investigator Philip Schein and his wife, Hannah,
exposed inhumane practices at a kosher meat
plant in Uruguay
Meet Hannah and Philip Schein, undercover investigators for the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Now, for the first time, they are going public with their identities.
Since 2002, the Scheins have taken on about 20 undercover cases, as well as others they have conducted publicly. The targets of their stings have run the gamut from an egg farm managed by Trappist monks, to a Canadian bear-baiting operation that has supplied fur to the British Royal Guards, to songstress Beyoncé Knowles, once an enthusiastic wearer of fur.
Activists Who Exposed Meat Industry Reveal Their Own (Kosher) Identity
investigator Philip Schein and his wife, Hannah,
exposed inhumane practices at a kosher meat
plant in Uruguay
When AgriProcessors, America’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, was caught on tape conducting what a federal agency later called “acts of inhumane slaughter,” officials at the plant knew they had been infiltrated by undercover investigators. What the company didn’t know was that two of those infiltrators were a married couple who keep kosher themselves.
Meet Hannah and Philip Schein, undercover investigators for the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Now, for the first time, they are going public with their identities.
Since 2002, the Scheins have taken on about 20 undercover cases, as well as others they have conducted publicly. The targets of their stings have run the gamut from an egg farm managed by Trappist monks, to a Canadian bear-baiting operation that has supplied fur to the British Royal Guards, to songstress Beyoncé Knowles, once an enthusiastic wearer of fur.
But thanks to their background and their knowledge of the laws of kashrut, Hannah, 33, and Philip, 43, have come to specialize in investigating kosher slaughterhouses. Indeed, PETA had not investigated kosher operations until the Scheins came on board; since then, the group has been involved in about eight such cases. Philip in particular has been credited with becoming an expert on kosher slaughter.
“If it weren’t for Philip and his interest and pursuit of this issue, I’m not sure that we would have been able to do those investigations,” said Daphna Nachminovitch, PETA’s vice president of cruelty investigations. “They were Philip’s brainchild.”
The Scheins’ — and PETA’s — first investigation of a kosher slaughterhouse took place in 2004, when the organization obtained footage of cows walking around with their throats cut at AgriProcessors’ plant in Postville, Iowa. Hannah had trained the investigators who went undercover for the exposé, and Philip analyzed the video footage that PETA subsequently received.
Under pressure from rabbis as well as animal rights groups and government agencies, the company promised to change its slaughtering procedures, though AgriProcessors has been the subject of several more of the Scheins’ investigations.
An AgriProcessors representative declined to comment for this article. But Norman Schlaff, the owner of the Musicon Farm in Gosha, N.Y., was willing to discuss his experience with the Scheins, who paid an undercover visit to his kosher deer slaughterhouse last year.
Schlaff said that two young people who appeared to be a Modern Orthodox couple toured the farm and, like many of his visitors who wish to ensure that their meat is kosher, took videos and photographs of the slaughtering process.
“The next day, PETA called and said, ‘Go on the Internet,’” Schlaff said.
He found a page on the group’s Web site that accused slaughterers at the farm of sitting on the deer to hold them down while their throats are slit, an allegation that Schlaff denies. “It was really very disturbing,” Schlaff said of the unwelcome attention he received after the PETA article. “I got thousands of e-mails, including some death threats from people saying, ‘We’re going to do to you what you do to the deer.’”
The Scheins maintain that they want only for kosher slaughter to live up to what they consider its original purpose: to minimize the suffering of the animals. Orthodox Jewish standards of kashrut have “gotten so focused on the letter of the law that they’ve lost sight of the fact that [kashrut] is about reducing suffering,” Hannah said.
But according to Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the Orthodox Union’s kashrut division, liberal Jews such as the Scheins are using the term “kosher” as a “generic phrase” to denote practices they consider morally acceptable, thus missing the “fundamental issue” of kashrut: obedience to Jewish law.
Hannah and Philip are currently working (openly) on a project to reform what they say are animal abuses committed in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods in the course of observing the pre-Yom Kippur absolution ritual known as kapparot.
The kapparot crackdown may cause a stir in such Orthodox enclaves as Brooklyn’s Boro Park, but it probably will not get as much attention on celebrity gossip blogs as Hannah’s encounter last year with Beyoncé. After PETA won a dinner with the singer in an auction, Hannah and a second PETA employee, armed with a hidden camera, sat down with her — and accused the star of being complicit in the abuse of animals by using fur in her wardrobe and in her clothing line, House of Deréon.
