A Historical Perspective on the Development of the Shechita Box
BY RABBI MOSHE BILLER
One of the five primary laws of shechita¹ is drusa which means that the neck of the animal must be cut in a slicing motion as opposed to by pressing or chopping. To ensure that drusa does not occur, it is necessary to hold the animal still and to make sure that it does not move during the slaughter. Historically, this was accomplished by having several people onsite to hold the animal still on the floor on its back until the shochet completes the cut. In the Beis Hamikdash there were special rings that were set into the ground to help restrain the animal so that it would not move during the shechita.² Until today, in many parts of the world, sheep and lamb are slaughtered by holding them down on their back on a table. In fact, in South America, some old-fashioned slaughterhouses still allow for cows and steers to be slaughtered by directing the animal onto a narrow ramp where workers are able to chain its feet and hoist it until it falls on its back. This allows the workers to hold the animal’s head down using tongs until the kill is completed.
Until the turn of the 20th century, slaughter in North America was performed this way as well. However, along with the commercialization of slaughter came the need for the federal government to establish regulations to ensure the welfare of animals. The first set of regulations called the US Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, stipulated that for sanitary reasons an animal could not be slaughtered on the floor into the blood of another animal. This law resulted in a new type of slaughter called “shackle and hoist restraint,” or שחיטת תלויה, to be implemented. Shackle and hoist used a chain attached to the animal’s hind legs to pull the animal into the air using a hydraulic system. Once the animal was in the air the workers would draw the animal’s head backward until the makom hashechita – the place of slaughter – was fully exposed. That’s when the shochet would approach and perform the shechita. Slaughtering an animal using shackle and hoist was ultimately outlawed as inhumane in the United States by the Humane Slaughter Act of 1958 and it was outlawed in Canada as well.
From a kashrus perspective, there were many issues with this שחיטה תלויה. One primary concern was the risk of drusa. When the animal was hanging from the ceiling on a chain it was not very steady, and even when workers were trying to hold it still it could still move around. For this reason, both the Ridva”z in the middle of the century³ and later on Rabbi Eliezer Silver zt”l in Canada⁴ banned שחיטה תלויה altogether.
Another concern with שחיטה תלויה was the opinion of the Rash”i⁵ and the שחיטה תלויה that it is preferable that the shechita knife be above the neck of the animal so that a downward cut is performed instead of an upward cut from below the neck. This is because we are concerned that the neck will weigh down on the knife resulting in drusa. Essentially, should this occur, the animal would not be shechted in a slicing motion but rather by pressing itself down on the knife. The only way to shecht properly through shackle and hoist is if the head is tied tightly and fastened upwards which was not the case in North America nor in England according to teshuvos written by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l⁶ and the Michas Yitzchok zt”l.⁷
A third problem with שחיטה תלויה was that the shackle and hoist system worked by lifting the animal by its legs. Doing so might accidentally pull out the femur bone from the hipbone socket. Should this happen, the animal would be rendered a treifa under the category of שמוט ירך שנשמטה מאבריה.⁸ Therefore, the use of this method obligates the shochet to check each animal after shechita for this possible treifa.
In 1958, shackling and hoisting was officially outlawed. The new legislation required that cattle be unconscious prior to being hoisted. However, kosher slaughter was specifically exempted from the ban in the United States because no practical alternative existed that could possibly comply with the halachic and government regulations.
In Europe around the year 1927, a Jewish tailor named Weinberg designed a pen for shechita called the Weinberg pen. The way it works today is that once the animal walks into the pen, it closes itself tightly around the animal, so it can’t move back, then, the walls and roof of the pen had to be manually adjusted to the size of the specific animal. The pen helps restrain the animal in the proper position. Then it rotates the animal 180 degrees so the animal is turned upside down. Now that the animal is lying safely in the pen on its back, it is ready for the shochet to perform the shechita with the knife above the neck of the animal. The British government recognized the benefit of the rotating Weinberg pen and approved it for use for in slaughter.
Many years later, in 1985, several concerns emerged over the stress on the animal caused by the rotating pen. At that time, it appeared that the animal struggled and resisted while the pen was rotating.⁹ To address this concern, the ASPCA organization (American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) created a different pen called the ASPCA pen that restrains the animal in an upright position without rotating it on its back.
While the new ASPCA pen is now used throughout North America, the older Weinberg pen is still in use in Israel, Europe and in several places in the USA. Contemporary versions of the Weinberg pen hold the animal in such a way that it does not move even while being rotated on to its back. The animal experiences no stress and appears to be comfortable prior to the slaughter.
Even prior to the ASPCA pen in 1985, and as far back as the early 1960s in Canada, the שחיטה עמידה – the standing shechita – had been suggested as an alternative. The שחיטה עמידה satisfies most of the halachic issues mentioned above and is the preferred method of most governments and animal welfare organizations. The way the pen works is that the animal is led into the back of the pen from a narrow ramp. Once in the pen, the animal makes its way to the front of the pen using a rear “pusher” which nudges it forward. Once in the front of the pen, the animal sticks its head out of a window hole toward the outside of the pen. A window bar in the shape of a semi-circle hydraulically pushes the animal’s chin upwards and another bar comes down and presses the head down from the top. Some pens are fitted with a “belly lift” that raises the animal from the ground and secures the animal in place so that it can no longer move. Once the animal is secured in the upright position and the animal’s head is lifted, the shochet cuts in a slicing motion upward or sideways from below the neck. After the shechita is finished, the side wall of the pen rises upward and allows the animal to fall out of the pen. The wall is closed once again and the next animal is brought in to the pen. This method is approved by the Canadian government and is used by Canadian shechitas because it is both effective and meets a high halachic standard.
Contemporary versions of the Weinberg pen hold the animal in such a way that it does not move even while being rotated on to its back. The animal experiences no stress and appears to be comfortable prior to the slaughter.
Rabbi Biller is Rav Hamachshir of COR’s Shechita Division
Kashruth Council of Canada | www.cor.ca — 2023-5783 Passover Guide, pp. 54–55
COR, the Kashruth Council of Canada, is one of the world’s largest kosher certification agencies, certifying thousands of products, restaurants, and facilities. Learn more at cor.ca, or read about our certification services at corkosher.com.