Rabbi Dr. I.M. Levinger, International Veterinary Expert on Kosher Slaughter, Praises Procedures at AgriProcessors

Rabbi Dr. I.M. Levinger, the Orthodox Jewish world's expert on and protector of shechita, has lent his name to Rubashkin and "koshered" Rubaskin slaughter.

After spending the last two days at Postville and seeing "150 animals" slaughtered, Rabbi Dr, Levinger said:

"In the process of handling the animals prior to schechita, care was taken to lead the animal into the pen in a most humane manner. The schechita process was performed swiftly and correctly."

"The rabbis performing schechita impressed me as experts in their profession. The cut was done in an expeditious manner, cutting the trachea and esophagus, and severing the carotid arteries and jugular veins. It is my impression that schechita in this facility is performed in accordance with the highest standards of kosher handling. The behavior of the animals seem to be in accordance with the observations recorded in my book 'Schechita in The Light of The Year 2000.'"

Is Rabbi Dr. Levinger's Evaluation Correct? You Be The Judge:

1. Rabbi Dr. Levinger saw "150 animals" slaughtered. The Rubashkin press release does not specify whether these "150 animals" were cattle or a mixture of cattle and poultry.
2. During the two days Rabbi Dr. Levinger spent at AgriProcessors, 1000 cattle and tens of thousands of chickens were killed. Rabbi Dr. Levinger saw only a tiny minority of them.
3. Rabbi Dr. Levinger was invited by (and his expenses and perhaps a fee paid by) Rubashkin. Rubashkin knew when Rabbi Dr. Levinger's 'visit' would take place, and could staff his facility accordingly. Normal audits are done without notice and are much more intensive.
4. Most importantly, Rabbi Dr. Levinger can only address what he saw today and yesterday, not what took place last month and in the months prior to that.
5. In other words, Rabbi Dr. Levinger's evaluation does not apply to PETA's charges and Rubashkin's past conduct.
6. It also does not address USDA regulations met by other kosher plants but apparently violated by Rubashkin.
7. That Rabbi Dr. Levinger allowed his name to be used by Rubashkin in this manner without clearly specifying that his comments can not apply to events that took place prior  to December 20 and 21, 2004 is troubling and calls his status as an independent expert into serious question.
8. Rabbi Dr. Levinger also put a plug for his book in his statement.

You can read the entire Rubashkin press release after the jump.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041221/nytu116_1.html
Rabbi Dr. I.M. Levinger, International Veterinary Expert on Kosher Slaughter, Praises Procedures at AgriProcessors
Tuesday December 21, 5:34 pm ET

POSTVILLE, Iowa, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Rabbi Dr I.M. Levinger, one of the world's foremost experts on animal welfare and kosher slaughter (schechita), today called schechita practices at the AgriProcessors plant "professional and humane." Dr. Levinger, a Veterinary Surgeon and Physiologist, made his remarks at the end of an intense 2-day review of schechita practices and humane animal treatment at the plant at which he observed the schechita of more than 150 animals.

Dr. Levinger in his statement noted "that in the process of handling the animals prior to schechita, care was taken to lead the animal into the pen in a most humane manner. The schechita process was performed swiftly and correctly."

As part of his review, the international veterinary expert particularly focused on the schechita process: Dr. Levinger observed: "The rabbis performing schechita impressed me as experts in their profession. The cut was done in an expeditious manner, cutting the trachea and esophagus, and severing the carotid arteries and jugular veins. It is my impression that schechita in this facility is performed in accordance with the highest standards of kosher handling. The behavior of the animals seem to be in accordance with the observations recorded in my book 'Schechita in The Light of The Year 2000.'"

Dr. Levinger's impressive credentials include many studies on the physiology of animals during the schechita process. He has often been called on as an expert witness by many international bodies, particularly in Europe. During his visit to AgriProcessors, he carefully studied the physiological effects on the animals and concluded that they were fully within the confines of humane treatment. Dr. Levinger shared his findings with rabbis and certification agencies.

Source: AgriProcessors

Comments

[Major Fan]

All I can say is, "thank you for have the courage to bust this shanda wide open". I am embrassed by how stupid Rabashkins, the OU, and everyone else locking arms and trying to spin this situation looks. Hello? Do they think people who keep kosher are idiots that they can lead around by throwing out the old nazi lines? Time to listen to old Chabad line about the gates of tshuva always being open; rabbis, repent!

Baruch HaShem they we have some consumer choice in the kosher meat world, although CLEARLY NOT ENOUGH.

