Prior to the raid, the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa, an hour-and-a-half from Postville, was converted – thanks to an army of contractors and construction workers – into a mammoth detention center. Everything from bunk beds to chain-link fences to massive ventilation tubing[i] were arranged and guards were posted.
When the ICE forces descended upon the plant they were accompanied by a convoy of busses to haul away the arrestees. With grave efficiency 314 men and 76 women were removed to local jails[ii] and the field prison in Waterloo.
This kind of raid on a packing plant are about as common as a drug bust in West Baltimore. But that refers to the common, average, garden-variety police incursion. Why did Postville merit a blitz that was in a league of its own?
In December, 2004 PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) released an undercover video portraying alleged animal abuse and Humane Slaughter Law violations at Agriprocessors. Any video shot at a slaughterhouse would repulse, as the killing of a steer is a bloody and violent process, and the abrupt cessation of an unsuspecting animal’s life does not make for easy viewing. Some neat tricks were applied here, as will be explained.
And whereas an organization formed for the protection of animals conjures images of defenseless rabbits and adorable seals, PETA is a militant group[iii] that finds a carnivorous diet appalling and shechita inhumane. Looking for the widest circulation for their planted video, PETA delivered it to The New York Times.
The organization claimed that the video proves that the kosher meatpacking plant is cruel and inhumane, and violates Jewish Law (by not instantly killing the animals[iv]). The clip was entitled, “Mutilations at Agriprocessors Slaughter House.”
This was trick-photography at its crudest. An organization with an agenda will never shoot an undercover video of a benign scene. The slightest selective editing could eloquently and nauseatingly make their case.
“All PETA wants to do,” reacted Nathan Lewin, “is inflame the public against kosher slaughter. [They] don’t understand shechita – what’s permitted under Jewish, and consequently, American Law[v].”
Agriprocessors denied the allegations of PETA and released the following statement, “We will continue to follow the strict guidelines set out by both federal and Jewish law for the humane treatment of animals during the slaughtering process.”
After the PETA brouhaha, Shalom Rubashkin, turned to Mr. Nathan Lewin, widely respected as one of the foremost experts on Church-State affairs, for his legal assistance. Mr. Lewin has the decided advantage that he is a learned student of the Talmud. He also has a history of defending shechita, as did his illustrious father before him.
Dr. Isaac Lewin saw to it that a federal humane slaughter law passed by the Congress in 1958 would explicitly list shechita as a humane method of slaughter, and not just accept shechita as lawful because of the constitutional protection for the free exercise of religion. He worked extensively with Senator Hubert Humphrey to achieve this result. When animal-protection groups challenged shechita in federal court in 1971 before three federal judges, Nathan Lewin successfully defended it on the grounds that Congress had found the shechita method of slaughter to be humane. The judges’ decision was summarily affirmed by the US Supreme Court without even hearing argument.
PETA has a lurid anti-shechita history, but they outdid themselves this time by claiming that the way the animals were slaughtered at Agri rendered them non-kosher. Leading rabbinic authorities and major kashruth supervisors deemed Rubashkin to be of the highest kosher standards, yet PETA declared otherwise. This would be equivalent to the Toledo Mud Hens Minor League baseball team disapproving of the methodology employed in the Cleveland Clinic’s cardiothoracic surgery.
Lewin had a vigorous exchange with PETA on behalf of Rubashkin. PETA was no match for Nathan Lewin, but they would not let go. Ultimately the issue was not the law nor cruelty to animals – both of which shechita conforms with.
(To be continued)
Chodesh tov – have a pleasant month!
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[i] Ibid p.54
[ii] Yated Ne’eman May 16, 2008
[iii] Yated Ne’eman 12/03/2004
[iv] But doesn’t everyone know that a chicken or a duck will run around after its head has been removed, just a cow will still move its legs even after its throat has been slit.
[v] Yated Ne’eman 12/03/2004