You call it an anomaly for me to be one of the vice-presidents of the Vegetarian Society of New York, which is “understood to be a relentless crusader against the cruelties allegedly imposed upon poultry in kosher slaughtering.” I have no authority to speak for the society as a whole but I may say that the comparative demerits of kosher and trefah slaughtering have never been considered at our meetings. We regard both methods as indefensible. Flagrant torture is inflicted upon animals and birds during their transportation to the slaughter house and humane killing is a contradiction in terms. Most people would shrink from doing their own killing and they have no business to delegate their dirty work to others. “The very best of slaughterers is a partner of Amalek,” says the Mishna. The true anomaly is that such partners of Amalek should be reverend shochetim.
RABBI HARRY L. LEWIS, New York City.
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.
