Hostility towards kosher meat is growing alarmingly throughout Europe. Britain’s popular Daily Mail newspaper carried this incendiary headline: “Meat from cattle slaughtered in ‘cruel’ kosher method is in your...burger”.
The paper warned, “Beef and lamb from animals killed in ‘cruel’ ritual ceremonies are being sold in mainstream butchers, restaurants and supermarkets across Britain”, as if kosher meat was somehow repugnant and the Jews who eat it menacing and dangerous.
Across Europe, such attitudes are increasingly common. The British Veterinary Association, the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals, the group Compassion in World Farming and other organizations have all cast kosher meat production as uniquely cruel, and made banning kosher slaughter (as well as Islamic slaughter, called dhabihah) top priorities: they’ve organized petitions, slandered kosher food in letters to newspapers and journals, and run inflammatory advertisements.
Spurious attacks on kosher and Islamically slaughtered meat are whipping up prejudice across Europe, explains Shimon Cohen, campaign director of Shechita UK, an organization in Britain that educates the public about kosher slaughter, in an exclusive Aish.com interview. The relentless drumbeat of negative press is turning people against kosher food: one 2013 poll found that fully 45% of Britons were in favor of banning kosher meat outright.
Ironically, given all the smears being made about the kosher method of killing animals for food, shechita is among the most humane. In shechita, only animals that are healthy and uninjured are used for food. A specially trained butcher called a shochet, who has trained extensively, makes a rapid incision with an instrument that is surgically sharp across an animal’s neck, severing all the major blood vessels and structures in one instantaneous moment. This causes the animal to become unconscious immediately and results in a quick, near-painless death. Only one animal at a time is killed, and no animals are ever allowed to witness the death of another living being.
Slaughtering animals is never a pleasant topic, but the kosher method ensures that the Jewish injunction tza’ar ba’alei chayim, the prohibition to cause pain to animals, is preserved.
In many western countries today, non-kosher slaughter is preceded by “stunning”, a brutal method that was originally developed to facilitate the killing of large numbers of animals at once, in factory-like conditions.
According to Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA), most stunning – particularly of cattle – involves “A gun fir(ing) a metal bolt into the brain of the animal”. For poultry, the RSPCA, explains, stunning is done differently: “Birds are hung upside down by their legs on metal shackles along a moving conveyor belt. They move along the production line to a stunning water bath; when the bird’s head makes contact with the water, an electrical circuit between the water bath and shackle is completed, which stuns the bird. The conveyor belt then moves the birds to a mechanical neck cutter, which cuts the major blood vessels in the neck.”
Incredibly, despite this gruesome nature of non-kosher slaughter, it is kosher slaughter that’s being cast as cruel.
In 2014 the head of Britain’s RSPCA called for the immediate ban of kosher (and Islamic) slaughter on animal rights grounds, calling the ban of kosher meat “one of the most important issues on our radar”, insisting the only humane way to kill animals is to first brutally “stun” them. (Some Muslim authorities allow animals to be stunned before being killed; as kosher laws mandate that animals cannot be injured before they are slaughtered for food, stunning is not allowed in kosher food.) Jewish authorities maintain that kosher shechita – in which a cut to the animal’s neck renders instantaneous unconsciousness – effectively stuns animals.
Nevertheless, the slanderous and dangerous claim that kosher slaughter is somehow barbaric has been widely adopted Europe; many are working to ban kosher shechita outright.
Switzerland was the first European nation to ban kosher slaughter, in 1894, in a campaign that was seen at the time as a clear message that the country’s Jews were not welcome. In 1929, Norway banned kosher slaughter amida highly-charged, anti-Semitic debate. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, one of their first acts was banning kosher slaughter.
Today, many European countries are attacking kosher slaughter once again.
“There is growing attention towards Muslim communities in Europe” explains Shimon Cohen from Shechita UK. “One way to curtail Muslim communities without sounding like a racist is to attack ritual slaughter.” Just as Switzerland sent a clear message that its Jewish minority was not welcome when they banned kosher slaughter over a century ago, activists and lawmakers across Europe today are sending a similar message of unwelcome to Muslims today by seeking to ban religious slaughter methods. Jews in Europe are “collateral damage,” Mr. Cohen explains.
