I hope this finds you all well and happy. I have had a very crazy week because I was north of the Arctic watershed for two days and can’t seem to catch up. I don’t think I will be able to write you again before Shavuos and I wanted to find a blockbuster story for Yom Tov. Mistakenly thinking that the next story would be even better, I finally ran out of time. I have settled on a story I found in R’ Vallach’s new sefer. Interestingly enough, it took place in Toronto in the not too distant past.
Attending a "kiruv" seminar was a bright young doctor who was showing great interest in all that was being presented. He listened very intently, asked pointed questions politely yet persistently and by the end of the event he was convinced of the veracity and truth of everything he had heard… except for one thing - he could not accept the idea of kosher shechittah. He was still an active member of an animal rights group and could not understand why the orthodox Jews refuse to switch their means of slaughter from shechittah to electrocution. Surely, he felt, despite the risks involved with electricity, the chances of animals dying painlessly were much greater that way than via the knife of a schochet. Our young doctor was not shy, and as vocal as he was when he agreed with the Rabbis at the seminar, he was no less vocal when in conflict. Sometime during the event, an impromptu debate emerged between the presiding Rabbi and the young man.
The Rabbi asked the first question. " When the halachah demands that the slaughtering knife be absolutely nick-free, does that not indicate that the Torah cares about the pain of animals ?" " Yes," the man replied, "but…"
The Rabbi interrupted, " We’ll get to the ’buts’ later. Let me ask this - when the Torah says that shechittah must be done quickly to be kosher, and if there was some kind of break or delay during the cutting, the animal is not kosher; does that also not show the concern the Torah has to try and bring on death in the fastest most painless way possible ?" " I agree there too " said the young man, "but…"
" One minute," the Rabbi stopped him, " another consideration of the Torah for the pain of the animal - the knife must pass swiftly through the windpipe, esophagus and the main artery of the neck so that almost all the blood in the head is drained immediately rendering the animal unconscious and no longer able to feel any pain - do you not agree ?" " That is true," the doctor replied, " but they do not cut the spinal artery - the blood from there still flows into the brain after shechittah, thus keeping the animal conscious enough to feel pain !" The young physician thought that he had stymied his opponent but the Rabbi had expected this. The doctor was not the first person to make this claim. The Rabbi got up and leaned forward on the desk in front of him. " What if I tell you that I agree with you - that you are correct about the spinal artery," he said looking right into the young man’s eyes. The man did not expect the Rabbi to concede the argument so soon and he began to smile. "However," the Rabbi continued, " that would only be true for unkosher animals such as horses, pigs and camels, etc. In all the kosher animals, the spinal artery does not go back into the head but it takes a turn and connects to the neck artery ( precisely to reduce the pain ). Therefore once the neck artery gets cut, ALL the blood drains out at once and the animal feels no pain." " Not possible," the young doctor exclaimed, " what could possibly be the rationale for only these animals to have their arteries connected in this convoluted way ?" " Why, you ask ," the Rabbi thundered back, " do you think you have cornered the market on compassion ? Hashem is the first with compassion as Dovid says in Tehillim (end of ’Ashrei’) - " And his compassion is on all his creatures " ! " The stunned young doctor was annoyed and a bit angry at the Rabbi when he said, " Listen Rabbi, I am leaving the seminar now and will thoroughly investigate what you have just said. If you turn out to be correct, I will be at the next seminar wearing a big kippah showing my absolute commitment to the Torah and its way of life." The onlookers clapped at the heartfelt words as the young man walked out. When the Rabbi returned to Toronto a few months later to the next seminar, he found himself working together with the fully convinced kippah-adorned doctor - a man who had jumped many hurdles to find his faith. I could have told you many stories displaying the deep and wide wisdom of the Torah and how it is truly the expression of the creator, Hashem. Everything, literally, is in the Torah and Hashem gave it to us directly at Mt. Sinai and it is available to all of us to learn from and to live by. May the brachos of this coming Yom Tov of Shavuos, particularly the bracha of Hashem giving and we being worthy recipients of Torah, rain down on us all. May it make our connection to Torah deeper and stronger. Have a wonderful Shabbos and Yom Tov everyone. I love you all, ’d’
Important Numbers
