Keeping Kosher
UPDATE (June 23, 2010): Roughly a month after the release of PETA's undercover investigation, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger announced that starting in 2011 he will no longer certify as kosher animals killed in slaughterhouses that use the widely condemned "shackle and hoist" slaughter method. Today roughly 80% of Israel's kosher meat imports come from South American slaughterhouses that use shackle and hoist. The same slaughterhouses presently supply the majority of America's kosher beef as well. Farm Forward commends the Chief Rabbi on his decision and is cautiously optimistic that the tremendous pressure his actions have created will lead to the end of shackle and hoist in kosher slaughter globally. We will continue our diplomatic efforts to end shackle and hoist until we can report that the practice has stopped.1
Original Feature
Earlier today the Los Angeles Times broke a disturbing and all too familiar story of egregious animal abuse caught on videotape by an undercover investigator.2 Farm Forward provided a range of consultation services that made the investigation a success. This particular investigation is especially significant because the abuse occurred at a kosher abattoir certified by the nation's premier kosher certification agency, the Orthodox Union. The robust tradition of compassion for animals that is a shared feature of all the Abrahamic traditions has long been something that has inspired Farm Forward's Executive Staff. For these very personal reasons, this systematic abuse of farmed animals and endangerment of workers is especially painful. But more than that, when religious institutions unrepentantly support the cruelty of the factory farm industry, they do more than simply contribute to suffering—they use the authority of religion to defend the indefensible. This should concern Americans of all faiths.
The investigation, spearheaded by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, showed that the nation’s largest supplier of kosher beef, Alle Processors, relies on South American abattoirs that use the cruel "shackle and hoist" method of slaughter. Virtually all experts in animal behavior and the rabbinic authorities themselves agree that the process of shackle and hoist slaughter causes animals to suffer and is dangerous for workers when compared to all other techniques presently in use. The nation's most respected expert on animal welfare during slaughter, Dr. Temple Grandin, quipped in response to the investigation, "It's a really terrible practice and it needs to stop. It's that simple."3 The Conservative movement, accounting for nearly 40% of American Jewry, has had a policy for nearly a decade that prohibits shackle and hoist as a violation of the Jewish principle of compassion for animals.4 Farm Forward has learned that the Orthodox Union, which currently certifies meat produced by these methods, is quietly working to end the practice.
If the Orthodox Union would prefer to see an end to the use of shackle and hoist as a method of slaughter, why do they continue to certify meat that comes from facilities in which this practice is performed? Their answer is very clear: The importance of supplying a regular stream of kosher beef takes precedent over animal suffering and the danger to workers that is inherent in shackle and hoist. This is not Farm Forward's deduction; it is what Orthodox Jewish leadership has publically stated.5 And it’s not a fundamentally different position than that taken by many people concerned by factory farming who still eat factory farmed meat when no other is available. It’s a way of thinking that must change if the factory farm is to disappear.
A rare point of unanimous agreement in the often controversial realm of animal welfare is the consensus that, at very least, the animals we eat should be given a quick death with minimal pain and suffering. Despite this, a steady stream of undercover videos6 and even much of the publically available record on conditions in America's slaughterhouses has revealed consistent neglect. As Farm Forward board member Jonathan Safran Foer recently put it in his most recent book, Eating Animals, "No jokes here, and no turning away. Let's say what we mean: animals are bled, skinned, and dismembered while conscious. It happens all the time, and the industry and the government know it. Several plants cited for bleeding or skinning or dismembering live animals have defended their actions as common in the industry and asked, perhaps rightly, why they were being singled out." These abuses in kosher slaughter should concern us, but they must be seen as what they are, one facet of a much larger problem.
Ending factory farming will take far more than legislative and political victories, important as those are. Factory Farming is a part of our culture and this is why Farm Forward emphasizes the important role of culture makers—educators, artists, academics, clergy and others—in transforming the way America eats and farms. It's for this reason that Farm Forward has given special attention to the issue of religious slaughter. It's not because we simply want to end religiously sanctioned abuse of farmed animals but because we see America's rich religious traditions as a sleeping giant in the fight against factory farming.
Farm Forward provided vital consultation services to PETA that allowed them to conduct and release the results of this investigation with sensitivity and respect. "With the special complexities that surround religious slaughter," says PETA president Ingrid Newkirk, "Farm Forward's consulting has proved invaluable to PETA's ability to win better conditions for animals at kosher facilities. This group is an indispensible and invaluable resource. . . ." And in the words of Temple Grandin, "Farm Forward's Aaron Gross has played a critical role in improving kosher slaughter; from Agriprocessors to the current South American investigation his knowledge about both the Jewish and animal communities is invaluable."
Helping PETA with their investigation, though, is just one step. Increasingly, we are working with Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and other religious leaders who want to raise their voices against the factory farm. The Farm Forward team has been particularly active in working with Jewish leadership since helping with the first exposé7 of animal abuse in kosher facilities in 2004. Then as now, the work Farm Forward and others have done to bring these abuses to public attention is important but insufficient. The real work begins when the scandals fade from public attention: the work of transforming these glimpses of factory farming into commitments to end the whole broken system.
Please consider becoming a Farm Forward Founding Sponsor by committing to donate on a monthly basis. With a recurring donation of $25 or more a month we’ll send you a complimentary copy of Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book, Eating Animals.
- 1. Jewish Telegraph Agency, "Israel's Chief Rabbi: I Will Ban Cruel Slaughter," Jewish Telegraph Agency, June 22, 2010 (accessed June 22).
- 2. Nathaniel Popper, "Widely Condemned Cattle-Killing Method is Used by Kosher Meat Firm's Supplier," Los Angeles Times, Apr. 15, 2010 (accessed Apr. 15, 2010).
- 3. Ibid.
- 4. "Shackling and Hoisting," The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative movement. The Rabbinical Assembly, New York, 2002. (accessed Apr. 15, 2010).
- 5. Nathaniel Popper, "Widely Condemned Cattle-Killing Method is Used by Kosher Meat Firm's Supplier," Los Angeles Times, Apr. 15, 2010 (accessed Apr. 15, 2010).
- 6. Just a few recent examples: HSUS, PETA, Mercy for Animals
- 7. Donald G. McNeil Jr., "Videotapes Show Grisly Scenes at Kosher Slaughterhouse," The New York Times, Nov. 30, 2004 (accessed Apr. 15 2010).
