British Chief Rabbi Warns Against Anti-schechita Bill

British Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie has made it clear that stunning of any kind prior to the traditional process of ritual slaughter will render the meat non-kosher, in a statement issued here in connection with a bill to be introduced in the House of Commons April 29. R. F. Crouch, Conservative M. P. will introduce a private bill, the text of which has just been made public, designed to prevent the traditional Jewish method of killing animals unless they are stunned previously.

The statement of the Chief Rabbinate, released on the eve of Passover, said “the Chief Rabbi wishes to make it clear that stunning of any kind prior to the Jewish ritual method of slaughter would, in accordance with Jewish law, render the meat unfit for Jewish consumption. The declaration of Jewish ecclesiastical authorities in this country is identical with similar declarations made by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the supreme religious authority of that country, and of Orthodox rabbis throughout the world. Further, the Chief Rabbi wishes to emphasize again the humaneness of the Jewish method of slaughter, to which scientists of the highest eminence and objectivity have given testimony.”

In Manchester, Dr. A. Altmann, communal rabbi of that city, said in a sermon delivered yesterday, that it was a grave injustice to accuse the Jewish religion of cruelty and advocate introduction, by way of a private member’s bill, of compulsory stunning before ritual slaughter. He said that both rabbinic and Biblical legislation had given the world a lead in combatting all forms of cruelty to animals.