Conference taveng::bagels

273.0. "Kosher Laws Revisited (with permission)" by NYMGR::MCCREADY (bob comarow) Tue Feb 17 1987 20:35

    The following note is copied with permission of the author
    from the continuing discussion of Vegetarianism and Animal Rights.
    This is not an invitation to flame, but to discuss the data he is
    presenting.        
    
    
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Note 485.337            Vegetarianism and Animal Rights               337 of 357
DECWET::MITCHELL                                    120 lines  15-FEB-1987 00:30
                   -< Stockyard to Slaughterhouse Part VII >-
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                               Kosher Killing

As you can see from previous replies, kosher or ritual slaughter practiced by
Orthodox Jews and Muslims is probably the most controversial topic in the
humane slaughter issue.  Kosher slaughter as practiced by most packinghouses
in the United States is a brutal method that requires a fully conscious
animal be shackled and hoisted before having its throat cut.  This is allowable
because of a special provision in the Humane Slaughter Act which exempts:

    "...the ritual requirements of the Jewish faith or any other religious
    faith that prescribes a method of slaughter whereby the animal suffers
    loss of consciousness by anemia of the brain caused by the simultaneous
    and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp
    instrument." 

Kosher slaughter or *shehitah* was designed to be a compassionate form of death
(if one accepts that slaughter can be called compassionate in the first place).
Many early rabbis believed that killing animals was inherently cruel but
necessary to meet human needs.  To its credit, traditional Judaism strictly
forbids practices like hunting for sport and abusing animals for fun.  The
strict rules and techniques of shehitah were developed to produce a quick death
by exsanguination.  Animals must be killed by a single, uninterrupted knife
slash across the throat, cutting the carotid arteries with one stroke.  A
specially trained slaughterer or *shohet* uses a 14 inch blade that must be
perfectly sharp and free of any nicks or imperfections that might cause the
blade to catch or drag.  (This concern contrasts sharply with a medieval method
for killing I once read in a recipe from Christian France.  For the best
flavor, it required that the animal be whipped to death). 

The idea behind shehitah is to have the blood dump out in such volume that
the brain is almost instantly drained, resulting in unconsciousness.  But
some animals do kick for a time after the initial bleeding.  These thrashings
may not be totally reflexive, as enough blood can remain in the brain to
maintain life (if not sensibility) for perhaps 15 seconds.  Veterinarians
disagree on whether or not the animal feels pain during this time.  The
animals certainly can't comment.

Although shehitah was originally designed to provide a merciful death, a
strange combination of federal and religious laws have turned that goal
into a mockery.  Hebrew law requires only that an animal be conscious before
having its throat cut--not that it be hoisted.  But the Meat Inspection
Act of 1906 demands that a slaughtered animal not fall into its own blood.
Therefore, to satisfy both laws, Kosher houses must shackle and hoist conscious
animals.  Jerking a thousand pound steer up by one hind leg and letting
it hang for agonizing minutes until the shohet makes his "merciful" cut
hardly is in keeping with the spirit of the Humane Slaughter Act or Judaism's
ancient principle of *Tsa'ar Ba'ale Chaim* (Do Not Inflict Pain on Animals).

A few Kosher houses have adopted a special squeeze cage that holds the animal
immobile above the floor without shackling or hoisting.  Hydraulic fingers
hold the creature's head still while the shohet makes his cut.  But these
devices are expensive--about $20,000 dollars each--and few small operations
can afford them.

Meat eaters can't avoid the flesh of ritually slaughtered animals by simply
avoiding kosher meat. Since Orthodox Jews and Muslims are permitted to eat only
certain cuts, the remainder (primarily the hindquarters) is shipped to the open
market.  In some eastern states, this represents a tremendous volume of meat.
And because Kosher meat is inspected twice--by a rabbi and a federal meat
inspector--it has developed a reputation as being more wholesome than non-kosher
meat.  Whether this reputation is deserved or not, the demand for kosher
meat has been steadily increasing.  

In _The Vegetarian Alternative_ author Vic Sussman reports:

    "The bitter controversy surrounding the methods used in kosher
    slaughter involves a complex of issues as diverse as animal welfare,
    anti-Semitism, and Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.  The
    debate over the rightness of using ancient slaughter techniques in
    modern times divides many in the Jewish community.  Some rabbis believe
    Jewish tradition provides ample room for change.  They, and some Jewish
    laity, would like to either abandon kosher slaughter entirely or modify
    it by making the squeeze cage compulsory in all kosher slaughterhouses.
    Some have suggested that animals might be rendered unconscious by CO-2
    without violating Hebrew law.  But most Orthodox Jews--like
    fundamentalists in any religion--consider all but the squeeze cage a
    travesty, an infringement on their religious freedom and their need to
    adhere to the letter of ancient law.  Other observant Jews have become
    vegetarians or eat only fish to avoid participating in shehitah.
    (Nothing in Jewish or Islamic law compels one to eat flesh foods;
    injunctions govern only the origin and handling of specific foods.) The
    controversy over the issue of kosher slaughter can never be solved
    without angering one side or the other.  But to ethical vegetarians,
    there is no issue. 

    To single out Orthodox Jews as using a cruel method of slaughter to
    satisfy civil and religious laws implies that more modern methods are
    less cruel. They are, of course, in a strict comparison; but focusing
    on this argument misses the larger issue: *any* slaughter method is
    cruel if it results in the needless death of an animal. Many animal
    welfare groups find themselves in the peculiar position of attacking
    one method of slaughter while supporting another, saying--in
    effect--that killing animals is defensible when the slaughter technique
    is approved.  Like the man who tried to stop a lynching, they
    compromise by suggesting that the lynch mob at least hang the victim
    from a lower limb." 

Vic Sussman's _The Vegetarian Alternative_  is one of the most well-reseached
books of *any kind* I have ever read.  I have drawn on it heavily for all of
the "Stockyard to Slaughterhouse" submissions.  I have checked several of its
listed sources, and have found all of them to be accurate.  This book is often
useful as a pointer to more detailed information.

Other information can be found in the following:

Ruth Harrison, _Animal Machines_ (London: vincent Stuart, Ltd. 1964)

Beatrice Trum Hunter, _Consumer Beware_ (New York: Bantam Books, 1972)

Peter Singer, _Animal Liberation_ (New York: New York Review of Books, 1975)

Humane Slaughter Act of 1958, Public Law 85-765

Thomas P. Ziegler, _The Meat we Eat_ (Danville, Illinois: The interstate
Printers and Publishers, Inc., 1968)

John M.