The Journal News reports:
Ramapo, NY – Police and health inspectors are investigating today after students and teachers at a yeshiva on Route 306 slaughtered a cow in the school’s backyard last night, officials said.
Ramapo police were called to 609 Route 306 shortly before 7 p.m. after neighbors called to report that students and teachers at the Bobover Yeshiva had tied a cow to a tree and were slaughtering it, officials said.
When police arrived they found a dead cow in the backyard, according to Lt. Brad Weidel.
“There was a cow that had been slaughtered,” he said.
No criminal charges were filed. But the incident was referred to both the Rockland Department of Health as well as town officials, he said. The cow had apparently been purchased from a livestock company in Monticello, N.Y., Weidel said.
Neighbor Carol Friedman saw adults and teens from the school lead the cow from a brown van into the backyard shortly after 5 p.m. She did not see what happened in the yard, but another neighbor told her that the animal was tied to a tree and slaughtered with knives .
“It’s the most horrendous, barbaric thing I have ever heard of,” she said. “I can’t believe they would slaughter a cow in a backyard in a residential neighborhood.”
A message left for Rabbi Gershon Bornfreund, operator of the yeshiva, was not immediately returned.
Pearl River lawyer Mark Kurzmann, who is representing the school in an ongoing zoning dispute with the town, was not immediately available for comment.
Thomas Micelli, director of environmental heath for the Rockland Department of Health, said officials were notified of the incident last night. Inspectors visited the school, located in a residential neighborhood bordering the villages of Wesley Hills and Pomona, this morning, he said.
There was no evidence of fresh cow blood on the ground, according to Micelli. Inspectors also looked to see if there was evidence that meat from the cow was being consumed.
“There was no evidence of that either,” Micelli said. There is nothing in the county sanitary codes that addresses slaughtering animals in residential neighborhoods, he said. “It does not seem that any regulations were violated,” Micelli said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates animal slaughter.
The county Department of Health, is providing information about the incident to state officials, who then have the option of notifying the USDA.
(Source: Lohud.com)
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23 Responses
Leave it to th local yokels to complain. Granted its a bit weird to shecht an animal in the backyard but its BH not illegal so the shtuch is on this tipish who called it in.
On another note, did you see how she noted shchita ‘with knives’ as being ” … the most horrendous, barbaric thing” she’s ever heard of. We’ll Mrs. Idiot in Ramapo, just how do you think animals die???? Perhaps you could have lulled it into a slower painful death by reading it a story or something???
Why was this done in a residential area? Then we wonder why goyim living in/near frum communities are against us. Imagine a muslim slaughtering (Hallal) some animal in our neighborhood. Its not the place! We think we can do what ever we want. Its a chillul hashem.
A bit weird?
this one belongs on chasidshoteh.org!
People who pay real estate taxes in Rockland, do not expect to live next to a slaughter house.
Why couldn’t they take a bus trip to the proper location, like the rest of the oilam?
Tznius B’Mitzvos is a Lost ART, apparently.
How about we try to act like normal decent citizens, respectful of our neighbors… as a humongous z’chus for Klal Yisroel?!
Perhaps they were having a lesson on shechitah. I am sure this was just a one time thing. The neighbors should just “calm their liver”.
“Neighbor Carol Friedman” does not sound too WASPy.
Sounds more like one of our “not yet religious” brothers with lots of hang ups against the “frummies”.
You guys are all nuts!!!
This is not just wierd, not just ODD, not decent and not NORMAL. You need permission, zoning rights, safety rules to bring a brown cow into your backyard just for fun.. Maybe the cow is part of the ‘mad cow club’. It does not matter if Carol Friedman or Tziri Katzenalbogen was the one who called the police.
Such big talkers. If you saw a bunch of neighbors waving knifes with a large animal tied up, you’d all have done the same thing.
