[The following is an exchange between PETA spokesman Benjamin Goldsmith and FrontPage writer Michael Rosen. Goldsmith begins by responding to Rosen's previous article, PETA Attacks Jewish Tradition - The Editors].
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PETA Strives to Support Jewish Tradition of Compassion by Benjamin Goldsmith
We at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) appreciate Michael Rosen’s willingness to voice his concerns about issues surrounding the AgriProcessors scandal in his recent article, PETA Attacks Jewish Tradition.
Mr. Rosen is very well-respected and it is clear that he cares deeply about upholding the mandate in Torah law that prohibits causing animals unnecessary pain. Thus, we would like to clarify a few points.
During our twenty-five year history, PETA has investigated countless slaughterhouses, and we agree with Mr. Rosen that killing floors are gruesome by their very nature. That said, we have always agreed with Mr. Rosen that shechita, when done correctly, is more humane than other slaughter methods used in the U.S. However, anyone who watches the tapes will see that what was happening at AgriProcessors is not properly conducted shechita.
Watching the animals struggle to stand and flee while their windpipes dangle from their throats, one cannot deny that AgriProcessors’ sloppy and unorthodox slaughter practices violated both Torah and federal law. To echo the words of Rabbi Barry Schwartz of the Central Conference of American Rabbis’ Task Force on Kashrut, “The suffering of these animals during slaughter is sickening. Death is neither quick nor merciful. If this is kosher, then we have a big problem.”
In the wake of the slaughterhouse scandal, AgriProcessors has not been able to find one scientist, animal welfare expert, or veterinarian who is willing to defend the crude slaughter practices we documented. Please consider, again: One hundred percent of animal welfare scientists, veterinarians, and animal welfare experts who have reviewed this investigation have condemned AgriProcessors for cruelty to animals.
After viewing the tapes, Dr. Temple Grandin, consultant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Meat Institute, bluntly stated, “I thought it was the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen.” Dr. Lester Friedlander, a former USDA kosher slaughter inspector, echoed these sentiments, writing, “The footage captured by PETA represents the most egregious violation of the USDA Humane Methods of Slaughter Act (HMSA) I have ever witnessed.”
AgriProcessors has also faced sharp criticism from a growing number of Rabbis, including an official condemnation of the plant by the President of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement, which represents one-third of American Jewry.
He wrote, “[T]he scenes recorded are not what shehitah should be, nor does it correspond to the Jewish way of treating animals… When a company purporting to be kosher violates the prohibition against tza’ar ba’alei hayyim, causing pain to one of God’s living creatures, that company must answer to the Jewish community, and ultimately, to God.”
Dr. Bernard Rollin, author and professor of veterinary ethics and animal welfare at Colorado State University, says, “As a person brought up in the Jewish tradition and as one who studied the Talmud, I was personally aggrieved and ashamed. The purpose of kosher slaughter was historically humaneness, a skillful cut with a sharp knife being far easier on the animal than being subjected to repeated blunt trauma. What one sees in this video is a hideous mockery of that purpose, one sure to elicit grave social doubts about ritual slaughter.”
Indeed, AgriProcessors has sullied shechita’s good name, and its actions are indefensible. It is now up to those who care about upholding the Jewish tradition of compassion toward animals to work together to assure that this never happens again.
To guard against future abuses, we are asking that AgriProcessors and the Orthodox Union work with animal welfare scientists to adopt the guidelines for ritual slaughter developed by scientists at the Food Marketing Institute. Very much in keeping with Torah law, these standards will ensure that kosher slaughter is consistently quick and as kind as possible. By implementing the FMI guidelines for ritual slaughter, we can all rest assured that AgriProcessors and the OU have done their part to uphold Judaism’s time-honored tradition of treating animals with kindness and mercy.
We have the deepest respect for the uniquely human ability to make choices based on moral considerations—we hope that, upon learning the truth about the suffering that animals endure before they arrive on our plate, people will choose to think before they eat. This is very much in keeping with Judaism’s views on the relationship between animals and humans, and, indeed, we are very honored to count many Jews among our members, supporters, and employees.
One final point: Mr. Tal Ronnen was in no way duplicitous in his meeting with Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen in Israel, and Rabbi Cohen has consistently made clear that PETA in no way deceived him. It is AgriProcessors and their small group of supporters who have twisted truth and Torah law to suit their own agenda.
AgriProcessors has attacked Judaism’s long tradition of kindness to animals, and those who share concerns about animal welfare must work together to see that Jewish law is always upheld on the killing floor. Readers can see the video and read the FMI guidelines and additional rabbinic and expert testimony at www.GoVeg.com. For information on Judaism and vegetarianism, please visit the Web site run by the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, at www.JewishVeg.com.
