TUV TA’AM: BE-MA'ANEH, AL HA-SHEELAH ... MADU’A LO YOKESHER BASAR BEHEMAH ... LE-AKHILAT ADAM ... U-MADU’A LO YETAHER KEN LI-VENE YISRA’EL? AKH VE-RAK ‘A. Y. SHEHITAH טוב טעם במענה, על השאלה ... מדוע לא יוכשר בשר בהמה ... לאכילת אדם ... ומדוע לא יטהר כן לבני ישראל? אך ורק ע"י שחיטה
Nyu York [New York]: Be-vet ha-defus shel M. Tapalavoski, 1875. Item #42599xt
8vo; 1st Edition. Original printed orange wrappers bound into period boards, 8vo, 4, 11, 107, 3 pages [ie. 125 pages total]; 21 cm. In Hebrew with some english. Title translates roughly as, “Good Taste Is The Answer To The Question: Why Would Animal Meat Not Be Suitable For Human Consumption And How Can It Be Purified For The Israelites? Only By Slaughter.”
Each chapter has its own title page with a subtitle for that section. Singerman 2503, Deinard 335. Goldman-Kinsberg 1092.
The orange wrappers present here are not noted by (perhaps unknown to? ) Goldman.
A Contemporary (Successful!) Jewish Response to the First Anti-Shechitah Campaign in America, responding with an explanation of the necessity for Jews to maintain the laws of ritual slaughter.
Aaron Zebi Friedman (1822-76) , served as shochet, or ritual slaughterer, in his native Poland before immigrating to New York in 1848, where he found employment in one of the city’s largest kosher slaughterhouses.
In 1866 the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals launched the first anti-Shehitah campaign in America. The president of the Society, Henry Bergh, dispatched a letter to the proprietor of a kosher abattoir in New York accusing him of engaging in "barbarous, revolting, and wicked" practices–the letter is reproduced in full in this work. Bergh further called on him to desist from violating the laws of New York and of God by "mangl[ing] and tortur[ing] his creatures."
Interestingly, among the members listed in the letterhead of Bergh’s letter are August Belmont (the Rothschilds' representative in America) and Charles P. Daly (a chief justice of New York).
In 1875, Aaron Zebi Friedman, renowned for his piety, composed a sharp rejoinder entitled, Tub Taam, to refute Bergh's accusations. He not only succeeded in silencing Bergh, but even in convincing him: In 1885, Bergh defended shechitah against charges of cruelty leveled by the Philadelphia branch of his Society. In addition do the impassioned arguments which won over Bergh and others at the time, the book includes interesting rabbinic responsa on the implications of false teeth for kashruth (page 49), and on the kashruth of birds native to America (52-3). (Goldman, 1092; JE, Vol. V, p. 518).
Kaganoff (1989-90) reports a "family legend," that the English translation of this work, which appeared a year later in 1876, convinced Ulysses S. Grant (yes, that Ulysses S Grant) to eat only kosher meat.
Apropos of the current culture wars, animal rights organizations and activists, within and outside of the Jewish world, continue to criticize kosher slaughtering practices on the grounds of animal cruelty.The only copy ever to appear at auction, a copy with loose wrappers, sold in 2013 for over $4900 (with commissions). The 2nd edition from 1876, translated into English, sold at auction 2 years later, in 2015, for over $8,000 (with commissions).
SUBJECT(S): Shehitah. Jews -- Dietary laws. Slaughtering and slaughter-houses. Shehita. Juifs -- Lois alimentaires. Jews -- Dietary laws. OCLC: 122735694. OCLC lists 10 copies worldwide.
Ex-library with marks to title, spine, and blank endpapers (otherwise clean). Spine taped, Some old staining and toning, otherwise Very Good Condition. Rare and important. (amr-67-55).
Price: $5,000.00