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Shoichets' Alley

The Kosher Meat Wars

Kensington Market “emerged in the 1920s not as a product of urban planning but in open rebellion against it by Jewish vendors, who chained their pushcarts on the sidewalk to sell poultry, fruit, and vegetables.” Historian Joel Dickau

In the early 20th century, even the Jewish freethinkers in Toronto tended to prefer kosher meat. But contests among rabbis caused the frequent collapse and resurgence of their efforts to supervise meat in a centralized way and, afraid for their reputation and livelihood, some shoichets (ritual slaughterers) urged Jewish congregations to ignore rabbinic decisions. These contests between shoichets and rabbis, and among rabbis themselves, even escalated into occasional physical altercations.

The meat wars would get more complicated a few years later when housewives got into the fray, banding together in collective consumer actions against the rising price of kosher meat. In 1933, when 500 Jewish women and some men met to organize a boycott of the kosher butchers, it became, according to The Toronto Star, a “wild melee” that resulted in two women injured, a broken window at a butcher’s shop, and “a lot of meat ruined by being thrown into the street.”

Discussion questions:


  • In recent years, we have seen grocery costs soar while grocery mega-corporate grocers make record profits. How have you experienced this ? Who is most affected by this issue? What kind of collective action - whether as consumers, farmers, or workers - might address this issue?

  • How do you decide which grocer, butcher, or farm to get your food from? When you go to the grocery store, what factors influence which foods you buy?


Image credits:


The Toronto Daily Star, March 30, 1993, p. 23.

Unidentified woman outside kosher slaughterhouse behind the east side of Kensington Ave., south of St. Andrews St., 1968. OJA, Item # 4170.

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