Shochet

I am training with Rabbi Shlomo Zacharow (certified shochet and mashgiach kashrut by the Israeli Rabbanut) to become a Shochet u’Bodek—kosher slaughterer of ofot (fowl) and behemot dakkot (small and medium-sized mammals). I expect to finish my certification in 2024.

I am passionate about shechita (kosher slaughter) for similar reasons that I am moved by brit milah. It is a challenging and confusing mitzvah that egalitarian communities all-too-often outsource to the ultra-orthodox world. I aim to bring these challenges closer, not push them away.

I almost never eat meat because in our contemporary world, we are so distanced and divorced from the processes that bring our food from farms and fields to our table. I don’t believe eating meat is unethical in general, but I do believe that factory farming and all that comes with it is a horrible violation of the prohibition against צער בעלי חיים, tz’ar ba’alei chayim, pain caused to animals. I seek to carry out kosher slaughter on a very small scale, provide comfort and dignity to the animals we intend to eat, and to bring our communities into a closer relationship with the earth and the creatures we share it with.