Letter from Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski - Regarding the Shechita Ban in Germany - "Those who Slaughter Man Kiss the ...

Letter from Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski - Regarding the Shechita Ban in Germany - "Those who Slaughter Man Kiss the Calves" - Vilna, 1932
Lengthy letter handwritten and signed by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, addressed to R. Yitzchak Unna Rabbi of Mannheim, regarding the ban on Shechita (ritual slaughter) in Germany. Vilna, 1932. R. Chaim Ozer writes: "Regarding the decree on Shechita … which those who hate us intensely, are using to defame us, and their sole intention is to harass and harm us… and the words 'those who slaughter man kiss the calves' has already been used in reference to them, since they are not trying to minimize the suffering of animals, but rather to cause pain to human beings…". R. Chaim Ozer responds to R. Unna regarding the proposal of stunning animals before slaughter, which was suggested as a solution to the decree, and explains the difficulty involved. He further writes that the rabbis and activists must unite with self-sacrifice to prevent this decree (this letter was published in Igrot R. Chaim Ozer, Part I, Letter 409, p. 447). In Europe of the interwar years, restrictions were imposed on ritual slaughter, by various antisemitic organizations acting under the guise of prevention of cruelty to animals. One of the rabbis who was very active in the battle against the shechita ban was R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski of Vilna, who dispatched letters on the topic to many European rabbis, and did his utmost to forestall the ban (see: Munk, Edut Neemana - Responsa on the Shechita Battle in Europe, Jerusalem 1975). The way R. Chaim Ozer applied the words "those who slaughter man kiss the calves" (Hoshe'a 13:2) in his letters regarding the decree, is reputed, and proved to have been prophetic foresight, when this wave of antisemitism which attacked the Jews under the pretext of preventing animal cruelty revealed its true colors several years later, during the Holocaust, in the form of the Nazis. [1] leaf, official stationery. 25 cm. Good condition. Stains. Folding marks, a bit of wear.