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…
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had no plans to reintroduce legislation to lift a ban on the production of kosher meat, despite mounting criticism from Isreal and Jewish groups that it is harmful to Jews in Poland. Polish lawmakers last week rejected a government-backed draft law that would have allowed slaughterhouses to produce…
Poland’s chief rabbi said he will resign if a definitive ban on kosher slaughter is imposed in the country. “I cannot imagine serving as chief rabbi in a country in which the rights of the Jewish religion are curtailed, as I would not be able then to serve properly my coreligionists,” Rabbi Michael Schudrich wrote…
The American Jewish Committee blasted Poland’s parliament for rejecting a bill that would allow kosher slaughter. “We urge Poland’s legislative and judicial authorities to move expeditiously to recognize by law the Jewish community’s right to prepare kosher meat according to Jewish tradition,” David Harris, head of the American Jewish Committee, said in a statement. “It…
A government draft law to allow religious slaughter in Poland was defeated in parliament. “Jewish communities across Europe will be incredibly distressed that the Polish parliament has voted not to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish and Muslim citizens,” Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, said in statement about the vote…
A court in the Polish city of Bialystok has asked the Polish Constitutional Tribunal to rule on whether the country’s ban on ritual slaughter is compliant with the constitutional freedom of religion. The case is connected to the ritual slaughter of one cow which took place in March in Tykocin. Beginning on Jan. 1, Poland…
The Polish government reportedly is consulting with trade unions on legislation to allow kosher and halal slaughter. The Polish Press Agency, PAP, reported Jan. 23 that a ministerial committee had given the trade unions copies of a draft amendment allowing ritual slaughter under the Polish Act on the Protection of Animals. The unions have until…
It’s official. Pope Benedict’s handle on Twitter will be @pontifex. He already has 1.2 billion “followers” in the standard sense of the word but next week he will have another type when he enters what for any 85-year old is the brave new world of Twitter. The Vatican said on Monday that the pope will…
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