A group of chareidim from England and Belgium on their way to vacation were apprehended at the border crossing between Switzerland and Germany with 800kg (1,763 pounds) of fresh meat. The meat was intended for their bein hazmanim vacation. They were compelled to pay tens of thousands of euros in fines, and the meat was confiscated and destroyed.
Thousands of Jews from around the world will be heading to Switzerland during bein hazmanim, taking advantage of one of the many vacation venues offered. Chareidim often bring along food for a number of reasons, mainly due to the high price one is required to pay in Switzerland.
Two full buses of chassidim from London and Antwerp were heading to their vacation destination in Switzerland. They brought food for the two-week vacation. When they arrived at the border crossing, the inspector requested to open the baggage compartments of the buses. To the surprise of the inspectors, they found 800kg of fresh meats and poultry. According to the law, they may not bring them into Switzerland.
The meats and poultry were confiscated, and the travelers were fined tens of thousands of euros. The names of the heads of families were recorded as well, and it is likely that they will be charged with trying to illegally smuggle illegal meats into the country.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
12 Responses
True tzadikim…..why should we worry about dina d’malchusa when we can save a few euros on chulent….the Swiss don’t need an excuse to be anti-semitim but why do we have to give them additional reasons??
THE JEW HATING SWISS STILL AT IT HATING JEWS
Back in der Heim, Berel once asked Shmerel which day of birth he should record in the town’s records for the birth of his new baby. Should he record the day after the actual birthday or the day before the actual birthday. Shmerel came up with an original idea. He said, “Why don’t you record the actual day of birth?” Berel said, “Hey, I never thought of that!’ Back in Der Heim, Yidden had to skirt around the law just to survive. It never occurred to Berel to just stay within the law. Unfortunately there are people who think times haven’t changed. So I have a suggestion for them based on the Shmerel’s novel idea. WHY DON’T WE JUST OBEY THE LAW???!!!!
YWN should use better judgment when choosing photographs to accompany stories.
This stock internet photo is not the meat confiscated, but includes many trays of NY Strip and T Bone steaks which are not generally kosher.
Decades ago, when I was in the kosher food business, I had to take a meat course at the local government health department which included identification and labeling. I’ve never tasted these cuts, but know them when I see them. The Rib steaks on the right could be kosher, but seeing as they are open with all the rest one must assume this is all treif meat
When they arrived at the border crossing What happened to schengen agreements?
If you want to break the law I have no problem with it just be prepared to pay the consequences
This is not any different than bringing in meat into the USA which is illegal, if caught they confiscate it & you pay a hefty fine, nothing to do with anti semitism, a gentle would be in the same situation,
Don’t always jump onto the anti semitism band wagon
gadolhadorah, if the swiss were real nazis, they would destroy the jews and eat the meat. smuggling is an old yiddishe gesheft.
A search on the in net shows that in 2014 the new law came into affect that limited “duty free” combined fresh and processed meat to 1 kg per person per day. It further states that anything above the limit is charged 17 franc per kg for the next 10kg, and then 23 franc per kilo. As long as the meat originated in an acceptable country (e.g. EU) , nothing is mentioned about confiscation, only that custom duty must be paid.
Switzerland is not part of the EU. Thus there is the border.
Its important to support Yiddishe hotels in Switzerland. However, we should know that we are talking about a cursed country.They have a ban on Shechitah. Not only were they the Third Reich’s bankers but they allowed German trains with Jews bound for the death camps to use their railways.What a dirty neutrality!
CTLAWYER – so what if its treif meat? theres no issur in looking at treif meat. obviously they wouldnt have a picture of the actual meat, its just a random pic of meat since the story is about meat.
And I agree with all the others questioning “where have all the middos gone?”. Dina d’malchusa dina. kosher meat is available there, its not as if its totally banned, so there is no excuse for trying to skirt the law here.