European Jews Fight Polish Kosher Slaughter Ban
Image by haaretz
Major European Jewish organizations have started to fight the ban on kosher slaughter in Poland, after the country’s parliament decided last week to leave intact the prohibition on killing animals for meat without first stunning them, which affects both Jewish and Muslim religious slaughter.
The European Jewish Congress, the Polish Jewish community and the Conference of European Rabbis are lobbying the Polish government and selected MPs of EU member states in an effort to reverse the decision, or at least make exceptions for religious purposes. Representatives of these organizations are scheduled to meet tomorrow in Brussels to discuss the course of the struggle.
At the same time, the European Jewish Association has launched a pan-European campaign against the decision. EJA director Rabbi Menachem Margolin has held a series of meetings with the Polish representatives in the European Parliament and with senior Polish government officials, urging them to join the fight against the decision.
Following these talks, Margolin noted that he got a positive response from many of the EU Parliament members with whom he spoke, adding that some said the Polish Parliament’s decision contravened the Polish constitution.
“Kosher slaughter has been proven scientifically to be a method that is not any crueler than other slaughter methods, as it is sometimes portrayed by anti-Semitic organizations throughout world, and it is essential to maintaining a Jewish lifestyle,” he wrote to a Polish lawmaker.
For more go to Haaretz
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
