JANUARY 3, 1907
The Nebraska Independent
Meat for the Kosher Market
The fight of the East side butchers
with the beef trust calls attention to
tent, whose age is measured by noth
ing less than that of the Mosaic law.
There are nearly 4,000 kosher kutch
ers in New York and that means
4,000 shops supplying meat which has
-been killed and prepared, in the man
ner indicated in the Old Testament
and the Talmud, and. which is bought
exclusively by at least 75 per cent of
the city's Hebrew population. "Kosh
er," a word written in three Hebrew
letters and ' displayed In the window
or over the door of every orthodox
Hebrew butcher's shop, means simply
"approved."--To the Hebrew, .how
' ever, this word conveys the assurance
that the meat offered for sale within
has been inspected and passed by a
rabbi of his religion. Just at present,
also, , it indicates a meat that costs
more than twice as much as the meat
lacking this ' guarantee and that is
the reason why the kosher butchers
are fighting the beef trust.
"Flesh with , the life, thereof, which
la tho hlrwvl thprAnf ahall Vf not fiat."
is one of the first of the Mosaic laws,
given in the ninth chapter of Genesis,
and it is an outcome of this law, say
the rabbis, that most of the -regulations
to be found in the Talmud re-
t garding meat have, been made. The
, present system of kosher inspection
is the practical application of these
regulations to modern conditions.
In every slaughter house in the city
patronized by the retail kosher butch
ers there Tis a Je.wish tabpi, who ap
points his "mashgichin,";;.or inspectors,
.and his "shochat," or killer. Before
the cattle are brought to the latter
the inspectors, examine, them carefully.
,'lfa blemish of any kind is found in
them a wound, lameness, any -evi-
to kill them, as they are. unfit for the
kosher market.
This shochat must be a man who
.hasireceived a diploma, from a rabbi.
He' must know something of the Tal-
'.mud, must be well versed in the
tenets of Judaism, as well as in the
laws ; of , hygiene. . He is expected to
be of a humane disposition, for, ac
cording to Rabbi Adolph Spiegel, who
settled the kosher strike in this city
four years ago, the humane treatment
of animals is at the bottom of a good
.many of; the .kosher regulations. Ac
cording to the, latter,, a shochat can
slaughter in only one way, with one
i forward-and backward thrust of a
knife. This knife must be long, with
out a scratch or a dent on it, and so
sharp that a single stroke of it brings
ture, to the animal that is pronounced
worthv to be led before it.
As soon as the animal is killed by
the Bhochat the rabbi connected with
the slaughter house, or one -of. his
inspectors, opens the body and makes
a careful examination of every organ
in it. Tho lungs especially are nub
Jected to a rigid scrutiny. Air is
Mown Into them, and If this experi
ment reveals a aluglo blemish or hole
the treat of the entire animal Ir de
clared unfit for tho kosher trade and
is turned over to the regular butchers.
When the slaughtered animal, how
ever, shows no' imperfection to the in
spectors the veins and arteries are
extracted from the forequarters and
thrown away. The hindquarters, with
the veins and arteries still in them,
are not used for kosher meat. But the
forequarters, after they have been
treated as described, are cut up into
smaller pieces. Each of these pieces
is then labeled and sealed with lead
by the attending rabbi or his author
ized representative, after which It is
sold to the retail kosher butcher. . On
the label, besides the signature of the
rabbi, are placed the date and hour
of the killing and, according to the
kosher lay, the retail butcher is not
allowed to sell this meat three days
after the date given by the rabbi.
In Europe the kosher butchers sell
the hind as well as the forequarters
of slaughtered cattle. There, how
however, the veins and arteries are
extracted from every part of the ani
mal before it is considered fit for the
market. Of course, even with this
precaution, the orthodox Hebrew does
not consider that the Mosaic regula
tion regarding the blood in meat has
been sufficiently observed. For this
reason, after the meat has been pur
chased from the kosher butcher, it is
soak for half an hour in water, then
laid in salt for an hour, and again
soaked in water, before all trace of
blood is eliminated and it is consid
ered ready to be cooked and eaten.
These special , rules governing the
killing and preparing of kosher meat
today were given by Malmonides, the
famous Spanish rabbi and physician
of eight centuries ago, who collected
them from the Talmud and the Old
Testament. As a result, in every
country today, with one exception,
where Hebrews are found, cattle are
slaughtered for the kosher market in
the manner described. The exception
is Switzerland where the government
has forbidden the killing of cattle with
a knife, on the theory that the latter
is an inhuman instrument, and that
by employing it the Hebrew shochat
is guilty of cruelty to animals. Since
tho rules derived by Malmonides from
the Talmud do not admit of any other
method of killing, the Jews in Switz
erland have been compelled to go with
out kosher meat. As a consequence,
rather than break the kosher rules,
many of the Swiss Hebrews have be
come vegetarians. New York Times.
The wealthy old gentleman came. up
the steps dripping with perspiration
and puffing like an automobile.
"Oh, father," faltered the beautiful
heiress, nervously, "where have, you
been?"
"I have been attending to that
French count who is after your hand
and my bullion."
"Gracious, father, I hope you haven't
been rude. The count is such a deli
cate gentleman. Didn't I tell you to
handle him with gloves?"
The old gentleman smiled grimly.
"Oh, I handled him with gloves all
right."
"You did? Oh, I am so glad."
"Yes, the biggest boxing gloves I
could find, and then I put a horseshoe
In each." Chicago News.
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Until January 12, the Sterling Clothiers will sell every article of high
O grade clothing in their store at the uniform
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DDOlftnr F 20 PE$ EC3T
A SAVING TO YOU OF $1 ON EVERY $5
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O This Sale embraces all lines of men's, young men's arid boys' suits, 6
overcoats and all furnishings in this great clothing house.
-O All AcnrnATC v a i i ci iitc Aii nvinnnurc ah O
nub j v LiivwvyvA 1 4 alu ouiij all unuciYYCftL
ALL GLOVES AND MITTENS ALL FUR COATS O
ALL HATS AND CAPS
You are invited to visit our Store during this sale if for no other
O reason than to satisfy yourself that we furnish the goods we ad O
& vertise. . You will not be disappointed &
Dunlap and Stetson hats, Manhattan shirts and E. & W. collars and cuffs, which are contract
V goods, alone excepted
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ALL BOYS' CLOTHES
Formerly
Paine
Clothing
Company
J2I7 0 STREET
"A Co4 rif to Buy Coo Cloth. "
Adams
Farquahar
O'Neal Co.
Successors
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