Using Restraint
Lovenheim, Peter
USING RESTRAINT PETER L0VENHE1M Like many other Jews, I always assumed that kosher meat was not only of better quality than non-kosher meat, but also that it came from animals slaughtered in an...
...It bellowed loudly and jerked its free limbs...
...As for small animals—sheep and calves—there is no restraining pen now in use...
...In the Bible, blood is viewed as the seat of life, and man is prohibited from consuming it (Gen...
...The concept of tsa'ar ba'alei chaim, prevention of cruelty to animals, is an important doctrine of Jewish law...
...But it is clear that cattle and sheep feel pain—and fear—when their full body weight is suddenly suspended from one leg, followed by forceful jerking of the head and other limbs...
...Animal scientists at the University of Connecticut and a livestock systems designer have developed a "double-rail restrained" This device, at least in theory, positions calves and sheep for shechitah by moving them upright along a conveyor and then gently lifting their heads to expose the throat to the shochet...
...9:4, Deut...
...Judaism, in doctrine and practice, has an enviable record On treatment of animals...
...Animals should be allowed to rest on the Sabbath and on holy days (Ex...
...What are the reasons for these elaborate rules...
...Judaism values the quality of life, more than its quantity, every moment of life is of value—even animal life...
...Kosher meat may indeed be healthful for people, but in procuring it we do the animals no favor...
...Shechitah requires that an animal, prior to slaughter, be healthy and free of injury in specified organs...
...each year...
...Second, the Jewish community as a whole can organize itself to deal with the problem...
...25:4...
...As it is said in Proverbs 12:10, "The righteous man regards the life of his beast...
...Judaism, more than any other Western religion with which I am familiar, places great value on humane treatment of animals...
...today may inadvertently cause more suffering to animals than does non-kosher slaughter...
...Yet one is available for testing...
...This problem persists mainly at smaller slaughterhouses and at those that move in and out of the kosher trade...
...Therefore, I propose the formation of a national board or task force of packers, consumers, lay leaders and rabbis, to find and implement solutions...
...Any deviation will render the animal's meat unfit for consumption...
...Nearly 20 years ago, a special restraining pen for shechitah of cattle and other large animals, approved and promoted by the ASPCA, was developed...
...The animal hung upside down for 35 seconds before the shochet approached and slit its throat...
...USING RESTRAINT PETER L0VENHE1M Like many other Jews, I always assumed that kosher meat was not only of better quality than non-kosher meat, but also that it came from animals slaughtered in an especially humane manner...
...To this, there is a clear answer...
...First, rabbinical authorities can reexamine the definition of "injury prior to death...
...How much pain an animal feels will vary with species and type of injury or stimuli...
...12:23...
...the actual throat cut is relatively painless...
...Today, the Humane Slaughter Act specifically defines shechitah as humane and prohibits any legal restriction on the "preparation of livestock" for ritual slaughter...
...The pen holds one standing animal at a time and, by mechanical means, keeps it still and lifts its neck so that the shochet can administer the throat cut...
...Of these, about three-fourths are slaughtered using restraining pens...
...The current practice of shackling and hoisting is legal...
...This ongoing practice continues to arouse opposition from humane activists...
...In earlier times, it was common to position the animal by "casting" it on the ground...
...Over protests from humane groups, the exemption was won on grounds of religious freedom...
...This is not done in kosher slaughter because under Jewish dietary law meat is not kosher unless at the time of death the animal is healthy and uninjured...
...Others sued in federal court to have the kosher slaughter exemption ruled unconstitutional...
...It is ironic that Judaism, as one of few religions that has even bothered to set humane standards for animal slaughter and to sanctify slaughter as something more than business-as-usual, has become the subject of such attacks...
...the rabbis have said that stunning an animal prior to cutting its throat would constitute an "injury prior to death...
...It is not perfect— the animals still appeared to experience fear and distress due to the sudden confinement and squeezing action of the pen—but it appears to be an improvement over hanging the animals...
...or cut" exempts kosher slaughter...
...Also, it is prohibited by a USDA hygiene regulation against laying one animal in the blood of a previously slaughtered animal...
...As can be seen, shackling and hoisting the conscious animal has nothing to do with either the rules or the purposes of shechitah...
...the cut precise and swift...
...For one thing, it is too slow and dangerous to workers...
...There have been other cases where the leg or pelvis breaks...
...And, 20 years after the ASPCA pen was developed, as many as one-quarter of kosher-killed cattle are still being shackled and hoisted...
...it is merely a convenient way of positioning the animal...
...All of the detailed regulations for kosher slaughter (in Hebrew, shechitah) are based on one oblique statement in Deuteronomy (12:21), in which God instructs Moses to "kill of thy herd and thy flock as I have commanded thee...
...When suspended upside down, the animal's throat is fully exposed, and its body can be held steady by one or two workers...
