Anti-Semitism Lurks Behind the European Fight on Shechitah
By Jacob Ari Labendz for The Jewish Daily Forward
A
number of European countries have recently sought, with some success,
to ban the ritual slaughter of four-legged animals by Muslims and Jews.
Denmark did so in February, following Poland in January. Proponents
framed the discussion in terms of animal welfare. They have a point.
Executed properly, animals suffer less when stunned — that is, rendered
unconscious — before they are slaughtered. Mainstream interpretations of
Muslim and Jewish law prohibit this practice.
Yet the bans on
ritual slaughter, which are meant to protect animals from pain, have
much more to do with excluding certain ethnic and religious groups and
should therefore raise concern, even among activists who would normally
support them.
As a vegan, I oppose industrial meat processing for
its abject cruelty and indifference to animals. I should therefore
support all initiatives that in any way ameliorate the suffering of
those animals our society has deemed livestock. Just like the proponents
of the ban, I, too, prefer that butchers stun cattle before they
brandish their knives. I am even sympathetic to the Australian solution
of “stunning” livestock immediately after ritual slaughter, to minimize
suffering, while remaining within the bounds of religious law. Finland
has provided a similar accommodation for its Jewish community since
1934.
Nonetheless, I strongly oppose banning ritual slaughter.
For me, this has little to do with religious freedom. Though a bedrock
of our society, religious freedom also has its limits. We outlaw female
genital mutilation and compel parents to provide medical care for their
children, even if they oppose doing so on religious grounds. Considered
in isolation, if stunning is a “kinder and gentler” way to kill, I would
insist upon its adoption despite the religious objections.
Yet
we must first answer a few questions. What does it mean for
predominantly Christian and post-Christian societies to ban Muslim and
Jewish ritual slaughter when cruelty is inherent to the entire system of
industrial animal farming, from birth until death? Why have activists
seized upon this issue so fervently, and, more importantly, so
successfully?
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