In the laws of Judaism, cruelty to animals is forbidden, and animals who die with suffering and/or torturous methods are rendered "trayf" or unfit for consumption, even if they are animals that are listed as "kosher". This answer is not easy for me to write, but I think it's time more Jews speak out on this issue openly. This is an issue that I feel very strongly about because it touches at the heart of Jews living up to our values. Some may consider this hypocritical since I've never kept a kosher home, but I have always tried to honor the value of Torah prohibiting cruelty to animals and obligating acts of compassion and proper treatment of animals.
Two years ago Rabbi Haviva Ner-David wrote in the July 9 issue of The Jerusalem Report: “Truth be told, if we consider complying with the requirements of tza’ar ba’alei hayim a requirement for meat to be considered'kosher,’ today’s food industry renders all meat production non-kosher… Today, mass production has taken over. Under these conditions, it is impossible to treat animals in a way that would comply with the laws of tza’ar ba’alei hayim. This is why all Jews concerned with Jewish values and/or Jewish law should consider vegetarianism.”
Jewish tradition associates care for animals with being righteous. Within the Torah, the commandment to send a mother bird away before taking eggs or chicks from her nest is one of the few commandments that promises long life to those who fulfill it. The book of Proverbs comments that, "A righteous person knows the needs of his beast, but the compassion of the wicked is cruelty (Proverbs 12:10).
The meat killed with the methods that are detailed in the horrible videos one can see from links below is not kosher. It is trayfe. I have read debates detailing minutiae that the meat could still “possibly” be considered kosher but it does not fit with everything I have learned in my life and the opinion of many rabbis. This is a multi-layered outrage to me but to the animals it is only about one thing..their death with suffering and cruelty at the hands of humans and the humans who can make that practice STOP!!
Is it any wonder that anti-Semites are RUNNING Loud and Far with those videos to try to make kosher slaughter ILLEGAL? They don't use those films to show that it is Jewish law being violated and that Jews are being horribly misled, they use those things to claim Jews are evil and cruel!
Jews who don't want to deal with the fact that the suppliers of their meat are violating their trust are being mislead that these charges are all about antisemitism or an extremist agenda by animal rights activists. I don't doubt and I KNOW that antisemites ARE using this against Jews, but my fellow Jews are for this problem..permitting that to happen by not speaking out against the abuses with a much louder voice than they've complained about PETA
It makes no difference that more widespread suffering happens all over the U.S. in meat-processing plants in every state, those are EQUALLY wrong. This is doubly wrong to me, because rabbis entrusted with helping Jews and others to live Jewish values through kashrut are violating that trust horribly. Another difference here is the hypocrisy involved and how that hypocrisy is fuel for the Jew haters! It is not PETA that is the enemy. ANYONE with GREED enough to cause suffering to feeling creatures and do it in the name of Jewish law is the evil and the enemy we must stop! PETA's values of concern for animals are congruent with Judaism and Jewish values, they are not at odds. It would display Jewish values to a greater degree to hear Jews condemn Agriprocessors for cruelty and bringing shame to Jews rather than complain about PETA's exposure, whatever their original motivation.
If there was ever a classic example to use to define the term shanda, this is it.
I was raised to believe JEWS *are* the PEOPLE for the ETHICAL TREATEMENT of ANIMALS! I also believe that rather than condemning PETA, every Jew should THANK them for exposing and confronting us with the abuse of Jewish law by Jews. This is where and when Jews can show the world what our values really are in how we deal with this problem.
from http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm
"Ritual slaughter is known as shechitah, and the person who performs the slaughter is called a shochet, both from the Hebrew root Shin-Cheit-Tav, meaning to destroy or kill. The method of slaughter is a quick, deep stroke across the throat with a perfectly sharp blade with no nicks or unevenness. This method is painless, causes unconsciousness within two seconds, and is widely recognized as the most humane method of slaughter possible. Another advantage of shechitah is that it ensures rapid, complete draining of the blood, which is also necessary to render the meat kosher".
The world-wide Jewish community must do all we can to ensure abuses do not happen. If this practice of violating it is common, it is even more reason for Jews to become vegetarian if kashrut cannot be positively determined.
