Adam Kamien - the ass that talked - ויפתח ה' את פי האתון

Perusing our free copy of the Jewish News' (to get yours, click here) we were 'elated' that their resident soft-porn peddler and dreckerati booze and drugs recorder, has after 2 years determined to again publicise this blog. (Not that we need his help, but it can't harm.)

Readers will note the title of this post is derived from last week's Parsha "Balak" and the story of Bilaam's chatty donkey. A week later the AJN's ass has opened his mouth.

Maybe Donkey Adam was running short on smut and neither could he find a way  to poke fun about a seriously injured child. So AJN Watch was given the 'honor' of his attention.

A bit tardy, he is, seeing how he tried using bully-boy threats when this blog was created (see here). But better late than never.

His imbecilic name-calling proves (if there was any need for proof) that Bilaam's donkey had far more seichal than the AJN's ass.

Note his delicate discharge attacking the AJN Watch blog and that post:
"balls-out, Mariana Trench-depth, plumbing faux pas, holier than thou hypocrites, pests, fundamentalist fanatics, taking cues from unhinged religious zealots, virulent vitriol, idiotic histrionics", while equating us with the Klu Klux Klan and Hizb ut-Tahrir. Nice, no?

Unsurprisingly, Eeyaw Kamien distorts our post, by lying that we 'gleefully' 'quipped' about the NZ earthquake tragedy.

But then what can one expect from an individual who derives his income via the stench of the smutty filth he pushes into so many Jewish homes.

Meanwhile our post suggesting an association between the Shechita ban and earthquake (and, Eeyaw, it was only a suggestion) was picked up and discussed in a number of sites (including some that we prefer not to be associated with). We were quite surprised at the interest shown.

One such site, Shirat Devorah, seems to agree with our sentiments, even mentioning the possibility of Holland too getting a 'heavenly' warning after its politicians recently decided to ban Shechita.

And while we can understand donkey's and smut-peddlers denying that anything that happens comes for a reason and from Hashem, we were rather stunned by comments from some in the 'frum' community who seem to have reservations about 'signs' from Above.

So for their benefit here is a quote from the Talmud Yevamot 63:

And here's how the Hebrew Artscroll explains it:

WARNING: "Don't start with Shechita!"

Were the people of Melbourne and surrounding country areas the addressees of a (not-so) gentle warning message aimed at the state and federal governments?
Saying: "Don't mess with Shechita!"

To many in the community it may indeed seem so.

Only 9 days after the Sunday Age gave front-page coverage to an ignorant and biased anti-Shechita campaign, most of the city and environs felt a 'heavenly jolt' which they claim is a forewarning of what may happen if anti-Shechita laws are implemented.

They cite as proof the case of New Zealand where last year the government declared plans to ban Shechita - under  pressure from a minister who was later allegedly found to have a strong conflict of interest in the matter.

Well, we all know what has happened in New Zealand since that time. Not one, but two devastating and destructive earthquakes plus hundreds of aftershocks have almost totally destroyed life in the city of Christchurch. In fact they just had another one today - this time in the North Island.

So who knows? Maybe there is some link between Shechita bans and earthquakes...

Someone, (possibly Michael Danby and David Southwick,) should pass on the message to Julia Gillard and Ted Baillieu - "Don't risk it!"

Meanwhile read Danny Lamm's article in defence of Shechita in The Age

Bangladeshi report on New Zealand's Shechitah ban

AJN Watch presents its readers with a very interesting article from "Blitz" - a Bangladashi publication whhose pro-Jewish and Israel stance is something of a rrity in the Muslim world. Its banner states:
"BLITZ - THE ONLY ANTI JIHADIST NEWSPAPER CONFRONTING RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM AND PROMOTING INTERFAITH HARMONY - BLITZ FEARS NONE BUT GOD".

This article claims that the New Zealand authorities have been selling "treif" - which they  describe as "non-kosher [haram]" meat to Muslim countries - a fact that has only been disclosed now after the eruption of the scandal behind the Shechitah ban created by the Agriculture Minister David Carter whose financial interests in a company that exports meat to Muslim countries have only now been exposed.

