(J. T. A. Mail Service)
The Federation of Jewish Ritual Slaughterers in Bavaria, which has just held its conference in Nuerenberg, devoted itself to a very large extent to the movement which is being conducted in Bavaria towards bringing about a prohibition of Schechita. The conference adopted a resolution protesting against this agitation.
“This conference,” it says, “indignantly repudiates the allegations made by the opponents of Schechita that Schechita involves cruelty to animals thus branding those who are engaged in the practice of Schechita as being torturers of animals.
“We declare before the whole world,” the resolution proceeds, “that we are no torturers of animals. When we slaughter an animal according to Jewish ritual law we do so in full realization that the God of Love, who extends his loving kindness to all his creatures, cannot demand from us an act of barbarity, and by performing this religious commandment we rather seek to exclude the possibility of torturing animals. Schechita has been practised for thousands of years on the basis of Divine Law and it is an essential part of Jewish observance.
“This conference is confident that the authorities will not yield to the agitation of the opponents of Schechita who refuse to take into consideration the expressed views of some of the most authoritative men in physiological science and who seek to violate the principle of liberty of conscience in regard to the faithful members of the Jewish community and to embitter and harass their lives.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.