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Dec 9, 2012

Cruelty to animals Expose in Israel Raises Kashrut Question

A television expose show conducted an investigation into the slaughterhouse of Adom Adom - the meat department of Tnuva. As a result of the expose, the Ministry of Health said they would be opening an investigation of their own. The expose revealed serious instances of cruelty to animals.



A class action suit, to the tune of 100 million NIS, has now been filed against Tnuva, as a result of the expose. A haredi woman is leading the suit, claiming she has been a customer of Adom Adom meat for a long time claiming deception of the cruelty and of the slaughterhouse conditions, along with the cruelty itself.

That actually interests me less. The lawsuit is a lawsuit and will be determined in court. The Health Ministry will have to investigate and make a determination as to what actually happens, who is at fault and all the ramifications.

One point mentioned by the woman leading the lawsuit, Ruth Kolian, intrigued me. When discussing her lawsuit she said there are also halachic issues with what has been revealed - she said that if the rabbonim would have known what was actually going on, they would definitely not have given the strict level of kashrut certification that they did. Therefore, there is serious damage to the customers, and to the religious customers as well.
(source: The Marker)

If the mehadrin hechsher is working properly, why, or how, did they not know what was going on? Don't they have mashgichim in the slaughterhouse supervising the entire process? Isn't that especially one of the responsibilities of the certifying agency - to know what is going on? Don't they claim to be better than the regular kashrut agencies for specifically being present at all stages of the process, for retaining complete control to access of the meat production process - holding the only sets of keys, for example, constant supervision, etc.

How is it possible, as is being claimed, that "if the rabbonim would have known what was going on", that they did not know what was going on? If the answer is that they did know and they determined that from a halachic perspective there was nothing wrong with the process, that would be fine by me - perhaps the process must be reviewed regarding cruelty to animals, but the issue of halacha would not have been brought up. However, saying the rabbis were in the dark about what was happening means the strict level of supervision is basically a fraud.

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9 comments:

  1. It's ok, the only reason to deny a hechsher for reasons other than actual kashrus is if it would become a hangout for boys and girls. therefore, since the slaughterhouse is not a hangout for boys and girls, any other ethically and morally debatable issues and behaviors are permissible as far as hechsher is concerned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What? You mean that this could lead c"v to mixed dancing?

      Delete
  2. If the Rabbanim didn't know what's going on then their hechsher is worthless.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The whole point as far as I am concerned is that if there is even the slightest element of cruelty involved, then the animals are nevala, and the shechita is on a treife animal. The whole basis of our shechita is to cause the minimum cruelty to the animal. I have in my posession the details of a hearing before the Irish parliament where revered Chief Rabbi Herzog Z"l explained brilliantly how shechita caused the least pain to the animal. If in the process leading up to the schechita, there is cruelty however, it will make a total mockery of the whole basis for shechita.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Meir - I have no problem with that. My question is that if the certifying rabbis are giving such a high level of hechsher as mehadrin indicates how is it possible they dont know what is going on?

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  5. as far as I know, Adom Adom meat has the hechsherim of both Rav Veitman and Rav Machpud

    ReplyDelete
  6. Check out this link which has information about the slaughterhouse and its kashrut:

    http://www.kashrut-tnuva.co.il/meat_page.php?actions=show&id=198

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes - it is alleged that the animals being brutalised were Australian. Do you guys really know what you are consuming? I do since I hail from down under and rest assured, the criminality and corruption in our live export industry is an abomination and spurred on by sycophantic governments that relish the medieval theatre of cruelty that prevails in this "first world" nation. Australia's shame:

    http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/weblog/article/revealed-the-real-conditions-on-live-export-ships/

    ReplyDelete

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