Jews and Muslims are forbidden to consume blood. If an animal is stunned before slaughter, not all its blood will drain away.

Silver Fern Farms as well as Alliance Group Limited are New Zealand's leading procurers, processors and marketers of sheep, lamb, beef and venison. According to laws in New Zealand, animals are stunned before being killed [kosher and halal slaughter is banned according to law of the country]. Iceland, Norway and Sweden also banned kosher and halal slaughter in the past. Under the newly instated Animal Welfare Commercial Slaughter Code in New Zealand, announced by Agriculture Minister David Carter, commercially killed animals would have to be stunned before slaughter. Under the new law, animals are being given electric shock or injection with the objective of getting it stunned [unconscious]. Subsequently the animal is killed either through slaughter or stabbing. In such case, the meat remains both non-kosher and haram for Jews and Muslims.

Before the Second World War, religious slaughter was tolerated in Europe, except for four countries [Switzerland in 1893, Norway in 1930, Poland and Sweden in 1938]. Religious slaughter without stunning was prohibited in several countries in Europe from 1936 to 1944 under the occupation of Nazi Germany [Germany in 1936, Italy in 1938, then in the majority of the other European countries according to the Nazi Germany occupation progress between 1940 and 1944]. The ritual method of slaughter as practiced in Islam and Judaism has been described as inhumane by animal welfare organizations in the U.K. and the U.S.A., who have stated that it "causes severe suffering to animals."

In 1978, a study incorporating EEG [electroencephalograph] with electrodes surgically implanted on the skull of 17 sheep and 15 calves, and conducted by Wilhelm Schulze et al. at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Germany concluded that "the slaughter in the form of a ritual cut is, if carried out properly, painless in sheep and calves according to EEG recordings and the missing defensive actions" [of the animals] and that "For sheep, there were in part severe reactions both in bloodletting cut and the pain stimuli" when captive bolt stunning [CBS] was used.

In 2003, the Farm Animal Welfare Council [FAWC], an independent advisory group, concluded that the way halal and kosher meat is produced causes severe suffering to animals and should be banned immediately. FAWC argued that cattle required up to two minutes to bleed to death when such means are employed. The Chairperson of FAWC at the time, Judy MacArthur Clark, added, "this is a major incision into the animal and to say that it doesn't suffer is quite ridiculous."

Halal and kosher butchers deny that their method of killing animals is cruel and expressed anger over the FAWC recommendation. In April 2008, the Food and Farming minister in the United Kingdom, Lord Rooker, stated that halal and kosher meat should be labeled when it is put on sale, so that members of the public can decide whether or not they want to buy food from animals that have been bled to death. He was quoted as saying, "I object to the method of slaughter ... my choice as a customer is that I would want to buy meat that has been looked after, and slaughtered in the most humane way possible."

The same years, the French Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fishing has published ASIDCOM's Bibliographical Report on Religious Slaughter and the Welfare of Animals, as a contribution within the framework of a meeting on animals and society organized in the first half of the year 2008. This report quotes scientific papers and French veterinary PhD which support the equality or even possible superiority of religious slaughter to other methods of slaughter. This report quotes in particular the Ph.D work of Dr Pouillaude which concludes by: "religious slaughter would thus be a less stressing mode of slaughter. Conclusions of all the scientific experiments converge towards a firmly supported certainty: properly carried out, religious slaughter is the most humane way because it leads to less trauma to animals to be killed to be consumed for its meat".

For the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Humane Society International, "the animals that are slaughtered according to kosher and halal should be securely restrained, particularly the head and neck, before cutting the throat" as "movements [during slaughter] results in a poor cut, bad bleeding, slow loss of consciousness, if at all, and pain."

At the European Airlines and New Zealand airlines as well as hotels and restaurants are serving non-kosher as well as haram meat to the customers, without informing that the animal was stunned and killed with bolt gun. There is visibly tremendous campaign in United Kingdom against kosher and halal slaughter of animals. Some of the leading politicians in United Kingdom are also campaigning against kosher and halal slaughter and suggesting that halal and kosher meat should be banned in that country. They term kosher and halal slaughter as "barbaric method."

Another report on the accusations agains the Minister:

Click here for more.