...The shochefs task is to kill the animal by cutting its throat between the trachea and esophagus with a quick forward and backward movement of a finely sharpened knife...
...Two steps would take us a long way toward that goal...
...Its head swung in a wide arc about three feet above the floor...
...The act of eating is sanctified...
...20:10...
...the rest are shackled and hoisted...
...I saw this device used in one slaughter plant...
...Scholars identify at least three: First, cutting the carotid arteries and jugular vein results in rapid and extensive loss of blood, thus assuring that little blood is consumed...
...Even accepting that these animals experience pain and fear, they are going to die soon anyway, so why should we be concerned...
...They lost...
...Copyright © 1982 by Peter Lovenheim...
...Unfortunately, this is not the case...
...In non-kosher slaughter, before animals are shackled, hoisted and bled, they are rendered unconscious by electrical stunning or other means...
...And if, as a result of humane reforms, kosher meat is going to cost a few cents more per pound, Jewish consumers should be informed of the reasons for this and be encouraged to pay the difference...
...One should not muzzle an ox during threshing (Deut...
...We also kosher-slaughter about 1.5 million calves, sheep and lamb, but no restraining pen is available for these animals...
...I visited a kosher slaughterhouse recently in Baltimore, Maryland, and this is what I saw: A two-year-old black and white Holstein steer, weighing about 1,500 pounds, was shackled by a heavy metal chain around one hind leg and mechanically hoisted upside down into the air...
...Recently, a national coalition of humane leaders declared: "Shackling and hoisting of conscious animals while awaiting slaughter is probably the most brutal of all animal cruelties today...
...The laws were fleshed out by the rabbis and codified in the Babylonian Talmud around the year 200 CE...
...If it is determined that the ASPCA pen needs to be improved, funds should be made available for research...
...At the Baltimore slaughterhouse, after the animal described above had died, the veterinarian who accompanied me pointed out the flesh of the hind leg that had been shackled...
...Those who operate kosher packinghouses, consumers of kosher meat, leaders of major Jewish organizations and rabbis share a responsibility for this problem and should work together to solve it...
...If so, that could be sufficient to render an animal "unfit" and make shackling and hoisting unacceptable...
...Compared to the other leg, this one showed signs of hemorrhaging and bruising caused by trauma to the tissue...
...The federal law that requires meat animals to be stunned before being "shackled, hoisted...
...Some of the criticism is irresponsible exaggeration...
...One group published an hysterical broadside warning Jews that "the meat you eat is seared with pain...
...In fact, kosher slaughter as practiced some places in the U.S...
...It is forbidden, for example, to harness to a plough two animals of different species (Deut...
...Much biomedical research on animals is based on the premise that animals feel pain and react to it...
...I am not advocating that kosher-killed animals be stunned prior to slaughter...
...If that rule is consistently applied, should it not include the tissue damage caused to the hind leg when an animal is shackled...
...To do so would be a mitzvah...
...If packers need low-interest loans to purchase or test the small-animal re-strainer or other devices, these should be arranged...
...The task force, whether independent or under the auspices of an already-existing group will need to raise and disburse funds, commission research and act as an information clearinghouse...
...Second, a rapid throat cut with a finely sharpened knife is generally considered to cause an animal little or no pain...
...As we begin to seek solutions, we should be aware of useful efforts already made, particularly mechanical alternatives to shackling and hoisting...
...But casting is no longer possible...
...The act of slaughter must be performed by a shochet, a person of piety and special training...
...Yet, it needs now to be set right...
...Yet, it shows that humane groups have been more outspoken on this problem than has the Jewish community...
...In interpreting this rule, Peter Lovenheim, an attorney, works with a national animal protection organization in Washington, D.C...
...Third, in having animal slaughter governed by religious ritual, the act of killing is removed from the realm of ordinary business and infused with an element of the sacred...
...The animal appeared to lose consciousness quickly...
...The blade must be free of imperfection...
...22:10...
...Maimonides, among other scholars, saw shechitah as a way of fulfilling the biblical injunction against cruelty to animals...
...I am urging, however, that we stop shackling and hoisting conscious animals and instead use alternative methods to position them for the throat cut, such as humane restraining pens that have been developed for this purpose...
...The Jewish community must now take it upon itself to solve this problem once and for all...
...Shechitah is a Jewish practice, and if there are problems with it, I believe they should be addressed and solved by Jews...
...I checked my watch...
...Precise figures are not available, but it can be estimated that between one and two million cattle are kosher-slaughtered in the U.S...
...Unfortunately, humane groups that have been advocating the small-animal restrainer have so far met with little success in finding packers to install the system on a test basis—even though a consortium of humane leaders has offered to pay half the cost of installation...
...If in one instance our practice is inconsistent with our intention, it is through oversight, not indifference...
...Thus, of about three million animals kosher-killed each year, a majority are still shackled and hoisted...
Vol. 8 • January 1983 • No. 2
