Lubavitch Rabbi Ruffles Wrong Feathers

Brighton, Boston – The city is cracking down on the rabbi who ruffled feathers in his Brighton neighborhood by slaughtering dozens of chickens Erev Yom Kippur as part of a religious ritual and later turned his driveway into a makeshift butcher shop.

The city plans to issue a nuisance notice today to the owner of 239 Chestnut Hill Ave., where yesterday dozens of squawking chickens were beheaded as part of a ritual preceding.

Rabbi Pinchus Krinsky of the Lubavitcher Shul, started performing the slaughter at his home five years ago after his butcher shop closed, said next-door neighbor Larry Loew who says he complained to the city about the unsanitary conditions. “This is not a religious issue. This is a health issue,” Loew said. “You can’t butcher in the name of any God in your back yard without the proper drainage and meeting health codes. He’s putting everyone around him at risk.”

Yesterday afternoon a man stood outside in the rain, hunched over a metal table where he methodically ripped out the birds’ innards with his bare hands and threw the discarded bloody bits into buckets. The chickens were put in a pile on a table, waiting to be packaged and eventually eaten.

A city health inspector visited the home and discovered that the homeowner didn’t have a permit to keep the live birds, said Lisa Timberlake, spokeswoman for the Inspectional Services Department. An inspector went back, but did not enter because a religious service was going on and dead birds were not visible, she said. The notice, which carries no fine or sanctions, won’t be served until today when ISD verifies who owns the home, she said.

The man gutting the chickens yesterday said they have been performing the ritual there for many years with no objections. “We plan to continue,” he said, declining to give his name.

Krinsky, who has said in the past that his method is more humane than non-kosher slaughter, was unavailable. A woman who answered the phone said he could not come to the phone and hung up.

Timberlake said the city can help the homeowner through the permit process and make them aware of applicable zoning or health laws. “We are mindful and respectful of various religious holidays and we’d like to help any and everyone through the process,” she said.