And another article about the Shechitah ban in Blitz:

More here.

Community Unity? Sydney KA gives Melbourne's Shechita a serve!

Community Unity

Kosher consumers will have heard of the appearance of a new Kashrut Agency in NSW. Since 1990, Sydney has benefitted from a united kashrut under The Kashrut Authority. The Sydney Beth Din and the Yeshiva rabbinate came together under one banner, bringing an end to many difficult years of machloket within the community. Previously there had been friction and tension when events were hosted. Members of the community required dual supervision or risked alienating guests who would only trust one hechsher or the other. The joint KA, and Sydney’s Kashrut, quickly became the envy of many communities around the world, bringing communal unity and kashrut to the highest standards.

Now it seems this is about to change. Some argue that competition is always good for the community, but is it really good in this case?

At the outset, so that there is no misunderstanding, nothing that is about to be said is intended to reflect badly on any of the principal kashrut organizations in Melbourne. The KA holds each of them in high regard and works closely with them. We have always maintained that it is the duty of every local consumer to fully follow the halachic rulings and take guidance from their own local Rabbinate – and we will support that local rabbinate in full. However, at the same time, it is our duty to expose the truth in relation to what is taking place in our community, for the benefit of our community.

Why does this organisation say it wants a new kashrut agency here in Sydney? Not because it favours competition. Not because there is a problem with KA prices. Instead it has stated clearly that our standards are not up to par, and in particular Sydney chickens are not kosher enough for them. They don’t consider our food to be kosher. To be clear; this is not about using Melbourne caterers and providing a competitive service to the community. The very same caterer that is being used by them now has catered previously in Sydney, with chickens produced under the supervision of the KA.

This time there was more to it. This time there was the insistence that the caterer must use Melbourne chickens (under Melbourne Adass.) They contend that some of the guests simply would refuse to eat the Sydney chickens. Given that the KA cannot supervise a function unless the meat or poultry is under its supervision, as is the normative rabbinic practice; this new group has jumped in to “fill” the “desperate” need that it has itself manufactured.

Let us examine the contention that our chickens are not kosher or not kosher enough.

The Shechita

This year a very respected Rabbi from the United States, Rabbi Rotenberg , who works with the Nibator Rav - the supervisor of shechita for the Hisachdus HoRabbonim of Rabbonim of America (Satmar Shechita)- was brought from the US to inspect the shechita in Melbourne. His findings are not a secret and indeed are quite well known. He reported among other things:

Shechita and especially the checking of the knives (chalef) are difficult tasks, and the shochet must be at ease and not pressured. As such, guidelines have developed overseas as to maximum rates of shechita. The OU shechts at a maximum of 750 birds an hour per shochet, some require as low as 600 birds an hour. In Melbourne the Rabbi found the amount being shechted was 1000 per hour!

Furthermore in general, no pressure should be placed on the shochet to work faster than he feels he can. Rabbi Rotenberg had heard that this pressure unfortunately sometimes takes place in Melbourne.

In contrast, in Sydney, the rate of Shechita is at most 450 birds an hour. Furthermore, in order to reduce the chance of mishap and pressure on the Shochtim, links have been removed from the chain, so that chickens cannot be hung, to ensure forced regular breaks for the shochet.

The Kashering

Rabbi Rotenberg found that chickens in Melbourne are soaked before kashering at a temperature of 4C. Rabbi Rotenberg said that this is not the standard (lechatchila) and chickens processed this way were only acceptable after the fact (b’dieved). He said they must develop a system “similar to the system in Sydney”(!!).

In Sydney, from 1999, when the introduction of chilled water was first canvassed, our Rabbinic Administrator, Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, negotiated with the authorities and they agreed that as mandated in Shulchan Aruch the initial pre-soak would not be chilled. This has remained the standard in Sydney with full co-operation between the chicken manufacturer, The Kashrut Authority and the government. (Soaking in chilled water prior to salting prevents the free flow of blood from the meat during the salting).

Unfortunately in Melbourne this was missed and chilled water was introduced and this is still to be corrected.

Yet we are told by this new group that they cannot eat the Sydney chickens because the standards in Melbourne are so much higher. So let us look further.

