Twenty-two of New York’s oldest and leading orthodox rabbis have proclaimed a chicken prohibition, to take effect next Tuesday in the event poultry wholesalers and retailers refuse to abide by the Judge Rosalsky rabbinical supervision decree, it was announced yesterday by the Kashruth Association of New York.
The prohibition, or “issur” as it is called in Hebrew, was decided upon Wednesday night, it was disclosed by Rabbi Nachman H. Ebin, chairman of the association.
If carried into effect, it will mean a crippling blow to the retail and wholesale poultry industries. It is predicted that the thousands of orthodox Jews, who comprise the bulk of kosher poultry consumers in Greater New York, will obey the prohibition of the Kashruth Association religiously.
When apprised of the association’s decree, which had been predicted in the Jewish Daily Bulletin a week ago, representatives of both retail and wholesale poultry slaughterers reiterated their intention not to accept Judge Rosalsky’s edict. Their decision is to be given to the Judge by next Monday, at a joint conference between representatives of all factions involved in the poultry dispute. The meeting will be held at City Hall Monday afternoon in the offices of Aldermanic President Bernard S. Deutsch.
The Rosalsky edict, made by him shortly after being appointed mediator in the poultry dispute by Mayor LaGuardia, provides for establishment of strict rabbinical supervision and a one-cent-per-fowl tax to pay for the supervision.
CLAIM TAX IS RUINOUS
This tax, which both retail and wholesale dealers say will bring ruin to their business, is the chief bone of contention.
In a statement yesterday, Louis Nizer, counsel to the Retail Poultry Dealers Association and to several groups of wholesalers, said that the Kashruth Association was trying to becloud the real issue involved in the dispute by turning it into a religious question.
“The real issue,” he said, “is a labor question. My clients have no objection to rabbinical supervision. They desire to live up to kashruth regulations to the best of their ability. Labeling fowl with a tag, on which there will be a charge of one cent, will not, however, make the chicken kosher. That’s merely another way of extracting money from the dealers.”
Mr. Nizer also pointed out that the proposed contract presented by the Schochtim Union, Local 440, exceeded by far the minimum demands provided for in the Rosalsky decree. The schochtim, pror ito the High Holy Days, had threatened to strike unless these demands were met.
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.
