The Jewish population of Britain may be without kosher meat if a bill to change the manner of slaughtering animals is passed next April when the measure is scheduled to receive its second reading in Parliament, Dr. Abraham Cohen, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, stressed today.
Speaking at a meeting of the Board, Dr. Cohen noted that the bill would require that the animal be stunned before slaughter, a procedure which would violate Jewish law and render the animal useless as food for Orthodox Jews. Both Dr. Cohen and E. Zeitlyn, chairman of the Board’s shechita committee, called the presen threat to Jewish ritual slaughter more menacing than previous forms of anti-shechita agitation.
Dr. Cohen underlined that such a precedent in Britain might have worldwide repercussions. The British Government’s outlawing of Jewish ritual slaughter methods would certainly be regarded as a precedent by other countries, he predicted.
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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.