J.D.B. News Letter

(By our Moscow Correspondent)

Jewish ritual slaughterers in Minsk went out on strike a few days ago against the town administration, which had decided to reduce their wages forty percent. The Jews of Minsk thereupon stopped buying Kosher meat, fearing that it was not slaughtered according to Jewish law. The town authorities found themselves compelled to issue a public statement, to the effect that other Shochtim had been engaged in place of the strikers, and that there would be no shortage of Kosher meat in Minsk. The population, however, did not fully accept the assurance, and rumors went about the town that Shechita had been entirely prohibited in Minsk.

Finally, realizing that other Shochtim had been engaged in their place, the strikers decided to submit to the decision of the Minsk Soviet and accept the forty percent reduction on their wages. The Soviet declares that it has cut the dages because the Shochtim in Vitebsk, Homel, and other towns in White Russia receive only sixty per cent of the fee the Minsk Shochtim have been receiving hitherto, and it is desirable that wages everywhere should be put on the same level.

The Yiddish Communist daily, “Octiabr,” of Minsk, devotes an article today to the subject of the strike among the Minsk Shochtim. It makes no mention at all of the cut in wages which was the reason for the strike, and alleges that the strike was called because the Shochtim and the Rabbis wanted to help the private butchers to compete against the co-operatives and the Government slaughter houses.

A short while ago, the Jewish Communists in Minsk started a campaign headed by the “Octiabr” to induce the Jews of Minsk to eat kosher meat. The “Octiabr” complained that the animals slaughtered in Minsk for the State and co-operative butcher shops are all slaughtered according to Jewish ritual law, and that the result was that six Shochtim and the Rabbi of Minsk are thus all being provided with a livelihood.

The chairman of the Minsk Central Labor Co-operative in a statement published in the “Octiabr,” explained that it was impossible to put a sudden stop to Shechita, because that would strengthen the position of the private butchers. In future, however, he said, there will be two or three butcher shops in Minsk which will sell both kosher and non-kosher meat, and efforts will be made to increase the use of non-kosher meat among the Jewish population.

The Jewish Community at Olevsk in the Province of Volhynia in the Ukraine, which is engaged in a dispute with the local Shochtim, has agreed to have the dispute settled by the Rabbi of Stolin in Poland, which is a little way over the border in Poland. near Olevsk, which is close to the frontier. The city of Pinsk is close to both towns. The materials relating to the dispute have been sent to Stolin.