Fear over European Kosher Bans; Kosher Country: America's Jewish Soul

Jewish World Review ^ | July 30, 2002 | Adam Dickter; Rabbi Daniel Lapin

[Zionist Conspirator]

Click here to read Dickter's article.

Click here to read Rabbi Lapin's (superior) take on the issue.

[Zionist Conspirator]

And click here to read my thoughts on the subject.

[LouD]

The Swiss Animal Association had called for a national referendum that would ask Swiss citizens whether kosher meat should be barred. A poll said 76 percent of the population would have supported the ban, and debate on the subject prompted the government to abandon discussion of lifting the ban. Meanwhile, Swiss Jewish leaders received hate mail

The tyranny of the majority in action...

[Nachum]

Another reason for Jews to leave Europe.

[muir_redwoods]

This is yet another example of equating animal life with human life. No human has the right to cause an animal, any animal, undue pain or even inconvenience, Animals raised for work or slaughter are our property and, so long as we take care of them, they are ours to use. I'm not a Jew and have no direct experience with ritual slaughter. As I have read about it and according to the brief explanation give in the articles it seems adequately swift and merciful. It is vastly more gentle that the typical fate awaiting every animal in the wild which is to be eaten alive or to die in the process.

This is antisemitism dressed up in the clothes of animal-rights fascism. I suppose I prefer the latter but I see no reason why free people should endure either.

[Black Agnes]

ping for interest.

[reg45]

Another reason for Jews to leave Europe.

If they do so they should congratulate the European Union for its success at completing Hitler's "Judenrein" program.

[John Locke]

The following link provides an "animal rights" take on this issue. It's part two of a two-parter; part one outlines the religious rules in question; part two contains selected horror stories.

The link

One fact that the JWR accounts conveniently suppress is that Moslem animal slaughter (Dhabh) is equally prohibited by these countries.

[Zionist Conspirator]

1) If you read my own commentary on the issue you would know that I did not consider the laws an act of ethnic prejudice but an attack on Theocracy and the authority of G-d.

2) Animals have no rights not given them by the Jewish G-d, their Creator. The same applies to humans. HaShem is the only reality. Everything else is His Creation. His Will is the only Law.

3) Unless you subscribe to the point in #2 you must consider the world a random, meaningless coincidence, in which case you have no business having any values, ideals, causes, or moral hang-ups whatsoever. There is no teleologically expanding "social contract."

That your namesake would have disagreed surprises me not in the least. It just goes to show how our contry was flawed from birth by the "original sin" of "enlightenment" and "rationalism."

[TopQuark]

How thoughtful and well-written! Thank you for the pleasure.

[Zionist Conspirator]

How thoughtful and well-written! Thank you for the pleasure.

Thank you. The occasional kind word is much appreciated.

[dennisw]

GOOD COMMENTS on this kosher ban: http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=4891#comments

Knighthawk... Do you know anything about Euros trying to ban Halal meat? I do believe animals are killed the same way in Kosher and halal. Would the Dutch and Belgian police even dare go into a Muslim neighborhood to enforce a ban on halal meat?

[texson66]

Do you suppose that the Swiss would honor muslim dietary rules?????

[Stultis]

our contry was flawed from birth by the "original sin" of "enlightenment" and "rationalism."

Uh, maybe you would be happier in The Religion of Peace^TM? They're all about the God's Law not man's law thing.

[xm177e2]

The Founders, like the Pilgrims, saw themselves as building a nation that would be "G-d's American Israel," and the theme shaped America's self-understanding long after. That's why even today Americans circumcise male babies at a rate that is, outside of Israel, higher than that of any nation on earth (about 60 percent).

Sheer lunacy. Circumcision is popular because the idea of chopping off part of a penis appeals to people who fear and hate sex. We have Cheerios brand cereal for the same reason: it was once thought that kids who ate meat for breakfast would be more easily sexually aroused. The mass circumcision of Americans for non-religious reasons should be stopped.

[Alouette]

Next step: banning circumcision of Jewish male infants.

[lavaroise]

In Belgium they opened a tax payer paid Halal slaughterhouse so that the muslims would not inconvene their neighbors by slaughtering animals in their bathtubs in ramadan with wailing animals.

There aint no way they will ban hallal slaughter, they are using tax payers to fund for the hygiene demanding special slaughterhouse.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Just as a theological note, however, the Kosher Jewish position seems a bit strained: I think it's fair to say, and I welcome correction, that the initial purpose of the Mosaic law was one of two: either inhibiting savagery by demanding clean, swift, relatively painless killing of the animals; or minimizing food-tainting by requiring simplicity (as one, for instance, would not want to disembowel an animal while there was still blood flow).

First of all, this is a very old thread. I'm not sure what caused it to be bumped and receive so much attention lately unless the Europeans have done something else.

The "purpose" of kosher slaughter is to slaughter food animals in accordance with the Divine will. Any practical benefit is purely secondary and only a humanist would consider it the main purpose of shechitah. Similarly, the distinction between clean and unclean animals is not for health but simply because G-d decreed it so. Ultimately, even such "rational" laws as "thou shalt not kill" are similarly ritual and cultic rather than merely pragmatic. Some commandments are allowed to descend to our level so that they make sense to our minds. These are called mishpatim. Others remain forever above our ability to reason out. They are called chuqqim or chuqqot. But ultimately the difference between these two classes is merely a perception on our part. They all have their origin in the Divine Will. G-d's Will is the true rationale for all religious law.