In 2013, Poland introduced a ban on kosher and halal slaughter. After the Union of Jewish Religious Communities challenged the ban in court, it was struck down in 2015 on the grounds of ensuring religious freedom.
In 2014, Denmark’s government banned kosher and halal slaughter, as well as the production of kosher and halal meat, after years of campaigning from activists. Then Minister for Agriculture and Food Dan Jorgensen told Danish TV that “animal rights come before religion”. Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar at the time accused those who attack kosher slaughter of being anti-Semitic and “trying to fight Judaism” by demonizing kosher food and Jews.
Sweden has banned the kosher slaughter of cows ever since the Nazi era, in 1937, but the ban did not extend to chickens until 1988. That year, it was mandated that birds be electrically “stunned” before slaughter, rendering Jewish shechita illegal.
Two of Belgium’s regions have recently voted to ban both kosher and halal slaughter, starting in 2019. “This decision, in the heart of Western Europe and the center of the European Union, sends a terrible message to Jewish communities throughout our continent that Jews are unwanted,” explained Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress. “It attacks the very core of our culture and religious practice and our status as equal citizens….”
In Britain, the far-right UK Independence Party has called for a complete ban on kosher (and Islamic) slaughter of meat in Britain. The party isn’t generally seen as concerned with animal welfare – it wants to reintroduce fox hunting in Britain – but they’ve run a campaign painting Jews as cruel and willing to disregard the “ethical treatment of animals”.
In the Netherlands, the Animal Rights Party, which has five seats in parliament and has long called for bans on kosher slaughter, has vowed to introduce legislation banning kosher and Islamic slaughter again this year. The issue seems to be largely symbolic: only one shochet works in the entire country, but his slaughtering methods are being described as unethical and “cruel” in public debates.
As more politicians and activists claim that kosher slaughter is “barbaric”, millions of people across Europe are learning to equate Jewish religious practice with spurious charges of animal cruelty. “It’s not about animal welfare; it’s a population control issue,” says Shimon Cohen of Shechita UK, as he prepares to help challenge yet more proposed bans on shechita in Europe. Increasingly, calls to ban shechita seem to be a coded way of saying that Jews and other minorities are not welcome in Europe.
Here are three actions we can all take to help safeguard kosher slaughter in Europe and beyond.
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Speak up! When you see shechita slandered in news or other media, write to the editor pointing out why their words are damaging or wrong. When you hear people disparage kosher slaughter, take time to set the record straight.
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Let lawmakers know how you feel. Give your local representatives a call to let them know about your support for laws guaranteeing shechita. Phone calls or letters from constituents can have a big impact, showing lawmakers that many of their constituents want shechita to remain legal.
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Purchase kosher meat. As a sign of solidarity, make the decision to go kosher in your meat buying, ensuring a robust market for kosher meat and other products.
January 3, 2019 Update:
On January 1, 2019, a ban on kosher slaughter went into effect in parts of Belgium, primarily in northern Flemish-speaking areas, after local government bodies passed legislation mandating animals must be stunned before being killed. A similar law is due to take effect in the remainder of Belgium in September 2019. Belgium is home to a flourishing Jewish community, but local residents fear this could whip up anti-Jewish feeling and harm Jewish life in the area.
“To have the government interfere in this way is damaging to the reputation of the Jewish people as a community,” explains Rabbi Menachem Margolin, a Belgian Jew who heads the European Jewish Association. “It implies that we as a group are irresponsible with the welfare of animals and need government supervision which is, of course, a very negative view of us.”
Attempts to ban kosher slaughter in other countries continue to gain momentum. In the Netherlands, both Jewish and Muslim groups signed an agreement with the Government regulating religious slaughter. One provision is that Jews in the Netherlands only slaughter enough kosher animals for local consumption. (The entire country employs only one shochet, who works for one afternoon a week.) Still, the Dutch animal welfare party submitted draft legislation in March 2018 to ban all slaughter done without stunning.
Local Jews are fighting back. In Belgium, a group is challenging the current ban on shechita in court. But as kosher slaughter is demonized ever more, changing the public’s perception of kosher slaughter might prove difficult.
