After hearing testimony and receiving briefs from representatives of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the House of Commons Agriculture Committee, holding hearings here on a new humane slaughter code, has indicated that it favors the Jewish ritual slaughtering practices as humane. The CJC was represented at the hearing by Saul Hayes, Rabbi S. M. Zambrowski, Sydney Harris, Dr. Samuel Levine, and R. Chayfitz.
Declaring that the Canadian Jewish Congress supports those who insist that slaughter should be performed as painlessly as possible, the Congress’ brief informed the Agricultural Committee: “Our religious laws require that food animals must not be injured or hurt in any way before they are slaughtered, and that they must be conscious at the moment of slaughter.” The brief pointed out that Jews would be unable to conform to their religious precepts if animal slaughter regulations required a beast to be stunned before slaughter.
The Congress representatives told the committee, in answer to an inquiry, that they would not object to certain new methods, especially one proposal calling for elimination of the hoisting of animals. However, the Congress spokesmen pointed out, smaller communities might be penalized by some new methods, since they could not afford the cost of new installations. The hearings will continue Friday.
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