Q&A: The Kashrut of Poultry and Meat
The Kashrut of Poultry and Meat
Question
Hi Rabbi, thank you very much for your availability and the high-quality content.
I wanted to ask your opinion regarding kashrut certifications in Israel, both the Rabbinate and private supervision. I’ve heard, and I personally know, ritual slaughterers who know what goes on inside the system, and because of that they do not eat meat or poultry—not merely as a personal stringency, but out of real concern about eating carrion and non-kosher animals. (In a Torah-level doubt, one rules stringently.) So my question is: if I have become convinced that one cannot rely on commercial kashrut, is there any room to play innocent and shift responsibility onto the rabbi who permitted me to eat, or onto the supervisor and the one granting the certification?
And unrelated to that, I’d also be glad to know whether the Rabbi is knowledgeable in this area or knows arguments either way; and if the Rabbi does eat it, what does he rely on and why? Thanks!
Answer
I’m not familiar with the subject. The description sounds very exaggerated to me. One has to remember that doubt is evenly balanced, and if there is a majority, then fundamentally Jewish law follows the majority. And when there are various presumptions, one follows them.
But if you are able to stop eating meat, I would very much recommend doing so for moral reasons, even aside from the halakhic concerns.
Of course, if you know that something is not kosher, or if you have a real doubt, the question of responsibility has no significance whatsoever. The fact that someone is lying, and that this is known to you, does not exempt you from your own responsibility.