Shalom Rabbi Parry,
I have question. The meat in the super market, for example deli slices, beef steak or even pork, what ever the meat may be, is it permissible for Noahides to eat it? Even if we are not sure it's been properly killed according to Noahide law and that it's limbs where not torn before it completely died?
Sincerely,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Very interesting question indeed. I recall a story about a butcher in Louisville, Ky, who was a survivor of the holocaust and didn't have a deep formal Jewish education but was a very honest man. One day, a blond-haired blue-eyed soldier walked in and wanted to make an order of kosher meat. The butcher, being a mentsch, explained that if he drove a bit more down the boulevard he'd find a Pathmark supermarket where they sell the same meat for half the price.
The soldier politely declined and said that though he was not Jewish, he was a Noahide, and as such had to purchase only meat he was certain was not improperly slaughtered as it would constitute tzar baale chaim (undue physical pain) to the creature and thus invalid.
In truth, I never learned that meat taken from a situation where excessive pain or cruelty was used in harvesting that animal made the product strictly forbidden for a non-Jew to derive benefit (after the fact). It must be that this individual was taught that he should be even more pious to observe this precept properly. Perhaps he was even contemplating conversion. Who knows?
As an aside, it is well known that eating the limb of a living animal is in the category of a general kashrut--law, perhaps the first ever given to humankind. Through this portal G-d brought the people of Israel into a narrower definition, and thus needed to be concerned for blood, forbidden fats, mixtures with milk and the like. After the Flood, the people of the nations were given all animals as food but warned simply not to eat blood--or the limb of a living animal (Genesis 9:3-4). All people, therefore, are bound to some type of kashrut. Taking it to a higher level or being more stringent may be in the spirit of the Noahide laws, but not absolutely necessary. There are two ideas that one should contemplate, from a more rigorous talmudic way of looking at this subect:
1) Why would it matter if it is halachically (legally) dead when they start cutting it up? For Eiver Min HaChai (limb torn from live animal), all that counts it that it is dead when a Noachide eats it.
2) Ironically, as I understand it, the mere act of shechita (ritual slaughter) is not sufficient to permit meat for a Ben Noach. For instance, if an animal has been shechted (slaughtered) but is still jumping around, a Jew would technically be allowed to eat it (if he can find a practical way to deal with avoiding the blood etc.) but it's still considered alive and forbidden to a Ben Noach until it stops moving. By the time a Noahide takes it from the store, it certainly has achieved that status.
In all likelihood, the commercial meat-processors do not start flaying the animal or dismembering it until it is completely still. This is clearly a practical consideration and I know of no specific incident where the contrary is true. So, practically speaking, one can be pretty confident that the minimum considerations of not tearing a limb from a live animal have been maintained when purchasing non-kosher meat from the supermarket. However, one who is seeking an even higher level of connection to God and Judaism may feel more comfortable avoiding any creature they suspect was killed in a way that did not attempt to minimize the animal's suffering (e.g. using certain stunning devices used to immobilize cattle curing slaughter, electrifying the brain, etc).
Hope this response was useful.
All the best,
Rabbi Aaron Parry
