The Veterinary Service Refused to Permit Slaughter of Korban Pesach

  -- INN

When I saw that headline, I did not know what was going on. The vet service is in charge of approving the korban pesach? Wouldn't that run through either the Defense Ministry due to security implications that might be caused by Jewish sacrifice on Temple Mount? Or maybe through the PMO or the Foreign Ministry due to the possible diplomatic issues that would result from such an event? But the veterinary services?

Then I read the article. The headline is a bit more dramatic than what actually happened. It turns out, the Mikdash organizations run an annual study session before Pesach in which the laws of the korban pesach are reviewed and described, and in the past a sheep was shechted as part of the session and the process was described through this form of show and tell. They requested permission from the veterinary services to perform the slaughter again as in previous years, for the purpose of study, not actual sacrifice, at the Sherover Boardwalk in the Armon HaNetziv neighborhood of Jerusalem - not anywhere near the Temple Mount.

So, this falls under the auspices of the veterinary services rather than security or diplomatic offices. Now it makes sense. But why would they refuse the request? People shecht all the time, both for food and for study. The same event has been approved and performed in the past, with no problems arising from it. The Shomronim do a Paschal sacrifice every year on Mt. Gerizim. There are plenty of other slaughtering events taking place, by Jews and/or Arabs that pass with no incident, either political or medical.

The letter offered no explanation and gave no reason for the decision. Yisrael Medad published the letter in his Jerusalem Post blog. Yehuda Glick had sent in the request for permission, and the veterinary service wrote on the same paper "Not Approved" and sent it back. That's it.