Could it be the salting?

Rabbi Feigelstock , a highly regarded and leading posek from South America, who assists us with our Eruv, who is a shochet himself, and has been involved with shechita around the world, inspected our shechita. As well as praising our Shochtim, he said that our salting is of the highest standard and is as good as anywhere in the world.

The Shochtim

Is it perhaps the Shochtim? Everyone knows that Halacha says a shochet must be even more G-d fearing than a rabbi. Perhaps our shochtim are not good enough for these people?

The entire community knows rabbis Perlow and Niasoff. They are both G-d fearing men, loved and respected by their communities. Equally so, our stand-in shochet for fowl, Rabbi Groner. On numerous occasions their “chalafim” have been shown to visiting Rabbis who have praised their talents. At no stage have the local detractors asked to see the chalaf of these shochtim or to view the shechita or even the salting – yet our shechita has been condemned. How insulting that visiting rabbis have recently come from overseas and have told us that they were warned by local individuals that they should not eat our meat because our shochet is not good enough!

So are Melbourne chickens from a kashrut perspective better than Sydney chickens?

Clearly not. Independent review declares Melbourne chickens to be only “b’dieved” - not the way things should be. Consequently, to import Melbourne chickens to Sydney is to import a demonstrably lower standard. How then does one have the audacity to foment disunity in this city based on the falsehood that our standard is inferior?

The answer is that communities become driven by pseudo-elitism. They claim to be holy, and convince themselves and others of the justice of their cause. Factions and new players strive to make a mark by adding credence to their own religiosity through disparaging others. As the Torah teaches us, they are not doing the will of the Creator. By Divine Providence clear lessons can be drawn from the parshiot of the coming weeks , Bha’alotcha , Shlach and Korach. Our sages show that all the tragedy, disunity and rebellion throughout these parshiot comes from one single primary source – the motsi shem ra and lashon hara of just a few individuals The “evil tongue” so despised in Jewish law – defamation and tale bearing which is forbidden even if the words are true, how much more so when they are not true. This talk of inferior standards is simply lashon hara and motsi shem ra masquerading as piety.

Elitism thrives on disunity, because unity implies mutual respect and tolerance – disunity is fertile ground for one to say I am superior to another. It appeals to the ego and to the religious sensibility of those who are invariably misled into following it. These followers are sincerely in search of what they believe is true Torah, and sadly, they are indeed misled into believing, that theirs is the way to come closer to the Creator. Their teachers have forgotten what our sages have taught, that we are in exile not because of the laws of kosher or the laws between man and G-d, but because of our failures in the laws between man and man!

The False Claim of Personal Higher Standards

The Shulchan Aruch (OC Siman 468 and elsewhere) rules that in interpersonal relations, one must even forego a personal stringency or custom rather than create division, or embarrass one’s fellow. The hypocrisy of these people pretending elevated piety is that they overlook or violate fundamental tenets of the very code they claim to uphold.

Competition may be good when it is based on truth and Torah principles, but not when based on lies and manufactured, unsubstantiated accusations of inferiority. If anyone wants to start a kashrut organization to make themselves some money, or they are under the illusion that it will make kashrut cheaper for us all, then let them do it and say so. If they want to open because it makes them feel empowered or worthwhile – gezunterheit , but say so. Please do not propagate the abhorrent falsehood that it is about standards of kashrut or superior levels of religiosity.

We recognize that no kashrut organization is perfect, and no human being is perfect, and where problems are identified we seek to correct them in a professional and transparent manner. We have been asked and we will assist the Melbourne authorities to overcome the cold water regulations issue. However what meets their local reality, including the necessary respected ruling of their Rabbinate, is for their community and cannot be marketed here as superior when it is demonstrably not.

In the meantime, the vast majority of our local Rabbinate, and the vast majority of our local kosher consumers, supports the ideal of communal unity that has developed under our model of one agreed high standard of kashrut, under the joint regulation of those with real experience and expertise in the field. They do not want to go back to the days of disunity and confusion over differing kashrut organizations. We can only hope that those others involved in this new organization, will quickly see the light before irreparable damage is done to kashrut in our city.

