The Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) has called on the Polish government to find a solution which allows for the endurance of shechitah in Poland after a constitutional court appeared to strike down a solution for religious slaughter in the face of attempts at its proscription.

“This ruling is unacceptable from a moral and ethical point of view,” Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg, Deputy Director of the RCE said in reaction to the ruling. “We call on the Polish government to find a legal caveat which will ensure the continuation of shechitah, which is such an important part of Jewish life in all over world and particularly in Poland.”

The Warsaw court’s ruling said the government had acted unconstitutionally when it exempted Jews and Muslims from stunning animals before slaughtering them according to their traditions.

Earlier in the year, Polish animal rights organizations began protesting against shechitah, but Poland’s minister of agriculture said he will not bow to the activists and ban ritual slaughter in the country, adding that banning ritual slaughter would be contrary to the Polish Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion. Earlier in the month, Polish President Bronisław Komorowski also expressed support for European Jews’ right to kosher slaughter.

“While it may not be their intention, those who seek to proscribe Jewish traditions in general and shechitah in particular are reminding the Jewish community of far darker times,” Rabbi Goldberg said. “We hope this issue will be resolved as soon as possible because it is sending an ominous message to the Jewish community which has managed to rebuild itself.”

The RCE is an organization representing over 700 rabbis from across the continent which sees to the needs of European Jewish communities.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)