PETA Responds To OU's Rabbi Genack

PETA's Ben Goldsmith has written a response to a widely circulated article on Shechita-gate by the OU's Rabbi Menachem Genack:

We at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) deeply appreciate Rabbi Menachem Genack’s thoughtful consideration of the issues surrounding the AgriProcessors controversy in his article, “Setting the Record Straight on Kosher Slaughter,” and we especially appreciate the OU’s continued insistence that Jewish law is second to none in its dedication to kindness towards animals. In the spirit of setting the record entirely straight, please allow me to clarify a few points on the AgriProcessors matter specifically.

We have always agreed with Rabbi Genack that shechita, when done correctly, is more humane than other slaughter methods used in the U.S. This, in fact, is precisely our point in stating that what was happening at AgriProcessors, for years, is not properly conducted shechita, and this is clear to anyone who reviews our investigation.. To echo the words of Rabbi Barry Schwartz of the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Task Force on Kashrut, “The suffering of these animals during slaughter is sickening. Death is neither quick nor merciful. If this is kosher, then we have a big problem.”

Over the seven weeks that our investigator worked at AgriProcessors, fully one-quarter of the animals in our sample were still conscious after they were dumped from the restraint, roughly one minute after their throats were cut. Extrapolated to the 18,000 animals killed during this time, any statistician will tell you that thousands of AgriProcessors’ animals suffered the same fate. We have eyewitness testimony going back almost 10 years that confirms that the abuse we documented has been the constant and the norm at AgriProcessors.

I know that Rabbi Genack will agree that cruelty to animals of this magnitude is not an “inevitable” outcome of proper shechita. And in fact, in the wake of the slaughterhouse scandal, AgriProcessors has not been able to find one scientist, animal welfare expert, or veterinarian who is willing to defend the shoddy slaughter practices we documented. Please consider, again: One hundred percent of animal welfare scientists, veterinarians, and animal welfare experts who have reviewed this investigation have condemned AgriProcessors for cruelty.

Dr. Temple Grandin, consultant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Meat Institute, did not mince words after viewing the tapes, stating, “I thought it was the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen.” Dr. Lester Friedlander, a former USDA kosher slaughter inspector, echoed these sentiments, writing, “The footage captured by PETA represents the most egregious violation of the USDA Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) I have ever witnessed.”

AgriProcessors has also faced sharp criticism from a growing number of Rabbis, including an official condemnation of the plant by the Rabbinic Assembly of the Conservative movement, which represents one-third of American Jewry.

The Rabbinic Assembly wrote, “[T]he scenes recorded are not what shehitah should be, nor does it correspond to the Jewish way of treating animals… When a company purporting to be kosher violates the prohibition against tza’ar ba’alei hayyim, causing pain to one of God’s living creatures, that company must answer to the Jewish community, and ultimately, to God.”

In the December 10 issue of Jewish Times, Rabbi Avrom Pollak, President of Star-K, agrees that AgriProcessors’ sloppy and inhumane slaughter methods left animals fully conscious after their throats were cut. “You don't see the animals thrashing on the ground like that [after losing consciousness],” he said. “You might see a leg kicking, that kind of thing, clearly an involuntary reflexive action. It is disturbing that the animal got up and walked away. The only way to explain that is a mis-cut.”

Since the videos were released, AgriProcessors has made some improvements that have allowed them to consistently kill animals properly for inspectors. We are encouraged by these changes, as discussed in points 1-4 by Rabbi Genack. However, they only prove our point: AgriProcessors can do shechita correctly, but chose not to. That its attorney continues to defend as acceptable the practices we documented, which are defended by no one else, should give all of us pause. Without standards in place to ensure that animals are treated humanely, AgriProcessors could resume its crude slaughter practices at any time.

To guard against this, we are asking that AgriProcessors and the OU adopt the guidelines for ritual slaughter developed by scientists at the Food Marketing Institute. Very much in keeping with Torah law, these standards will ensure that kosher slaughter is consistently quick and as kind as possible. By implementing the FMI guidelines for ritual slaughter, the OU can rest assured that it has done its part to uphold Judaism’s venerable tradition of treating animals with kindness and mercy. And of course, if there is any halachic dispute between the FMI standards and Halacha, no one would suggest that Jewish law be violated; working with scientists, rather than against them, seems the wisest course for any person or organization dedicated to ensuring the kindest treatment possible.

PETA has undertaken countless slaughterhouse investigations during our twenty-five year history, so we agree wholeheartedly with Rabbi Genack’s contention that even in the best of conditions, the killing floor is a gruesome sight. However, the footage captured on the tapes shows something beyond the typical blood and gore—watching the animals struggle to stand and flee while their windpipes dangle from their throats, one cannot deny that AgriProcessors’ crude and unorthodox slaughter methods violated both Jewish and federal law.

To prevent future abuses, we urge the OU and AgriProcessors to adopt the FMI standards for ritual slaughter. Readers can see the video and read the FMI guidelines and additional rabbinic and expert testimony at  www.GoVeg.com. For information on Judaism and vegetarianism, please visit the Web site run by the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, at  www.JewishVeg.com.

Comments

[Yisrael Moshe]

Oh I see. So today Rabbis must "check in" with the NAZIs at Peta (just like it started in Germany). What's tomorrow? PETA replaces the Torah, G-d forbid. This is downright sinister.
You are actually siding with goyim who would like to see Jews under a knife instead of an animal just like the NAZIs! May Hashem punish you for this.

Any Rabbi that allows the German PETA NAZIs any say-so WHATSOEVER in Shechita should be put in Cherem for the good of the Jewish people.

Rabbi Avrom Pollak is a known hater of Chabad as are several others in the Star-K which is why I urge people not to support someone who speaks based on ulterior motives rather than Halacha/Torah. If this statement is factual, DON'T BUY STAR-K! Avoid it like the plague.

Who are you fooling when you say that if the animal wasn't moving from its nervous jerking, then PETA would be fine with it? The web-site is called GoVeg.com (not slaughterRight.com). Hello! Are you dense? How stupid could you be?

Chickens also actually run around for a while after death hence the expression "like a chicken with its head cut off. Get it? If the head isn't connected to the body, how could it consciously be telling the body to run. Your logic is so flawed and stupid it is laughable.

You and the others on here are a shameful example of Jews who would gladly step over the dead body of another Jew to help a goy if you aren't actually goyim that is (then the Halacha of Aisav hates Yaakov would explain everything).

No Jew should EVER be aligned with NAZI scum like Peta (see its leader's german names like Ingrid Newkirk or the 2nd in command - Freundlich. Also see its references to the Holocaust that trivialize the deaths of millions of Jews).

The Rebbe, on the other hand, was one of the few Jewish leaders not to find some excuse or reason behind the Holocaust.

However, you, lehavdil, apparently care more about animals than a Jew just like the PETA Nazis (may their and your (pl.) names be erased). You also seem to be too busy helping doubtful Jews to concentrate on the certain ones.

Leave Chabad alone.

I myself was helped by Chabad and Hadar HaTorah, thank G-d. If it wasn't for the Rebbe, I and so many people I know wouldn't be frum. Even the Misnagdim now are trying to "reach out" to other Jews thanks to the Rebbe making it "kosher" when they claimed it was "forbidden/ossur" (sounds a lot like the statements by Avram Pollak above).

Let all my mitzvahs and the mitzvahs of over a million Jews around the world (that wouldn't have been without the Rebbe) stand and be counted before the throne of Hashem's Glory and demand an accounting from you and the Reshaim that are speaking badly about the Rebbe, his shluchim and his teachings.

I think your cheshbon is full and its time for some accounting.