A resolution declaring that two humane slaughter bills now before the New York State Legislature posed “a grave danger to the religious liberties of a large segment of the Jewish population” of the state was endorsed today by 13 local, state and national Jewish religious and civic organizations.
The National Community Relations Advisory Council, coordinating agency for the organizations, said the resolution urged the rejection of the Calli and Conklin bills as “ill advised and premature.” A copy of the resolution, with a covering letter from the Synagogue Council of America, was sent to each member of the legislature.
The resolution noted that the bills–one introduced by State Sen. William Conklin of Brooklyn and one by Assemblyman William Calli of Oneida country–“specifically” recognized the humanness of schechita, Jewish ritual slaughter. However, the resolution declared, the bills required methods of pre-handling of food animals “which will make impossible the continuance of this Jewish religious practice.”
The resolution also cited the fact that “the organized Jewish community of America has engaged in very extensive research toward the development of the most humane device for the restraint of animals in preparation for schechita. When fully practical mechanisms for both large and small animals are available, we shall exert our best efforts to insure their acceptance and utilization by slaughterhouses in New York and other states,” the resolution said.
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