Shlomo Pappenheim is a haredi Orthodox rabbi in Israel who surprised many with his recent pronouncement that fur should be banned because of the pain caused to animals. Pappenheim singled out one item of hasidic garb in particular: streimels, hats with fur rims.
Pappenheim explained: “We live in an era in which people are more stringent, and they make a lot of noise about tza’ar ba’alei chayim [causing pain to animals]. So we must stop this custom of hurting animals,” he said, according to a Maariv report cited by the Jewish Press.
Pappenheim is chairman of Ha’edah Hacharedit, an anti-Zionist haredi group in Israel, and made the remarks at an animal rights conference.
“We should get to a point where people would be ashamed to wear anything but a synthetic shtreimel,” he said.
