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2 Vegetarianism
Since there are no laws of Kashrut restricting the consumption of plant products, it follows logically that a truly vegetarian meal would be inherently Kosher. In practice, however, those who rigorously follow the laws of Kashrut do not automatically regard all restaurants or prepared or canned food which claim to be vegetarian as Kosher, due to some doubt as to whether the degree of supervision maintained is in all cases sufficiently stringent. Many vegetarian restaurants and producers of vegetarian foods do acquire a hechsher , certifying that a Rabbinical organization has approved of them as Kosher, since this requires no additional care on their part if they are truly vegetarian.
The situation is not always reversible, however; although parve food can contain neither meat nor dairy, that label on a product cannot be always used by vegetarians as a reliable indication, since Kashrut considers fish to be parve. However, in practice it is rare to find fish products in parve foods; moreover, because of potential issues of mixing meat and fish (see #Fish_and_Seafood above) many Kashrut supervising authorities specifically indicate the presence of fish products when they are found in parve foods.
Genesis 1:29 states "And God said: Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit - to you it shall be for food." According to many classical Jewish Bible commentators, this means that God's original plan was for mankind to be vegetarian, and that God later gave permission for man to eat meat because of man's weak nature. However, others argue that people may eat animals because God gave Eve and Adam dominion over them. Few prominent rabbis have been vegetarian, a notable exception being the first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, Abraham Isaac Kook.
Halakha strongly encourages the eating of meat at the Sabbath and Festival meals, and some Orthodox Jews who are otherwise vegetarian will nevertheless consume meat at these meals. Many Orthodox authorities have ruled that it is forbidden for an individual to become a vegetarian if they do so because they believe in animal rights; however, they have also ruled that vegetarianism is allowed for pragmatic reasons (if kosher meat is expensive or hard to come by in their area), health concerns, or for reasons of personal taste (if someone finds meat unpalatable).
3 Kashrut and animal welfare
The practice of kosher slaughter emphasizes the sharpness of the knife and the accuracy and precision of the skill of the shochet, in order to slit the jugular of the animal with an absolute minimum of pain and suffering. In general, over the years authorities have ruled that any unnecessary suffering by the animal can render otherwise kosher meat traife. Nevertheless, the method of slaughter used in strict adherence to Jewish law has been criticized as being inhumane by many animal rights organizations, in particular because animals are killed without the use of anesthesia, often administered to beef by firing a bolt into the brain or by electric shock to the head. (Traditional kashrut would often not allow for anesthesia, as it may severely injure the animal before it is slaughtered, rendering it Treifa, and because Kashrut prohibits slaughter of an unconscious animal.) This has resulted in several restrictions or even an outright ban on kosher meat in a number of countries, though other countries grant ritualistic slaughter such as kashrut special exemption from the relevant regulations. However, some bans were in place before animal rights had become a general public concern.
Animal rights groups claim it can take several minutes for the animal to die after kosher slaughter and thus would cause immense suffering. Jewish groups point to studies showing that the technique is no more painful than conventional techniques, and in most cases quicker and less painful; the emphasis on flawless procedure and tools contrasts with the often sloppy production line methodology of the slaughterhouse resulting in failure to stun the animal, as often described by animal rights advocates in other contexts. However, the conclusions of these studies are sometimes rejected by animal rights advocates. In addition, there are campaigns to have the practice of ritualistic slaughter globally banned.
In some ways, modern slaughtering practices and kashrut practices clash, although both may have good intentions with respect to hygiene and animal welfare; for instance, kashrut prohibits slaughter of an unconscious animal, for reasons of avoiding consumption of a diseased animal as well as the possibility of inhumane means of anesthesia, and relies on the skill of the shochet and the sharpness of the knife to slit the jugular as painlessly as possible. On the other hand, for reasons of hygiene, modern slaughterhouse regulations prohibit the carcass of an animal from falling into the blood of another, so that animals are often suspended by a leg before being slaughtered; they would normally be stunned by a blow to the head to prevent suffering in this process, but the prohibition of slaughter of an unconscious animal prevents this for kosher slaughter. Of course, other, more humane, methods of supporting the carcass of the animal after it is slaughtered are available, but since they are more expensive and not routinely used for nonkosher slaughter, slaughterhouses are reluctant to adopt them, and when they do often greatly raise the price of the meat to compensate for the nonstandard technique.
Many Jewish organizations suspect that covert anti-Semitism may also be an influence behind the efforts to ban kosher meat, partly because of a distinct anti-Semitic element among the opponents of ritualistic slaughter, partly because of the age of some bans.
