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The question of whether animals stunned before slaughtering is an interesting one, with an important history.
In 1933, the newly-ascendant Nazi party banned shechitah (Jewish ritual slaughter) in Germany. 1/6ish https://twitter.com/Olumenecclesiae/status/1326487943419211776
In 1933, the newly-ascendant Nazi party banned shechitah (Jewish ritual slaughter) in Germany. 1/6ish https://twitter.com/Olumenecclesiae/status/1326487943419211776
Here we go, #DownTheRabbiHole:
The responses of the rabbis could basically be divided into three groups. First was R. Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, the author of Seridei Esh, then rector of the Hildesheimer Rabbinerseminar, the renowned Orthodox rabbinical seminary in Berlin. 2/6
The responses of the rabbis could basically be divided into three groups. First was R. Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, the author of Seridei Esh, then rector of the Hildesheimer Rabbinerseminar, the renowned Orthodox rabbinical seminary in Berlin. 2/6
R. Weinberg wrote a treatise arguing in favor of permitting post-stunning shechitah. He was motivated, in part, by fear that German Jews under the Nazis would abandon dietary restrictions or go malnourished.
He conditioned his view on broad rabbinic consensus. 3/6
He conditioned his view on broad rabbinic consensus. 3/6
Other rabbis took a diametrically opposing view, saying that animals stunned before slaughter are terefot, absolutely unkosher.
The third and largest group of rabbis, led by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, took a fascinating and morally compelling approach. 4/6
The third and largest group of rabbis, led by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, took a fascinating and morally compelling approach. 4/6
They did not discount the possibility of making the legal/halakhic case for stunning animals prior to slaughter. Perhaps such grounds could be found. Perhaps there are minority opinions on which to rely in times of distress.
5/6
5/6
But changing time-honored methods of shechitah can easily be construed as admission that they are somehow inhumane or cruel—and that Nazis can teach Jews a thing or two about ethical treatment of living creatures.
Such a conclusion was simply unconscionable. 6/6
Such a conclusion was simply unconscionable. 6/6