“I can’t tell you how quickly they escorted us out of there,” Hannah said. She added that Beyoncé has not been seen in fur since.
Though a glimpse at the Scheins’ career makes them sound like Erin Brockovich-style crusaders, their partnership started out far more innocuously. Hannah and Philip met at a 1998 orientation for new professionals in the Jewish campus organization Hillel. They married a year later in New Jersey, right after Hillel’s 1999 conference ended.
In 2002, Hannah took a job in PETA’s investigations department, and the Scheins moved from upstate New York, where both had been working on graduate degrees, to a town near Norfolk, Va., where PETA is headquartered. Shortly thereafter, Philip, a longtime vegan and animal rights advocate, joined Hannah at the organization.
The Scheins have decided to go public as part of a publicity bid for PETA. Despite the sensitive nature of their undercover work, they say they are not worried about the media attention.
Their confidence in their ability to carry on undercover investigations — and to have carried out so many in the first place — appears to be rooted in the techniques they use when they go undercover, which they will not divulge.
“We’re still active investigators, so we don’t really share our methods,” Hannah said.
But she added, “Everything we do is legal.”
me
sick
Understanding
This guy bears a very srong resemblence to that guy that was hanging around kapores this year!
Anyone agree?
PeopleEatingTastyAnimals
Velamalshenim al sehi tikvah……
CH
I would not be surprised if we find out that they come from Goyim.
zal
i think its the same guy who was by kaporos,
here’s the link: http://www.col.org.il/show_…
Shmuli
i have a picture of the guy that was hanging around kaparos this year, and i can confirm that it IS the same guy.
Yosef Yitzchok
Kol Hakavod! This kind of thing is much needed. Since when did tzaar baalei chayim stop being an issur? Somehow our community seems not to care and if this is what it takes to change that, so be it.
ibr
it’s very sad that the slaughterhouses are in such a state that jews would turn against each other because of it. no one is blameless here…both sides have weighty points.
hoops!
He was seen in 770 two weeks ago
Shlomo Stein
Keep in mind that this article was written by the forward, which is well known to be anti-frum, and definitely anti-chabad.
Also keep in mind, that people like these have a disrespect for the Torah’s outlook on life. They do not agree that part of elevating this world to kedusha is through eating kosher, and elevating the chai… They have their own warped sense of “tikun olam” (which usually has to do with donating money to the people of Nigeria or something).
Go help the thousands of poor people in Jerusalem, struggling to buy basic food. Or the thousands of homeless Americans…
Sure tzar baalei chayim is very important, and a basis of our beliefs. But these are not the people we should be learning it from, or trusting. Their opinions are warped and biased. Learn it from the Torah, a yirei shamayim, or a rav that you respect.
We should definitely not be trusting an article in the forward that is obviously slanted against yidishkeit.
S Y S
And haha, so much for “kosher” identity.
like it or not
While PETA obviously has an agenda which makes us look at them with suspision whenever they make their cliams. Anyone who is guilty of crualty to animals should be held accountable whether the people in our community like it or not.
Right and wrong is never determined by votes.
Exccommunication
Excommunication .. Do I hear Chearim????
zalmen the schiker
i agree that kaporas has to be in a neater fashion.
Logic
For those of you who condemn this couple’s work, you are being naive to not question the conditions in the slaughter houses. No one is ceasing the shochet method rather the work being done here is enhancing the kosher purity of the meat. Questions should always be asked, and we can thank them for ensuring high standards.
