In essence, there is the spirit of the law, and the letter of the law.
The spirit of the law in this case is minimizing the suffering of animals which humans use as food.
The letter of the law deals with how exactly we do this.
Using the letter of the law, both Koshering and Halal slaughter are illegal, as both use methods which are not the specified ones in Canadian law, and make the assumption that both methods are cruel practices.
Using the spirit of the law, nothing could be further from the truth. Halal slaughter is intended to be cruel, is cruel, and uses methods which terrify the animal, is often done in garages and unhygienic conditions; causes the animal to die slowly and in terror.
Koshering on the other hand, is done with the maximal animal welfare in mind, such as is possible when the purpose is to slaughter them as food of course. The neck is cut rapidly and with a single strike from the back, which cuts the spine and instantly kills the animal and would make sure there are no pain signals to the brain. Halal cuts the throat forcing the animal’s own heart to force it to bleed out while conscious and in agony.
Correction: I was misled/Mistaken on that fact as stated above. Koshering does NOT cut the animal’s neck from the back and cut the spine. Please read this comment under this post.
Here excerpts from an essay on the actual details of the differences from an authoritative source, and referencing the ultimate authoritative source, a woman who spent her life trying to minimize the suffering of livestock, and who I believe is not Jewish.
[…] The Torah mandates humane treatment of animals, with Deuteronomy 12:21 instructing slaughter “as I have commanded thee,” referring to detailed oral laws in the Talmud. These laws, detailed in Chullin 9a, require a single, swift cut with a razor-sharp chalef to ensure rapid unconsciousness. The principle of tza’ar ba’alei chayim (preventing animal suffering) is central, as seen in Deuteronomy 22:6–7, which protects a mother bird’s dignity. The Talmud (Chullin 11a) further mandates that animals not witness another’s slaughter, reducing psychological distress—a rule absent in islamic practice.
A shochet (Jewish slaughterer) undergoes years of training in both technique and Jewish ethics, ensuring precision and reverence. The chalef must be flawless, surgically sharp, and double the width of the animal’s neck for a clean cut. Temple Grandin, a leading animal welfare expert, states, “When the cut is done correctly, the animal appears not to feel it,” emphasizing shechita’s efficacy with proper equipment and modern restrainers. Any nick in the blade renders the slaughter invalid, safeguarding against pain.
Kosher laws extend beyond the act of slaughter. The prohibition on mixing milk and meat (Exodus 23:19) reflects respect for the animal’s life, avoiding the consumption of a calf with its mother’s milk. Post-slaughter inspections ensure no bruises or defects (Chullin 3:1), as even minor injuries make the meat treif. Stunning is strictly forbidden, as it risks bruising or incomplete unconsciousness, unlike non-kosher methods where stunning fails in up to 6.6% of cases (European Food Safety Authority), causing prolonged suffering Jewish law deems unacceptable.
Halal slaughter requires a throat cut while invoking Allah’s name (Quran 6:118), it might be noted, this is the same call made by muslims while carrying out terrorist attacks, but to be fair this is a general call for mercy (Quran 22:34) during slaughter. However, the Hadith (Sahih Muslim 1955a) only vaguely instructs to “sharpen your blade and put the animal at ease,” lacking the Talmud’s very detailed prescriptions. This allows significant variation, including the use of shorter, less effective knives that Grandin notes can cause “multiple hacking cuts” and distress in cattle.
But the purpose of this post is not to try and say that Koshering is better than Halal. The purpose is to point out how ritual slaughter has been fashioned into a dialectic to advantage Islam, while deconstructing the Jews as a people and a tradition or practice within Canada. And likely across the West.
If Koshering and Halal slaughter were equally bad, then, if one believes in law as a reflection of reality, both should be banned. No exceptions should be made for religion if indeed, they are in violation of genuine parliamentary animal cruelty legislation. End of story. Once an exception is made for religious reasons, which might be argued to be the dumbest possible reason to make an exception to a law, then the law becomes a tool against the majority. If Jews or Muslims can do a thing that a secular farmer cannot, then it’s no longer a law in any meaningful sense.
It stops being a law and becomes a cudgel.
If a farmer was caught slaughtering his livestock in a haphazard fashion like this in his garage, he would be severely punished in Canada.
Dutch authorities have intervened at several illegal slaughterhouses across the Netherlands in recent days, seizing sheep carcasses and rescuing live animals amid heightened enforcement during Offerfeest (Eid al-Adha), the Islamic holiday during which many animals are reportedly ritually slaughtered, AD reported.
The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) and the police conducted multiple raids, including a major intervention Friday at an illegal slaughter site on a farm in Noord-Limburg. NVWA inspectors found four sheep carcasses and large quantities of slaughter waste.
I can tell you from having heard it from numerous city officials on the front lines, that halal illegal slaughter takes place in garages, basements and rented commercial warehouses across the city in ways which the term ‘illegal’ just doesn’t cover it. There are fentanyl factories in Vancouver that have more hygienic practices than what has been reported to me in Ottawa concerning Islamic ritual slaughter.
But the narrative attacks have managed to achieve a classically communist, meaning dialectical result.
In Canada, Kosher slaughter is illegal. Any kosher meat in Canada has to be imported. This despite the fact that when it was done, it was under the most strict conditions of cleanliness and humane conditions, which is why Kosher meat is more expensive. However, Halal is not just available, despite its illegality, (again, only made possible via an exception to the law) it is all you can get in most or all Canadian schools. All the chicken at regional Costco outlets are Halal. And I have been told, at all Loblaws but we are still checking that out.
Since 2021, the federal food inspection agency has imposed new regulations on kosher slaughter that have severely disrupted kosher meat production and availability across Canada
A court injunction appears to have allowed for the restoration of kosher slaughter. But the point of this article again, is not about ritual food, but about the use of the law as a dialectic of destruction against all groups who represent, create and maintain Western Civilization, while advantaging all who oppose it.
It is difficult to find information on the degree of halal food in Canadian schools. It appears to be information that the public is not easily able to discover. But it is a fact that all chicken at Costco is Halal now, at least locally, and anecdotally restaurant owners have told me all meat available to them is halal. Not just chicken.
So we see how a series of narrative attacks have been used to make Kosher slaughter illegal, (or at least far more inconvenient than it is by design) despite a court reprieve, and halal, which is involution of both the letter and spirit of anti-animal cruelty laws is nearly compulsory. it is very, very difficult to avoid eating halal slaughtered meat in Canada. You would have to go to a farmer you know, then get a recommendation to a butcher that has a supply line from a proper non-Muslim abattoir.
This is not hypocrisy, which is the first go-to objection within any article like this.
It is a very well calculated attack on Western identity, in this case the Jewish component of it, by wiping out all choice other than Halal, and even secular slaughter as mandated by law in Canada.
Which makes the laws on animal slaughter about as meaningful as nearly all other laws are now. Which is to say that they are tools to be selectively enforced in the most destructive way possible to Western Civilization. Like hate speech laws. A better example there may not be of selective enforcement to grow the power of the state and wipe out individual choice and culture than hate speech laws.
Eeyore for Vlad.
