Orthodox Jewish groups are concerned about attempts to tamper
with shechita in the US. Although shechita is
protected by a special exemption in the US Code, some
Orthodox Jewish leaders point to a number of recent
developments of concern.
One group that has set its sights against shechita is
the PR savvy animal rights advocates who recently compared
ritual slaughter to the Holocaust. Though so far they have
not (at least openly) advocated a ban on shechita, the
animal rights activists speak of making shechita more
humane, suggestions, which rabbonim say are unnecessary since
shechita was proven to be humane decades ago.
Another group that is arousing concern are food scientists
associated with major universities, as reported in last
week's Yated. These "kosher experts" claim to have the
interest of kosher at heart. They speak of advances of
technology to making shechita more humane and offer
suggestions that some Orthodox groups say conflicts with
their interpretation of halacha or age-old practices, even
though they insist that their proposals are halachically
acceptable.
Kosher Today reported last week that these
academicians "misrepresent" kosher opinions consistently. The
net effect of this is that at least two major plants came
under renewed scrutiny by USDA officials for practices long
approved. It was reported that in the two plants shechita
was temporarily halted, although the issues were quickly
resolved.
Rabbi David Zwiebel, the General Counsel and Vice President
of Government Affairs for Agudath Israel of America, called
this latest challenge to shechita "the next frontier" for
Orthodox Jews. Rabbi Menachem Genack, who heads the kashrus
division of the Orthodox Union (OU), shared Zwiebel's view
and lashed out against those "who misrepresent themselves as
spokesmen for kosher when in fact they are damaging the
interests of kosher." The Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel and
others are coordinating their response to what they call
"this latest attack against shechita," as reported in the
latest issue of Kosher Today.