The Kashrut Authority
Mr Baron Revelman – President
Rabbi Moshe D Gutnick – Rabbinic Administrator
Rabbi P Feldman - Committee
Rabbi J Lawrence_- Committee
Rabbi D Rogut- Committee
Rabbi Y Ulman- Committee

Rabbi A Perlow – Shochet
Rabbi Y Niasoff – Shochet

Rabbi A Groner – Assistant Rabbinic Administrator
Rev A Amzalek – Senior Supervisor
Rev S Samra – Senior Supervisor

AJN Watch is no authority in Shechita and obviously cannot comment on procedural or halachic concerns. But this lengthy screed seems to indicate that the NSW KA is quite anxious about the likelihood of another Kashrut power in their region.
Issuing this statement is also a dicey move for KA as no doubt the 3 Melbourne Shechita authorities will respond vigorously.

Instead of, or in addition to, ORA lobbying the government on labeling matters, maybe they ought to emphasize to their membership on the hazards of bagging each other.

This notice by KA, by the way, proves the concern by many on granting powers of certifying Kashrut authorities to an organization like ORA where many members would have conflict of interest.

And talking of ORA lobbying, how on earth did they overlook the looming ban on Shechita in New Zealand? The question is especially pertinent to Rabbi Moshe Gutnick who states that he has been sending shochtim there for years. Let's hope ORA direct some of their energy towards ensuring that this disgraceful ban is overturned.

New Zealand bans shechita
By Dan Goldberg · May 28, 2010

SYDNEY (JTA) – New Zealand has banned shechita, the kosher slaughter of animals.

The country’s new animal welfare code, which took effect Friday, mandates that all animals for commercial consumption be stunned prior to slaughter to ensure they are treated “humanely and in accordance with good practice and scientific knowledge.”

The regulation has shocked the Jewish community.
“This decision by the New Zealand government, one which has a Jewish prime minister, is outrageous,” said Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, acting president of the Organization of Rabbis of Australasia. “We will be doing everything possible to get this decision reversed.”
Gutnick, who travels frequently to New Zealand to oversee shechita, added, “One of the last countries I would have expected to bring in this blatantly discriminatory action would have been New Zealand.”

David Zwartz, the chairman of the Wellington Jewish Council, agreed. “I am sure there will objections made that this action is an infringement of the right of Jews to observe their religion,” he said.

Agriculture Minister David Carter rejected a recommendation that shechita be exempt from the new code.

The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee did recommend a dispensation for kosher slaughter in 2001, but the new code does not allow any exemptions.

J-Wire or Gay-Wire ?

Is Henry Benjamin following the AJN - becoming obsessed with "gayness". Please Henry, most people don't give a Donald Duck about what this or any other person does in private. (Well, we sure hope that he only does it in private.)

J-Wire: Obama selects Jewish Gay Ambassador to NZOctober 9, 2009 by Henry Benjamin

A Jewish lawyer currently based in Shanghai has been selected by President Obama as the new U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.David Huebner is openly gay and is reported as being the general counsel for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Discrimination. If Huebner’s selection is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he will become the third gay ambassador in U.S. history and will mark another notch in Obama’s election promise belt.

AJNWatch comment: Tells us a lot about Obama's priorities. G-d help America.

Head of the New Zealand Jewish Council Stephen Goodman told J-Wire: “If his election is approved we welcome him to New Zealand. Auckland has an openly gay reform rabbi who is American and has a New Zealander as a partner.”

AJNWatch comment: Goodman seems mighty proud of his "openly gay reform rabbi".Looks like he has nothing much else to show off about.
But really, big deal. Australia can top that. Our Reform claim to fame is a halachically-non-Jewish "rabbi" - or more correctly - "rabbiette"/"rabbi-ess".

Some may recall an interview with her some years ago in The Australian, where she proudly proclaimed that her non-Jewish mother never bothered to go through the motions of conversion - not even the super-lite Reform version.

"...I am dealing with being one of the first women rabbis in Sydney,” explains Jacqueline Ninio, 39, associate rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Sydney, Australia; her father is Turkish-Egyptian, her mother is an Australian Jew-by-choice..."

http://tinyurl.com/yf7kdg8