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The Iowa secretary of agriculture, chief rabbinate in Israel, and the Orthodox Union weigh in on AgriProcessors. Read their reactions here.
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AgriProcessors workers ignore the suffering of cows who are still sensible to pain after having their throats slit by the ritual slaughterer. The animals stagger and slip in blood while their tracheas dangle from their necks.
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Statement of: Rabbi Joel Rembaum,
Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles
When Kosher Is Not
There are two principles that stand at the foundation of kosher slaughtering:
- Removal of blood from the animal as quickly as possible;
- Minimizing the pain and suffering that the animal experiences.
Done properly, kosher slaughtering, shehitah, accomplishes both of these aims.
The observant Jewish community was shocked last month by the revelation of
videotapes shot by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) inside a
kosher slaughtering plant in Postville, Iowa. The tapes, selections of which I
have viewed, depict animals writhing and squirming for more than a few seconds
after shehitah, and, in some instances, actually getting up and walking around
and then continuing to flail about for more than a minute. The animals appear
to be in agony, and were this to be the case, the meat from such animals would
have to be declared unkosher.
The Orthodox Union (OU) kashrut authorities who supervise the plant have stated
that such random movement is not evidence of the animals suffering and that
the loss of blood to the brain resulting from the shehitah renders the animals
insensate. They also state that the USDA supervisors at the plant affirm that
the animals do not suffer. They report that the meat prepared at the plant is
kosher because th principle of tza'ar ba'alei hayyim, causing pain to a living being,
has not been violated. Nevertheless, to add an additional level of caution and to
quell the uproar that the tapes have generated, the OU has mandated that any
animals that experience abnormal post-shehitah movement will be stunned or
shot to ensure that the animal is in a state of total unconsciousness. Such
animals would then be used for non-kosher meat. Also, removal of the trachea
immediately after shehitah to enhance blood flow, which has been the practice
at the plant, will be discontinued. It should be noted that the plant in question
uses a pen in which the animal is turned upside down immediately prior to
slaughtering, a procedure deemed acceptable by the OU. (The OU opinions cited
above can be found at
In September, 2000, the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), the
Conservative Movement's most authoritative legal decision-making body,
ruled that to avoid tza'ar ba'alei hayyim only pens that keep the animal upright
may be used in shehitah. Laboratory tests have determined that the blood of
animals killed in the upside down position show a 300% elevation in stress
related chemicals. The published CJLS opinion, written by Rabbis Elliot Dorff
and Joel Roth and approved by a vote of 21-0, reads: "To be clear, then, in
this ruling we intend not only to ban shackling and hoisting animals, but also
those pens that turn the animals upside down before slaughtering them.
Only moving and killing the animals in an upright pen satisfies the requirements
of Jewish law forbidding cruel treatment of animals." (See: Responsa
1991-2000, The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative
Movement, Kassel Abelson and David J. Fine, eds.; p. 96.) In fact, in many
facilities in which kosher slaughtering is done, such upright pens that are also
PETA approved are in use. The upshot of this last piece of information is that,
according to CJLS standards, even with the new policies in force by the OU at
the Postville plant, the meat that comes from there is not kosher.
Here are my recommendations to TBA members as to how to resolve this matter:
- Given the nature of Jewish law, specially in the area of Kashrut, it is not unusual that there are differing points of view. This is clearly the case with regard to the pens used at the Postville plant. The CJLS considers such pens to be unacceptable because they cause undue pain and suffering to the animal; the OU considers them to be acceptable because they do not cause undo pain and suffering. Therefore,
- TBA members should not use the Aaron's Best/Rubashkin meats that are produced in that plant.
- Those who do use such meat would not be "treifing up" their kitchens because they do have a legitimate halakhic authority (the OU) backing them up.
- I will speak with our caterers and ascertain that Aaron's Best/Rubashkin meats are not served at the synagogue.
Rabbi Joel Rembaum
Temple Beth Am, Los Angeles
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