A delegation of rabbis was received yesterday by Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk who has evinced an interest in a declaration which the United Nations is asked to issue recognizing Jewish ritual slaughter as being “in accord with the highest principles of humaneness” and emphasizing that “agitation for its prohibition is motivated by anti-Semitism.”
The delegation was composed of Rabbis Isaac Lewin, Michael L. Munk and Jeremiah J. Berman. The three are authors of a study on kosher slaughtering sponsored by the Agudas Israel World Organization and the American Jewish Committee. The study, published in the form of a 300-page volume, was submitted to members of the United Nations and is being examined by experts of the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee.
The declaration which the United Nations is urged to issue in the interest of religious freedom for Jews asks that the member nations of the U.N. sign an international pact agreeing that they will issue no laws or administrative measures prohibiting Shechitah or restricting its full exercise. It also provides that all legislation having the effect of prohibiting or restricting the practice of Jewish religious slaughtering “shall in due course be repealed” in the countries where such legislation exists.
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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.