ECAJ dismayed at Polish shechitah ban
THE Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has raised its voice in support of Poland’s Jewish community, which faces a ban on shechitah.
THE Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) has raised its voice in support of Poland’s Jewish community, which faces a ban on shechitah.
On July 12, under pressure from animal rights groups, the lower house of the Polish parliament voted 222-178 to knock back a government-sponsored draft law that would have legalised shechitah and Muslim halal slaughter in Poland.
After the vote, Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Poland’s American-born chief rabbi, said he would resign from his post if the ban became law.
ECAJ president Danny Lamm has written to Poland’s Ambassador to Australia, Pawel Milewski, expressing his dismay at the looming prohibition.
“The outlawing of shechitah flies in the face of Poland’s much-heralded recent attempts to revive its Jewish life and culture.
“The ban will make it difficult, if not impossible, for most observant Jews who currently live in Poland to continue to do so,” the ECAJ president stated.
“I note further that Poland’s Chief Rabbi, Michael Schudrich, has foreshadowed that he may be forced to cease to serve in that capacity if the existing rights of the Jewish community are curtailed, as he would not be able then to serve the community according to Jewish religious law.”
In a detailed description quoting experts, Lamm stated that shechitah “keep(s) animal suffering to an absolute minimum”, while the alternative of pre-stunning, which is widely used in mainstream meat slaughter, can result in “unnecessary suffering”.
Lamm said shechitah “is too often befuddled by ignorance and prejudice. The perception that shechitah is a cruel method of animal slaughter is entirely false. A cardinal principle of kosher slaughter is specifically to protect the animal’s welfare and prevent suffering”.
In a letter to Australia’s Ambassador to Poland, Jean Dunn, Lamm noted that a meeting of the Primary Industries Ministerial Council declined to ban religious slaughter in Australia in 2011.
PETER KOHN
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Danny Lamm.
comments