Ben Goldsmith
Campaign Coordinator
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
A Response to Benjamin Goldsmith
By Michael M. Rosen
Benjamin Goldsmith is a sincere man with a thankless job. As PETA’s campaign coordinator, he bears the unenviable burden of responding to the scores of articles critical of the animal-rights group’s extreme tactics – with regard to the shechita flap as well as other scandals. His letter is earnest and no one can doubt that PETA believes very deeply in its cause.
In that spirit I reiterate what I wrote in my article: the video raises important questions and any shortcomings in the shechita process at AgriProcessors must vigorously be addressed. The plant appears to be making improvements but must take special care to ensure the highest standards of humaneness and food safety.
Yet PETA declines to disavow its distortionary strategy and Mr. Goldsmith’s letter only reinforces the organization’s continuing dishonesty. First, Mr. Goldsmith asserts that Rabbi She’ar-Yashuv Cohen, the Chief Rabbi of Haifa, “has consistently made clear that PETA in no way deceived him.” But Globes, the Israeli business portal, reports that Rabbi Cohen sent a letter in December stating that “I forbid further use of my name as questioning the kashrut [kosher status] of the AgriProcessors plant. The PETA videotape that I saw did not disclose the name of the plant involved…and apparently does not show the full picture of the shechita, or ritual slaughter, process.” If this doesn’t smack of deception, it’s hard to imagine what does. Despite Rabbi Cohen’s letter, PETA continues to cite him as a critic of AgriProcessors.
Second, Mr. Goldsmith asks that “AgriProcessors and the Orthodox Union work with animal welfare scientists to adopt the guidelines for ritual slaughter developed by scientists at the Food Marketing Institute.” But it has been reported that FMI has refused to meet with a wide panoply of Orthodox kosher certifiers. And repackaging the criticism of outspoken anti-slaughter activists like Dr. Lester Friedlander or prominent vegetarian rabbis like Rabbi Barry Schwartz accomplishes little more than preaching to the converted.
But these are mere quibbles compared to the giant elephant in the room that Mr. Goldsmith is loath to discuss – PETA’s apparent desire to put an end to shechita. The group continues to stand by its scurrilous “Holocaust-on-your-plate” campaign and its odious refusal to criticize the wanton slaughter of innocent (human) Jews. Mr. Goldsmith cannot plead ignorance of the former, as he personally stood at the forefront of the Holocaust display. Neither can he hide from the latter, which received extensive media coverage. These incidents bespeak insensitivity at best and disdain for Jewish life at worst; the group’s silence leads one to fear the worst.
With all this in the background, PETA seems to be attempting to arouse particular public disgust about shechita through an inflammatory video and hard-nosed tactics. PETA could dispel any suspicions about its motives simply by unequivocally stating that the group is not presently seeking, nor will it seek, the abolition of shechita. Short of that, PETA could demonstrate its sensitivity to Jewish concerns by banishing the loathsome holocaust imagery from its anti-meat campaign. Merely claiming that shechita is “more humane than other slaughter methods used in the U.S.” will not suffice.
As Mr. Goldsmith observes, PETA purports to have “the deepest respect for the uniquely human ability to make choices based on moral considerations” – that is, so long as the moral choice doesn’t involve ritual slaughter.
Contra Rosen:
By Benjamin Goldsmith
I want to thank Michael Rosen, again, for his willingness to engage in respectful dialogue. Replying to Mr. Rosen is an interesting exercise, since he appears to support the exact resolution that we support where AgriProcessors and shechita in general are concerned.
What do PETA and others who are concerned that Jewish and federal law have been violated at AgriProcessors want? We want AgriProcessors to be subjected to unannounced audits for basic humane standards. Mr. Rubashkin has gone on record saying that “What you see on the video is not out of the ordinary… Nothing wrong was, or is being done. There is nothing to admit.”
Mr. Rosen, on the other hand, states, “the video raises important questions and any shortcomings in the shechita process at AgriProcessors must vigorously be addressed. The plant appears to be making improvements but must take special care to ensure the highest standards of humaneness...”
As noted, 100 percent of experts who watched the video (every single one, as mentioned in my previous article, including Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb of the OU, who called the trachea ripping “especially inhumane”) agree that the footage shows serious violations of the prohibition of tza’ar ba’alei hayyim. Only Mr. Rubashkin and his lawyer deny this.
