Left: Parliament of Poland (Sejm). Right: EJA Director Rabbi Menachem Margolin.

Poland’s Ban on Shechita Overturned

Poland’s constitutional court on Wednesday overturned a ban on the ritual slaughter of animals which had affected the Jewish and Muslim communities and eliminated a $620 million a year industry.

The court argued that the constitution guarantees the freedom of religious practice. It is a victory for Poland’s small Jewish and Muslim communities and for the local agricultural industry.

Shechita had been illegal since Jan. 1, 2013, due to a ban imposed after a campaign by animal rights activists.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, director of the European Jewish Association, told the JTA that the ruling was a “relief” because it “prevents a dangerous precedent that would have affected all European Jewry.”

4 Comments

  • non-gender

    Beware, groups like PETA will not stop until they do succed in obtaining a world wide ban

  • Finally

    This is a Nes.
    Since they all eat meat the only reason for the ban was purely anti semitic.
    B H it was overturned!!!!

  • lZDxLrnr

    @Finally: The ban was probably anti-muslim to start with, and only included kosher slaughter because it is is so similar that it was hard to write a law forbidding one but not the other.