35<\/a> 7 U.S.C.A. \u00a7 1902. Humane methods. <\/em>The law was updated with the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act<\/em> of 1978<\/em>. Jewish leaders who played an active role in this legislation were Rav <\/em>Eliezer Silver, Rabbi Herman Neuberger, and Mr. Issac Lewin, father of prominent attorney Mr. Nathan Lewin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      36<\/a> Due to physiological differences between cattle and sheep \u2013 sheep blood drains much quicker – the requirement applies to cattle only.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      57<\/a> Kashering <\/em>is the process of removing forbidden blood through soaking and salting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      38<\/a> Achiezer<\/em> IV:19-20 allowed stunning animals after shechita<\/em> in pre-WWI Stockholm, and again in Hungary in 1939, if kosher meat would otherwise be unavailable.\u00a0 Today, most kosher certifications consider such meat as kosher only b\u2019dieved<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      39<\/a> Shechita in Light of the Year 2000<\/em>, p. 16.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      40<\/a> Studies note that this has positive effects on both the hygiene and freshness of kosher meat.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      41<\/a> Available on shechitauk.org. See also, Zivotofsky, A.Z., & Strous, R.D., A perspective on the electrical stunning of animals: Are there lessons to be learned from human electro-convulsive therapy (ECT)? <\/em>in Meat Science<\/em> (2011)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      42<\/a> Professor Joe Regenstein from Cornell, is a scholar who dedicates himself to protecting the liberty to perform religious slaughter worldwide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      43<\/a> Meat & Poultry – The Journal of Meat & Poultry Processors<\/em>, April 2010<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      44<\/a> Torah<\/em> and the laws of nature are a seamless continuation of one another. See Rabbeinu Bachya, V\u2019eschanan<\/em> (5:21).\u00a0 Hashem\u2019s<\/em> mercy extends over all His creations, V\u2019rachamov al kol ma\u2019asav<\/em>\u201d (Psalms 145:9). \u00a0Therefore, it is inconceivable that He would command us to slaughter in a way that is not compassionate.\u00a0 Sometimes, concerns for tzaar ba\u2019alei chaim<\/em> conflict with the complete performance of a mitzva<\/em>, and each case must be judged separately to determine which takes precedence. (O.C.<\/em> 305:18-20 presents an example where Shabbos <\/em>laws are determined by animal comfort.) \u00a0There are situations where a minimal degree of discomfort is allowed if deemed absolutely necessary to ensure a proper shechita<\/em> (See Pri Megadim, Sifsei<\/em> Da\u2019as<\/em> 24:8, Mishbitzos Zahav<\/em> 53:9, Shulchan Aruch Harav<\/em> 24:14). \u00a0However, these unique applications have no bearing on the essential nature of shechita<\/em> as a gentle procedure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      \n

      45<\/a> Indeed, Pri Megadim<\/em> (intro. to Hil. Shechita<\/em>) objects to attributing human logic as a basis to explain reasons for Divinely ordained laws.\u00a0 However, the Rishonim <\/em>were not necessarily giving a reason for why <\/em>the Torah <\/em>mandates shechita<\/em>.\u00a0 Rather, they are pointing out that the laws of shechita <\/em>precisely reflect an ontological truth of the natural world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

      46<\/a> One example is the halacha<\/em> (Chullin<\/em> 54a, Y.D.<\/em> 54:1) that an animal whose kidneys are missing is not rendered a treifa<\/em>, and is healthy enough for shechita<\/em>.\u00a0 Prima facie<\/em>, this is unfathomable; in the absence of artificial dialysis, how can an animal live without functioning kidneys? \u00a0Rabbi Dr. I.M. Levinger (cited in Rabbi Y.D. Lach\u2019s Chullin Illuminated<\/em>, p. 182) brings a Dutch 1971 study, where cows had their kidneys surgically removed and surprisingly survived! \u00a0Apparently, ruminating (i.e. kosher) animals possess an automatic mechanism which causes the rumen to compensate for a loss of kidney function by filtering toxins. \u00a0Halacha<\/em> codified this secret of nature thousands of years before it was discovered by science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Published Fall 2012<\/p>\n

      The Community and Its Shechita<\/strong><\/p>\n

      One of the most basic features of a functional Jewish community, no matter the size, has historically been the shochet.\u00a0 Rabbis are a necessity, but were not always available; access to kosher meat is indispensable. \u00a0The original American Jewish community of twenty-three Dutch Jews from Brazil, who landed in New Amsterdam (later, New York) in 1654, was led by the celebrated Asser Levy, who was also the shochet.\u00a0\u00a0 Well before the first ordained rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Rice, arrived in 1840, shochtim served the needs of American Jews.
      \nIn the more established kehilos of Europe, the shochet was also deemed critical.\u00a0 An intrepid shochet, who risked his life in the early 1930s to provide kosher meat to Jews in Soviet Russia, remarked during an interview:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,50,27,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kashurs-kurrents-2012","category-fall-kashrus-kurrents-2012","category-kashrus-kurrents","category-meat"],"yoast_head":"\nA Cut Above: Shechita in the Crosshairs, Again | STAR-K Kosher Certification<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the most basic features of a functional Jewish community, no matter the size, has historically been the\u00a0shochet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/548\/a-cut-above-shechita-in-the-crosshairs-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Cut Above: Shechita in the Crosshairs, Again | STAR-K Kosher Certification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most basic features of a functional Jewish community, no matter the size, has historically been the\u00a0shochet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.star-k.org\/articles\/kashrus-kurrents\/548\/a-cut-above-shechita-in-the-crosshairs-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"STAR-K Kosher Certification\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-15T19:48:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-12-05T16:02:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Moshe T. Schuchman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Moshe T. Schuchman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"27 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/548\\\/a-cut-above-shechita-in-the-crosshairs-again\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.star-k.org\\\/articles\\\/kashrus-kurrents\\\/548\\\/a-cut-above-shechita-in-the-crosshairs-again\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rabbi Moshe T. 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