Little Jerusalem still flowers in Pitigliano

The best way to arrive in Pitigliano is by night. As you round the last bend to the top of the hill which faces Pitigliano across the valley, the town suddenly looms up out of the tufa rock on which it's built: an enchanted fairyland, a Little Jerusalem.

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Dutch compromise over kosher slaughter ban

The Dutch government will not ban shechitah or halal slaughter outright, but said it would draw up new guidelines in an attempt to satisfy animal rights activists.

The government announced this week it would appoint a commission to set out tighter procedures for slaughter.

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Rabbis in Poland to discuss Dutch kosher meat ban

Several hundred rabbis are in Poland this week for a conference to discuss issues including the Dutch ban on kosher slaughter of animals.

It is the largest gathering of its type since Poland's Jewish community was decimated by the Nazis.

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Shechitah: EU reprieve

The threat to shechitah in the EU abated this week after MEPs approved food labelling policies without demanding the compulsory identification of meat produced by ritual slaughter.

MEPs also suggested a future study on "the stunning of animals" to help frame animal welfare policy.

The wording may be significant in that it suggests a focus on stunning methods as a whole rather than, as previo

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Forces of darkness

It is tempting to think that the Dutch shechitah ban is, as Lord Sacks put it, "a dark day in Dutch history" but of no real concern to us. We are, after all, a very different society from the Netherlands. But that would be a grave mistake. Because the opponents of shechitah have the wind beneath their sails and for them the Dutch ban is simply another victory.

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