(17) Anonymous, December 20, 2020 8:33 PM
Soon Shechita will be banned in all Europe........
(16) Anonymous, January 7, 2019 5:57 AM
The next step
Watch. After shechita, brit milah will be next.
(15) Dvora, January 6, 2019 1:29 AM
Industrial slaughter vs Kosher
I have a terrible story to share about slaughter houses in the USA. One I can never forget. I went food shopping with my children and after we stopped at Burger King for lunch. On our way back to the car, I was putting the seat belts on each child when a commotion broke out behind me. I finished and turned to see what was happening. A slaughter House across the street was emptying out a large truck. One young pig broke free and ran across a busy highway straight to me. I would have saved his life but he would not fit in my car. The terror, his will and want to live has never left me and I know I will never get over it. Heart wrenching. Kosher slaughter is by far MOST humane. I have MOSTLY become vegan. Soon to be completely vegan. The slaughter conditions for these poor animals is the most cruel and barbaric. I cannot come to terms with it as I love all animals. No one should know such barbarism and even an animal wants to live out it's life and I believe they should. Many of these poor critters are abused all their lives. Seriously overfed for the slaughter. Many can not walk but are dragged by chains screaming! I have lost my appetite for meat.
(14) Anonymous, January 5, 2019 7:32 AM
Tragic
Is it time for all Jews to move to Israel where they can peacefully live like Hashem says. I'm so sorry.
Anonymous, December 20, 2020 8:32 PM
Jews of Europe Please go up to Israel so you can remain Jews
(13) Anonymous, January 4, 2019 7:24 AM
The Vegetarian Option
Does this mean that a substantial portion of Jews in Europe will progressively adopt vegetarianism, as is happening in Israel?
(12) Lynda H, January 4, 2019 1:52 AM
Convince me
My perception of kosher slaughter is that it is not humane, and that stunning, when done properly, is. I have an open mind but do not change my opinion because of what people want me to believe: I have to see it for myself. But animal slaughter is behind closed doors, so how can you change my perception?
Anonymous, January 4, 2019 3:29 PM
Animal cruelty
Why convince you? If you are really sincere at getting at the truth, why not speak to some people who have, or are currently employed in slaughter houses. Both Jewish kosher ones, and non Jewish ones? In our age of global communication, it should be fairly simly to get a true picture of the situation. For those who really want to know...
(11) Anthony Rice, January 3, 2019 9:35 PM
Shechita is a poor form of slaughter
That Muslims are prepared to allow the animal to be stunned before the slitting of it's throat and retain the acceptance of both the religiosi and Animal Welfare groups suggests stunning should acceptable. What the article does not say is the reason for not stunning which is that the act of stunning could entail a blot clot, and thus render the meat inedible by Jewish standards, ie the non-consumption of blood. So the animal has to suffer so as to satisfy the whim of the consumer. Shechita was an advance on the then current practice " Thou shalt not cut a limb from a living animal " from which one can draw one's conclusions. If it were not regarded as cruel, the various Animal Rights groups around the world would not try to ban shechita, nothing whatsoever to drive Jews away or out. For the author of the article to say that weakens his argument. So Jews hang onto the method as required by GOD, so were many other matters, but overlooked, such as stoning to death of gays, and the precise way of building the sacrificial altar and how the priest has to throw the blood around the base of the altar. C'mon, lets confine those practices to the times and place that they were intended for. Not scream anti-semitism, which is just not true.
Chamutal Sdayur, January 3, 2019 11:48 PM
animal cruelty
Um, no. Stunning is so much more painful and traumatic for an animal. Get your facts right.
Kosher Jewish slaughter has always been, and remains today the most humane and quick way to dispatch an animal.
The various animal rights groups are not particularly concerned over animal cruelty and its prevention, they are simply consumed over the Jews. As always, sadly. In Europe it seems that the only living creature that is deemed acceptable to kill without stunning, is a Jew...
(10) Esther Cook, January 3, 2019 5:53 PM
Work w Muslims and counterattack
AISH has already started one of our most important defenses by publishing 2 articles recently on Jews and Muslims helping each other.
