‘Shackle and Hoist’ Horror: The Hidden Cost of Cheap Kosher Beef

But as this new video has exposed, these promises have not been kept. Sixty to 80 percent of the beef exported to Israel is still produced using “shackle and hoist” slaughter. So why does the Chief Rabbinate of Israel continue to certify such a primitive and cruel practice when there are other methods of kosher slaughter that use more modern equipment and cause less suffering? “Shackle and hoist” slaughter only persists because it’s faster and cheaper to disregard animal welfare.

This carefully calculated cruelty allows slaughterhouses to kill more than 90 cows per hour. “Shackle and hoist” slaughter is almost twice as fast as less agonizing methods. This is the hidden cost of cheap kosher meat. The cows are paying the price.

This Day in Jewish History | 1933: Nazi Germany Outlaws Kosher Slaughter

In Nazi propaganda, kashrut was deliberately misrepresented so as to tie in with claims that Jews partook of perverse ritual killings of humans for their blood.

On April 21, 1933, Nazi Germany enacted a law that had the effect of outlawing kosher slaughter in the country. The law did not actually mention Jews or shechita (kosher slaughter); instead, it prohibited the killing of animals for food if they hadn’t first been stunned or anesthetized. Because kosher slaughter requires that the animal be conscious at the time it is killed, it no longer conformed to the law.