The Boxing Chabad

Check out this short clip of Dimitry Salita, a Chabad Lubavitch Jewish boxer who lives in Crown Heights. In a month, he’ll be fighting in Madison Square Garden. “There’s no difference between boxing and Judaism,” he says.

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PETA Polices Kosher Practices

For Yom Kippur celebrations last week, live chickens were killed in Crown Heights as part of the annual kapparot ritual. Philip Schein, animal rights activist and PETA member, went down to Eastern Parkway to observe and monitor the ceremony, which takes place out in plain view. He did the same thing last year with a camera and claims he was threatened then.

Schein’s controversial presence has not died down. An article in The Jerusalem Post (they took the only good headline!) details how Schein and Rabbi Shea Hecht, a leader of the kapparot event in Brooklyn, are in a battle of ethics. Schein, with the backing of PETA, accuses Hecht of inhumane treatment of the chickens. In response, Hecht has accused Schein and PETA of anti-Semitism. Things have gotten litigious. PETA has requested New York State Kosher Law Enforcement Division to look into Hecht’s activites, which Hecht claims has caused him to be the target of hate emails. In response, New York City Police has launched an investigation.

Schein, who is also Jewish and keeps kosher, and PETA claim the chickens are not provided with enough food and water, and that more birds than necessary are being slaughtered. Last year, two-thirds of the sacrificed birds ended up in the dumpster, according to The Jerusalem Post. The unnecessary suffering goes against kosher laws, Schein claims.

As part of kapparot, members of the large Hasidic community of Crown Heights purchase live chickens, which they swing around their heads while reciting a prayer. The chickens are then slaughtered, defeathered, chopped up, and disembowled. Chickens deemed kosher are then handed over to charity.

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