Anti-Shechita Prosecutions in the Anglo-American World, 18551913

The book examines historical attempts by animal welfare groups, in Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, and the United States, to ban the Jewish method of slaughter (shechita). For the first time, the book studies these prosecutions, brought in the name of “humanity”, that reveal, an underlying, unrelenting, and inescapable antisemitism.

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This is the first study of historical attempts by anti-animal cruelty groups to prosecute those involved in the killing of animals for food using the Jewish method of slaughter (shechita). It details cases from Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, and the United States, many for the first time, in which animal welfare groups prosecuted those engaged in shechita as part of their attempts to introduce compulsory stunning of animals before slaughter. Despite claims to the contrary, this study offers clear evidence of underlying, unrelenting antisemitic motivations in the prosecutions, and highlights the ways in which a basic idea of innate Jewish cruelty was always juxtaposed with an overtly Christian ideal of humane treatment of animals across time and borders.