What else does PETA want? We would like for the Orthodox Union to take its own commitment to a “painless” slaughter seriously—to codify this commitment as written standards for humane treatment that are enforced as diligently as all other kosher certification requirements—and to make their commitment an example to the world by publicly proclaiming it and making the standards available.
Mr. Rosen does a good a job, in his first article, of explaining why Judaism is the envy of other monotheistic faiths where commitment to compassion for animals is concerned. I believe that we agree entirely on this point. In fact, it’s my own faith, my own Jewish upbringing, that has led me to PETA and the life’s path I’ve chosen.
My Rabbi has told me many of the exact things that Mr. Rosen states—that Jews are prohibited from hunting, that animals also rest on the Sabbath, that (to quote Mr. Rosen), “The profound esteem in which Judaism holds all life emerges in the laws of shechita, which aim primarily to minimize the animal’s suffering.”
It is an unfortunate fact that animals on factory farms are never allowed to enjoy anything that G-d designed for them, are never allowed to fulfill any of their desires (e.g., for sunlight, fresh air, families), and are treated in ways that would warrant felony convictions were dogs or cats treated so horribly (e.g., mutilations without pain relief, breeding programs that cause them to cripple beneath their own weight, and more).
As just one example, and this is true both for kosher and non-kosher meat: Chickens are bred and drugged so that their upper bodies grow more than six times as quickly as they did just 50 years ago, so that their heart, lungs, and limbs can not keep up. They suffer from one percent death losses per week, and those who survive live mired in their own excrement, suffering from ammonia burns and barely able to move from their artificially massive bulk. Although we wish we could draw attention to this clear abdication of our responsibility to be humane stewards without controversy, we do what we have to do in order to generate discussion and thought.
On the issue of banning shechita: We’re an animal rights organization, so of course we feel that the high Jewish standards of compassion are best met by putting an end to all slaughter, but we don’t have a particular disdain for shechita and in fact the ritual and commitment to compassion of kosher slaughter make it, as we’ve said consistently, better than non-kosher slaughter in the United States. So of course we’re not going after kosher slaughter first; those who want to stand up for shechita, however, are doing their efforts a disservice by defending the horrors we documented at AgriProcessors. In fact, I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing with the fact that defending kosher slaughter will be easier if slaughterhouses abide by a uniform set of guidelines that have been endorsed by Jewish leaders.
PETA has been entirely honest and is always entirely honest. You may take issue with some of our specific campaigns, but we do not (and I do not) deceive. I take the Torah very seriously, as does Mr. Ronnen (an Israeli citizen who did not misrepresent himself to Rabbi Cohen—and Rabbi Cohen has never claimed otherwise) and would not be a part an organization that did not have the highest standards of honesty and integrity.
We also wish that we could grab a bit of our tabloid society’s attention without resorting to controversial campaigns. But our mission, to speak up for animals who have no voice at all and who are treated in horrific ways, demands that we do what we can, with a very limited budget relative to the abusers, to place their suffering onto the tableau of moral concern.
Readers who would like to learn more why many Jews have turned to vegetarianism—both because it is G-d’s ideal and because we don’t wish to support the horrible treatment of G-d’s animals today—can visit JewishVeg.com or GoVeg.com, or call 1-888-VEG FOOD for a free DVD and information. Mention this article and we’ll also send you a booklet on Judaism and vegetarianism.
A Final Word
by Michael Rosen.
Benjamin Goldsmith has submitted another heartfelt response which he swiftly turns into a soapbox to promote PETA's radical agenda of "putting an end to all animal slaughter." Unfortunately, he is less enthusiastic about responding to my core argument: that the group's past campaigns raise serious doubts about the sincerity of the present one.
Mr. Goldsmith neglects to address several of my criticisms of PETA's tactics, including Rabbi Cohen's attempts to dissociate himself from the group. Furthermore, he cannot (and should not) seriously believe that kosher certifiers will unilaterally adopt the "written standards for humane treatment" that PETA demands when FMI -- the group that drafted the standards -- won't engage the certifiers in meaningful discussion.
More importantly, Mr. Goldsmith depicts the campaigns PETA has engaged in the past as "controversial." Tasteless, offensive, and misanthropic better describe the group's comparison of the Holocaust to chicken slaughter and its preference for protecting donkeys over people. These campaigns reflect -- far more than a concern for humane treatment -- a disproportionate valuation of animal life over human and, in this case, Jewish life.
Hopefully this exchange will encourage PETA to reach out to the Jewish community. I am gratified that Mr. Goldsmith concedes that the group is "not going after kosher slaughter first." I just wish they wouldn't go after kosher slaughter at all.