We also need to counter attack "You don't have to be Jewish to want healthier meat." LOTS of goyim should be choosing kosher because the animal health requirements are higher.
(9) Deborah, January 3, 2019 2:35 PM
Attacks on Shechita Are Spurious
Animal slaughter is animal slaughter. The best way to do it is to ensure instantaneous death. Shechita not only endeavours to reduce suffering, but also drains the blood from the animal. This is a good method of reducing the chances of passing on infection. If you don't like kosher slaughter, then don't eat kosher meat.
(8) Ralph Loewenthal, January 3, 2019 11:39 AM
Kosher slaughtering has been proven to be the most humane.
Kosher slaughtering has been proven to be the most humane way to slaughter beef an lamb. A professor in the USA, using EEG sensors, proved that kosher slaughtering had the least effect on the animal. Far less than stunning them. I have personally seen sheep been stunned electrically by Muslim slaughterers, before cutting their throats, that was heart wrenching. The kosher slaughtering was quick and the animals did not suffer. I wish these "do gooder" politicians" would personally witness what happens in an abattoir. I have seen when an ox is been slaughtered for the general population, and was unruly they would use a stun gun between the eyes to try to quiten the animal down. I witnessed this several times that the gun would not stun the animal on the first shot but took up to five shots to work. Is this humane? The bans on Kosher and Hallal slaughtering are having the opposite effect to that intended. It is purely a racist movement.
(7) Lynda H, January 9, 2018 9:53 PM
It 'aint necessarily so
Death is not instantaneous: it takes an average of 30 seconds for a large steer to lose unconsciousness. Restraining the steer, especially the head to expose the neck, causes it stress. I always look to Temple Grandin for humane slaughter methods, and she supports Shechita but with cautions: https://forward.com/opinion/137318/maximizing-animal-welfare-in-kosher-slaughter/
Nancy, January 19, 2018 12:36 PM
To commenter #7 Lynda
RE: Temple Grandin. Thank you for bringing up her views on Shechita. Dr. Grandin has ALWAYS cared about animal welfare, and is a huge advocate of humane slaughter methods. Re: Becoming vegetarian and/or vegan. I have met a few frum Jewish vegetarians. While I admire what they have done, I don't think this action would solve the problem of anti Semitism. If Shechita were not an issue, the anti Semites would simply go after something and/or someone else.
(6) Isahiah62, January 8, 2018 4:21 PM
Kosher Ban = Juden Aus
The reasons given are similar to those who say they hate Zionists but not Jews. Add to these lies about kosher, the calls from same voices for banning circumcision, the message is loud and clear for observant Jews. GET OUT. The last Crusaders who went against Muslims also killed a LOT of Jews on the way to the Holy Land and warred upon Jews when they arrived as well. Then proceeded to steal the gold from the temple. I guess it was not enough for Christians to attempt to steal the covenant.
(5) Howard Evans, January 8, 2018 2:38 PM
they need to see the horror of their system
Their"inspectors" always announce their visits. They need to observe from a different location to see how cruel their system is. Having done work at an abbatoir(non kosher) I can vouch our systym is the best
(4) Anonymous, January 8, 2018 6:17 AM
A fourth way to safeguard the legality of shechita
Band together with Muslims fighting to preserve their own ritual slaughter requirements. Unity in strength and all that -- plus the added benefit of building badly needed bridges of understanding between our two sorely beset minority communities in the face of religious bias that threatens both.
(3) Mike, January 8, 2018 1:04 AM
This is not about animal welfare.
If Europeans truly cared about animals they would ban all meat consumption. However, they are only concerned with kosher meat. This is proof that this has nothing to do with animal welfare. It is about singling out Jews and others. These hypocritical Europeans eat plenty of meat. If they were more like the Jews it would be a huge improvement, for example:
1. Jews don't hunt animals. Shooting an animal with a gun or arrow is acceptable to gentile society, It is also cruel. The Jews are not killing off the rhinos and elephants in Africa. They are not clubbing seals in Canada. They are not hunting foxes in England. The Jews don't shoot deer, geese, ducks and other game animals either. That is not kosher.
2. Jews don't eat shell fish. Gentiles have no problem dropping live crabs and lobsters into boiling water. This is animal cruelty.
