Shlomo Winegarten z"l

Shlomo Winegarten z"l, who died unexpectedly on 24 May (20 Iyar), had served the London Board for Shechita in every possibly capacity over many years. He was deeply knowledgeable of the great range of matters concerned with shechita and kashrut and put all his energies into promoting the highest standards. As the immediate past President of the Board he helped newcomers understand the issues and increasingly focused on shechita defence, about which he was truly expert. He brought to these activities true sincerity, leavened with wry good humour. He will be sorely missed.

The Board today

Approaching its two hundredth anniversary, the Board has evolved into a streamlined service-provider, responsible only for the training and provision of the most highly qualified personnel. A registered Charity (No. 233467 ), the Board is a non profit-making organisation, and does not fund any communal activities unrelated to Shechita.

The Board no longer owns any abattoirs nor does it deal in meat. Instead, its expert Shechita services are provided to approved independent - and competing - abattoir operators who wholesale securely sealed and labelled carcasses to retailers. Pre-packed kosher products bearing the Hechsher or Kashrut Seal of the Board are available from non-licensed outlets but fresh meat and poultry cut to customers' requirements at the counter is only available from butchers licensed by the Board. (These butchers must display their current licences in their premises, and consumers are reminded that it is always a good idea to check the validity of Hechsheirim (kashrus certificates) whatever the premises or food-product.)

The Board usually provides regular Shechita and Kashrut services at four cattle abattoirs and two or three poultry abattoirs, offering a bespoke and keenly-priced service to its Licensees. Such is the Board's reputation worldwide, that its Hechsher is sought-after in this country and abroad on a commercial basis for products such as organic foodstuffs, pre-packed and airline meals.

Licensed Premises

The Board licenses several factories and retail butcher shops. The Board's Rabbinical Authority - Beit Din - is responsible for ensuring that all employees are fully trained and qualified for work and supervision in licensed premises. The Board employs full-time Inspectors who visit every establishment at least once a day and check for the continuous integrity of the sealing process, monitoring the performance of the porging (removal of forbidden fats and sinews) and koshering (soaking, salting, and rinsing) processes carried-out by Board-approved personnel.

Inspectors have powers to rule on breaches of civil regulations - hygiene laws, health and safety, and local authority bye-laws - as well as Halacha (Jewish Law). All ingredients and foodstuffs used and sold by manufacturers and retailers have to originate from approved kosher sources, so that the Board's current Licence is indeed a Hechsher certifying the highest standards of Kashrut Supervision for all the products in licensed premises.

London Board Hechsher - Kashrus Certification

Consumers can only safely rely on loose or open and unsealed meat being truly kosher if it is purchased directly from a London Board for Shechita licensee. Meat products bought from non-licensed shops must be purchased as double-wrapped and with Kashrut seals all intact in order to be sure that they are indeed Kosher.

Rabbinical Authority of the London Board

The Halachic integrity of the Board's Hechsher-Licence is particularly enhanced by the unique and eminent composition of its Rabbinical Authority which is an extraordinary Beit Din (Rabbinical Court). Under the Board's revised Constitution all matters of Halacha and adjudication must be passed before its three Dayanim who are each themselves Roshei Beit Din - Chief Justices or Dayanim of the three Botei Din of the main constituent synagogal organisations in the UK. The Board is therefore fortunate to be authorised by Dayan Ch. Ehrentreu Rosh Beis Din of the United Synagogues of Great Britain, Dayan P Toledano Ab Beit Din of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews' Congregation, and Dayan Y Y Lichtenstein Rosh Beis Din of the Federation of Synagogues, who are ultimately responsible for the Board's finest standards of kashrus and service.

Shechitat Bet Yosef and Glatt Kosher

Amongst the laws given to Moses at Sinai, it is perhaps those which concern animal welfare and the permitted ways of humanely slaughtering only certain healthy animals, together with the detailed examination which is required of the carcasses, which we can especially comprehend with nothing short of the greatest respect and admiration.

Nowadays we have sufficient scientific understanding to appreciate that the methods and practices enacted three thousand years ago are not only valid today but exceed the most stringent of current civil legislation covering animal welfare, food and hygiene standards, whilst elevating us spiritually through the very consumption of only strictly kosher food.

The term "Glatt" is a Yiddish word meaning "smooth". It has become a by-word for carcasses (and the term can only refer to meat in this context - not fish or poultry) which, when their limbs and internal organs have been examined for signs of injury or disease, have passed inspection to the extent that even the surfaces of the lungs are "smooth" or free of adhesions that would indicate illness.

But "Glatt", when its rabbinic definition was ordained by Rabbi Moshe Isserles (known as The R'Mah) in the middle of the 16th Century, was a concession to the dire economic hardship then being endured by European - Ashkenazy Jewry. Poverty-stricken and constrained to make the best of poor quality and ill-fed cattle, these communities desperately needed a lower but measurable standard of fitness to be found in order to sustain the consumption of kosher meat. The R'Mah set this standard by which certain lesions and adhesions subject to number and type may be disregarded in the final test of a carcass for kashrus, and the lungs can be declared "smooth", in accordance with Halacha. At the same time, the R'mah set a lower or basic kosher standard, whereby if the tissues of questionable adhesions can be peeled away from the lung without them leaving any holes in the surface (pneumothorax), then the lung is not treipha and the animal is fit to be kosher.

"Glatt", therefore, is the common term used to describe a high level of kashrus quality in meat, but since it was ordained as a concession to the times, it does not, as most people think, really indicate the highest standard of kosher meat. The original Mosaic - and still preferred - standard was maintained mostly by the Sephardic communities who continued to live in sunnier and more healthy climes over the centuries.

That top standard, as codified by Rabbi Yosef Karo in the Shulchan Aruch, maintains "smooth" ("Chalak" in Hebrew) as being completely free of any adhesions etc. whatsoever. Known famously by his authorship of the masterwork on which he based the Shulchan Aruch and called the Beit Yosef, it is not surprising that his name is alluded to by reference to his definition. Consequently the highest standard of meat kashrus is simply denoted as "Chalak Beit Yosef".

The London Board for Shechita provides meat to the best of kashrus standards, and licenses several butchers to sell exclusively "Chalak Beit Yosef" meat, both fresh and processed. It is now economically viable for the Board - uniquely in the UK - to license "Glatt" butchers because their products are, in fact, Chalak Beit Yosef.

Administration

The Board's lay administration is headed by an Honorary President, two Honorary Vice-Presidents and an Honorary Treasurer who report to the full Board comprising twenty-two members appointed by the constituent synagogal organisations. They are served by the Secretary to the Board who is also the Executive Director, responsible for the day-to-day conduct of the Board's affairs. In accordance with its written constitution, no member of the Board can be an employee of either the Board or the meat trade. Triennial elections are held for the election of the Treasurer, the members of the Licensing Committee and the delegates to the National Council of Shechita Boards. Annual audited accounts are approved by the Board Members and the Charity Commission.