The videos and interviews and comments from many I have read indicate we cannot know for certain if the animals have really been slaughtered in the most humane way that Jewish law demands. There are also many non-Jews who have placed their trust in the integrity of the rabbis who are entrusted with overseeing the slaughter from the shochet. News reports in recent years on modern factory farming methods in non-kosher slaughterhouses reveal that the animals often have brain matter contaminating the meat related to the methods of slaughter used. With fears of spread of mad cow disease, many who have feared this additional contamination risk have sought out kosher meat. Muslims who observe halal, Seventh-Day-Adventists and the growing number of Hebrew Christian evangelicals who keep a “kosher” kitchen also purchase and consume meat slaughtered by shochets, dramatically increasing the demand. To increase the supply, shechitah has thus become a part of factory farming. In my view, factory farming of ANY kind is INCOMPATIBLE with Torah. Cruelty is INHERENT in methods of making speed of the essence. The articles and videos showing that meat believed to be kosher, by virtue of trust that a shochet would take their job seriously, may be derived from an animal that SUFFERED needlessly. From a halachic (Jewish law) perspective, they cause animals’ unnecessary suffering (tza’ar ba’alei chayim). Tz’ar ba’ alei chayim is NOT ACCEPTABLE!“ When I was a boy learning the precepts embodied in the Jewish tradition, I was taught that the suffering of living things - tsaar baalei chaim- is morally and religiously intolerable…What is depicted in this video is a mockery of these precepts, and a disgrace to Orthodox Judaism.” - Dr. Bernard Rollin
I used to think that the cry to ban Kosher slaughter as cruel was only either through misunderstanding or bigotry as it is the LEAST cruel method (if it is employed correctly) of the modern factory farming methods of slaughter of an animal. If it is done in a method that terrorizes the animals, takes a long time to die, or heaven forbid, one in which a living, feeling, animal has a trachea ripped from their still conscious living throat, then it is NOT KOSHER!I pray that the Jewish community, Klal Yisrael, come together over this and stand firm to speak out against animal cruelty. If you are truly concerned to preserve shechitah then first make sure abuses are not happening so that there will be no fuel to feed the charges of cruelty! I hope that any of my Jewish readers here may help in determining what their own community is going to do or say about this. This is something ALL of us need to address as Klal Yisrael!
"Rav Kook believed vegetarianism would hasten the coming of mashiach, as his days will be a return to vegetarianism like Adam v'Chava." -a quote from an Orthodox vegan friend
edit: I am not sure what is confusing here. There is no question that the abuses took place at Agriprocessors and quite frankly, I'm sick of seeing people take unsubstantiated stabs at those who uncovered the abuse rather than speak out against the abusers!
http://www.goveg.com/pdfs/HumaneKosherSignatories.pdf
A list of Jewish leaders who have spoken out properly against the abuses and who call for : "We further urge the Orthodox Union and other kosher certification agencies to institute specific, public guidelines for the humane treatment of animals in all the facilities they certify. These guidelines should include all the recommendations indicated above in the case of AgriProcessors."
edit: If there has been any manufacture or manipulation of evidence then it needs to be produced or the charge removed. Trying to claim that this is about attacking Jewish ways or trying to minimize this by attacking the exposers does NOT reflect the Jewish values I want to see honored here.
edit: I do not care if you don't like PETA at all..this should not be about them, this is about the wrongs they uncovered!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/opinion/06herzfeld.html?_r=1&em not only animal cruelty but human abuses and I'm grateful for people like Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld for speaking against the abuses
There are far too many q's and a's in Y/A about this issue that only attack Jews and claim that Jews who dismiss this prove that we CONDONE the abuse! Dr. Temple Grandin called the violations at Agriprocessors the most horrific violation of Humane Slaughter law Grandin had ever seen. http://www.jewcy.com/tags/temple_grandin
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/us/05immig.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
edit: The videos I link below are most definitely from kosher slaughterhouses. I am still awaiting any actual evidence to the charges made that PETA manipulated evidence.
Don't know if any more links will