3. Jews only eat fish with scales and fins. Don't blame the Jews for the decline in whale populations.
4. The Torah forbids the Jewish people from eating the flesh of a living animal, but this very cruel practice is found all over the world, especially in Asia. Just look it up on Google and prepare to be disgusted.
5. The Jews also do not participate in dog fighting, cock fighting, bull fighting and other forms of animal exploitation. (Although they do enjoy an occasional horse or dog race). The truth is that the Jews have a much better record than the gentiles when it comes to treating animals with respect.
Tova Saul, January 9, 2018 5:28 PM
Nice thoughtful reply, Mike
Your comment shows that you consider animal abuse issues more than most people. (But Jews should never go to horse or dog races. They should know better----that these races entail unspeakable cruelty behind the scenes.)
Mike, January 12, 2018 12:38 AM
I don't disagree.
You are correct. Old race horses and dogs are often abused or simply put down. I have never been to one of these races, but in the interest of honesty, we must admit that people of all backgrounds including some Jews enjoy going to the races.
Sunny, April 4, 2019 1:14 PM
ye and chinese and nagas eat dogs and early european used to eat dog meat
(2) Tova Saul, January 7, 2018 6:02 PM
Maybe if Jews themselves knew......
I'm not sure that most Jews who keep kosher even care how the animals are slaughtered. I once asked a shochet if he didn't think it was horrendously cruel that commonly 2000 pound animals were hung upside down by 1 or 2 legs before being killed ("shackle and hoist") and this shochet was totally oblivious to the cruelty. I think that most Jews who keep kosher are more concerned about dithering about this or that type of rabbinical supervision than about actually minimizing animals' pain in meat production. Maybe if THAT concerned them the most, then non Jews would (one way or another) get a sensible idea about what shechita actually is, rather than some garbled concept.
(1) Caroline, January 7, 2018 3:41 PM
What you say is partly true, but there are many animal lovers, even Jewish ones like myself, who hate the very idea of ‘shechita’. If killing has to take place to feed the greedy human race, let it be as painless as possible. That should be the MOST important concern.
Thank goodness that in Israel there are many people who respect animals, and as the Israelis are certainly no slouches, they are well on their way to inventing real meat which is lab grown: look up “Supermeat”. China has already bought Israeli technology for $13,500,000. Not that they care about animal welfare, they-and all of us on the planet-will run out of food if we don’t do something soon! Not to speak of the green-house gas all those cattle emit!
Sorry for the digression, let’s just emulate many Israelis at the present time, and become vegetarians or even vegans. At least we will not be giving antisemites any legitimate excuses to criticize us.
Jay, January 8, 2018 9:47 PM
Shechita is the most humane form of slaughtering animals
As the article makes abundantly clear, shechita IS the most painless form of animal slaughter there is. The world just chooses to ignore it, and we seem to be doing a very poor job of conveying it. As for 'giving antisemites excuses to criticize us' - it doesn't matter what we do, they'll always find something. Just take a look at the last 1,900 years of Jewish history. Either we're greedy capitalists or we're socialists; we're money-grubbing or we're poor and parasitical; we're too insular or we're too assimilated. The list goes on and on.
Mike, January 11, 2018 11:13 AM
You are missing the point.
The people in Europe who are attempting to make kosher slaughter illegal are not interested in making all slaughter illegal. THEY ARE ONLY GOING AFTER SHECHITA. Becoming vegan does not address the issue of discrimination against Jews.
Nancy, January 19, 2018 12:52 PM
To commenter #1 Caroline
Sadly I think the anti Semites will ALWAYS find an excuse to criticize us. Re: Becoming vegetarian or vegan. I have known kosher vegetarians and I imagine it makes food preparation at home a lot easier and more organized. To people who would comment on this choice, I ask them to keep their remarks to themselves.
Dvirah, February 1, 2018 7:56 PM
Exactly the Point
This is exactly the point of the article. A method which prevents all feeling (pain) from reaching the brain within seconds of the cutting is surely the least painful and most humane method of slaughter. In all other methods, the animal has minutes or longer to feel pain; especially if the stunning is not completely effective.