This was a crazy act. When I was in the smicha shiur, the Rosh Yeshiva took us to a real slaughtering plant in NJ to watch the real process, not some contrived process in a backyard. We saw real shochtim doing real bedika and were able to learn first hand all about shechita and the various animal parts that we had studied in Yoreh Deah. That’s the way it should be done.
if it would be a muslim doing the killing of the cow they would say it is there right to do what they like
2, if a mulsim yemach sh’mom was doing it no one would have said a ki hu zeh about it. muslims yemach sh’mom can do no wrong.
7, you really think they were standing there waving knives? Which movie did you see that one in?
6, yes, as I noted above, it was a bit odd but as the reports came out today, they didnt have permission and ITS NOT ILEAGAL ANYWAY so BIG STINKING DEAL!
I wouldnt have a problem with a “one time” shechting especially if they gave me some of the meat!
A COW??? It’s not Kapores, and I don’t blame the neighbors for being upset.
#1 – excellent idea – read stories to the cows to calm them down before killing them – suggest it to your Congressman for inclusion in the stimulus package – it will provide work for the barely literate and otherwise unskilled (after all, how good do you have to be to read final bed time stories to a cow).
I don’t exactly agree with justajew, but I must admit that seeing an animal being slaughtered right under your nose is a bit frighteneng. I don’t agree that a jew should call the authorities to report on the actions of another jew. However an explanation from the yeshiva is definately in order. I’d like to know what prompted such an unusual occurence
Taking a class to a slaughterhouse with a proper Shochet is one thing…If this story is true, it does sound a bit off…
Nonnidev
Monsey, NY – Bobov Yeshiva Administrator: Cow Slaughter Has Zero Affiliation With Us; Done Without Our Permission
– After the Journal News reported today [posted by] about an allegation that a Jewish school took part in an illegal slaughter of a cow, the Yeshiva Administrator of Bobov released the following statement to News: Please note that the story of the shechita of the cow on our grounds had nothing to do with me, nor with Bobov. A group of people learning hilchos shechita, used our lot for their practice without our permission!
It’s prety much common sence not to slaughter a cow in an area where people who are not expecting to see such an act could see it. Just because it may be legal does not mean it should be done.
With the problems we’re facing in the world today! Big Deal! It was a group who learned sh’chita and now got a chance to learn b’dikas pnim! Granted it should not have been done right there BUT SO WHAT? C’mon! On Erev Shabbos a kid was killed playing ball with his brother! We have Tzoros R”L. About this we have to make a deal! C’mon people! Get a life!
Was it glatt?
if comment #15 is true, it should be added to te main article and perhaps the title amended.
OK folks, clearly this person has an axe to grind here. I saw the video on http://www.lohud.com/article/2009905050411 and this was almost gurnisht mit gurnisht.
She has such hate and contempt for the “illegal yeshiva,” for “hasidim men,” for frum yiddin in general that it drips from her words like venom.
The story makes no sense which tells me she embellished it. This was a CALF not a cow. There is a big difference. She said they were “dancing around it with knives,” however I say “OH COMEON” how do we beleive that.
Monsey is still suburbia and it makes sense that people could kill animals in their yards so they could eat it. Had she been happier if her goy neighbor would have brought home a deer that he shot with an arrow or a gun and gutted it in the backyard? Probably.
She is a sikko and I hope this person and her rosha neighbors make complete fools out of themselves at the Zoning Board meeting next week.
This group of neighbors needs a reality check if they think Orthos go around slaughtering cows in the middle of the neighborhood. Do these people all have Mad Neighbor Disease? They may be mad because Orthodox Jews live next to them. Would they be happier if criminal gangs lived next-door to them? I simply do not understand why non-observant Jews feel the need to overcompensate for their lack of observance by perpetrating such a fraud!
nonnidev
Stop being defensive. This act was wrong no matter who did it. And why was it part of the yeshiva curriculum? Students dont need to witness this. Irresponsible!!
#22, why shouldn’t it be? Why should students not learn hilchos shechita, or even see one? What kind of nonsense is that?