[Stephen Mendelsohn]

BS"D

Did Rabbi Dr. Levinger share his findings with Dr. Temple Grandin and other experts in the field of humane shechita? Real scientists invite peer review from other scientists on matters like this. Rabbi Dr. Levinger's apparent failure to do so leads any impartial observer to believe he is serving merely as a cover for Rubashkin's and is not an independent scientist (in addition to the reasons outlined above).

What do Dr. Grandin and the other experts think of Rabbi Dr. Levinger?

[sandman]

Your comments on Dr. Levinger's visit betray your ignorance of shechita in general and of the situation at Rubashkin's in particular. The PETA video is itself open to the same questions you put to Dr. Levinger. On the PETA video we are shown incidents that are dated as having taken place in August and September. Specifically, the incidents shown are from two dates in August and two in September. In the NYT article, the PETA undercover person stated that he was able to come and go freely, and took videos both during his breaks from work as well on days off, and that he was in the plant for seven weeks. How many total hours of video footage does PETA possess? I would be much more interested in observing one or two hours of uninterrupted footage, as that would be far more indicative of actual conditions at the plant. In fact, in the very first scene, in which the animal gets up and walks over to a corner (without making a sound, by the way - that's because the animal is no longer able to make sounds, as its throat - and voicebox - have been cut)the next few animals that come out of the shute are insensate, exactly the way you would want them to be. For a shechita to be valid, the jugulars do not have to be cut, but are as part of the necessity to rid the animal's body of blood as quickly as possible. Sometimes a shochet does miss a jugular vein...I wonder if there is a correlation between a missed vein and activity following shechita. The practice of pulling the trachea out should never have been allowed, and is attributable directly to the KAJ who have primary responsibility for kosher oversight at the plant, and the use of the Facioma pen that turns the animals upside down prior to shechita should likewise be banned, no matter what the Israeli rabbinate insists on. PETA may have unwittingly performed a service for the kosher consumer in putting a stop to practices that were incorrect - but to smear Dr. Levinger (who obviously did not see the events that happened prior to his visit) for no reason other than to further one's anti-Lubavitch agenda is deplorable.

[Shmarya]

Rabbi Dr. Levinger appears to have smeared himself (with a bit of help from Rubashkin).

As for PETA, they have a longer version of the tape that is not on the web. I believe that footage has been made available to the press, and others who have requested it.

[John K. Diamond]

Rabbi Dr. Levinger's observations on 12/21/04 of humane schechitah at AgriProcessors begs that the following questions be asked and answered by the USDA inspector, the OU, KAJ and other kosher certifying agencies that oversee this plant.

1. What were all of you doing these past nine years or so when inhumane "schechitah" was being performed, as has been brought to light by sworn testimony from workers at the plant.

2. If AgriProcessors was capable of doing humane (proper) schechitah, as wittnessed on 12/21/04, why wasn't this being done all this time.

3. If you were aware of schechitah laws being violated, why did you allow these violations to continue.

4. When are you going to go public and retract the earlier statement on the OU Website that NONE of the meat from AgiProcessors you placed your hechshers on all of these past nine years or so was treif.

5. When are you going to stop hiding behind your religious rhetoric to defend the indefensible, what Dr. Temple Grandin, in her statement to the Jerusalem Post, calls bull****.

Unfortunately, if all of these folk continue to avoid this issue, etc., they may soon find themselves in a court of law, where they will have to answer these and many other pertinent and pressing questions.

[Steve Brizel]

Since when is an expert's mentioning of his book a plug for the same? I fail to see any "plug" such as a link to a website.

[Steve Brizel]

Why are you viewing the OU and KAJ as the villians in this story? After all, Ingrid Newkirk, the co-founder and president of PETA has said that " a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy" because it views animals as no different than humans. That attitude is against the words of the Torah where man is commanded to "rule over" the animal kingdom and where mankind is allowed to kill animals for human needs such as food. PETA's equation of animals with man is totally at odds with the bedrock notion in Judaism that man, as opposed to animals, possess free will and are capable of choosing good over evil. PETA is a group of well funded extremists.When PETA protests with Arafat over the use of animals carrying explosives but fails to protest the loss of life and protests the feeding of Timothy McVeigh meat so that he won't take more life or claiming that more chickens are killed in slaughterhouses than Jews were killed in the Holocaust, those protests should be seen as ethically repugnant to any rational person.

[Shmarya]

Steve,

I don't think the issue here is the messenger or that messenger's beliefs – no matter how removed from the Torah they may be.

The issue here is the facts of the case, and, by the way, PETA (and the PETA video) are not the only witnesses to them. But even if they were, the issue would be the facts of the case, not the philosophy of PETA.

By the way, the Holocaust/chicken analogy is based on remarks made by Isaac Bashevis Singer. That doesn't make the analogy correct, but it does explain why PETA used it.

[Amalia]

Nice article. Great job.