invetigate
OWNERSHIP INFORMATION
Owner: SCHEIN PHILIP I HANNAH I
Owners’ Relationship: HUSBAND AND WIFE
Property Address: 127 HIDALGO DR
HAMPTON VA 23669-1144
Mailing Address: 127 HIDALGO DR
HAMPTON VA 23669-1144
Phone Number: (757) 850-2767
Assessor’s Parcel Number: 11B037 -10 -00-007
State: VIRGINIA
County: HAMPTON (CITY)
SALES INFORMATION
Seller: WILLIAMS DAVID M & PATRICIA A
Sales Price: $136,500.00
Deed Type: GRANT DEED
Recorded Date: 06-14-2002
Document Year: 2002
Document Number: 000000011793
Lender Name: ATLANTIC BAY MTG GRP
First Mortgage Amount: $109,200.00
Mortgage Loan Type: CONVENTIONAL
Mortgage Deed Type: MORTGAGE DEED
Mortgage Term Type: YEARS
Mortgage Term: 30
Mortgage Due Date: 01-03-2032
Title Company: ATTORNEY ONLY
Residence Determined From Zipcode: YES
ASSESSOR INFORMATION
Assessed Year: 2004
Total Land & Improvement Value: $145,000.00
Land Value: $48,100.00
Improvement Value: $96,900.00
Assessment Method For Total Land & Improvement Value: ASSESSED
Assessment Method For Land Value: ASSESSED
Assessment Method For Improvement Value: ASSESSED
Total Assessed Land & Improvement Value: $145,000.00
Total Assessed Land Value: $48,100.00
Total Assessed Improvement Value: $96,900.00
Land Use: SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE
County Determined Land Use: 501
Property Type: SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE / TOWNHOUSE
Number of Buildings: 1
Tax Amount: $1,841.50
Tax Year: 2004
Lot Front Footage: 80
Lot Depth Footage: 160
Lot Acreage: 0.2938
Lot Square Footage: 12,800
Universal Building Square Footage: 1,686
Building Square Footage Type: LIVING
Living Building Square Footage: 1,686
Garage Square Footage: 498
Year Constructed: 1974
Number Of Bedrooms: 4
Total Numbers Of Rooms: 9
Number Of Bathrooms: 2
Number Of Full Bathrooms: 2
Air Conditioning Type: AC.CENTRAL
Primary Building Type: TYPE UNKNOWN
Physical Condition: AVERAGE
Construction Type: TYPE UNKNOWN
Exterior Wall Type: ALUMINUM SIDING
Fireplaces Present: YES
Fireplace Type: TYPE UNKNOWN
Garage Type: ATTACHED
Heating Type: FORCED AIR
Parking Type: ATTACHED GARAGE
Roof Type: ASPHALT SHINGLE
Number Of Stories: 2
LEGAL DESCRIPTION
Lot Number: 7
Subdivision: FOX BRIDGE SEC 10
Source Of Property Location: DIRECT FROM LOCAL SOURCE
Carrier Code: C014
Census Id / Block Group / Block / Suffix: 0101036005
Legal Description: FOXBRIDGE 10 L7.
mendy
for shlomo stein, verry well said. and to yosef yitzchok i say, know your stuff, that includes halacha witch aparently you don’t (no offence) and also tha u.s.d.a. reglulations. i was there myself when the first story which p.e.t.a. happend and agriprosesors (not to mention that it is owned by our fellow lubavitchers)did absolutly NOTHING wrong not-halacha wise and neither did they break the law so i think next time you rite something like that think about it
wow!
this is sick CH.info take down that information!
you can kvetch all you want about whether what they did is improving kashrus or is kefira – but posting their personal information is 100% against the Torah.
Milhouse
“Yosef Yitzchok”, go learn the dinim of Tzaar Baalei Chayim. Almost by definition, nothing that happens in a commercial operation is a violatoin TzBCh. And even if there was a violation of TzBCh, that would not affect the kashrus at all, any more than a restaurant becomes less kosher if the waiters wear shatnez or the chef doesn’t put on tefilin. One thing has nothing to do with the other. The claim that TzBCh is the reason for kashrus is apikorsus (“ho’omer al kan tzipor yagi’u rachamecho…”)
Ephraim
Mendy, your facts are all wrong:
The USDA investigation (in its report released April 2005) determined that AgriProcessors “had engaged in acts of inhumane slaughter.”
Beyond its cruelty violations, Rubashkins also has the worst record in the state (Iowa) for health and safety violations and has a dismal history of environmental violations.
How can you defend such an absymal company?
GOTCHA!
I FOUND A VIDEO OF THIS GUY SNOOPING AROUND CROWN HEIGHTS!!!!!
http://chabadtube.com/18b_c…
me myself and i
investigate: you are funny
i also thnk its the samw guy
mendy pellan has show about him
also this guy makes as if we didnt knowwho he was
he sucks at under cover he stuck out like a sour thumb
Ephraim
Obviously the guy wasn’t undercover at kaporos – he was talking to Mendy on camera about PETA! And I saw him with a video camera out in the open. The article says he is only sometimes undercover.
He must have some tricks up his sleeve because he got into both of the Rubashkins in Iowa and Nebraska and got into that shackle and hoist slaughterhouse in South America.
The footage doesn’t lie. These places are worse than I imagined.
By the way a couple of people confirmed he was at 770 two weeks ago.