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Muslims Want Halal Food in NYC Schools – Kosher Not Option
Without knowing the number of students who need halal food, or the costs or feasibility of providing it, the legislation simply instructs the Department of Education to provide it.
Lori Lowenthal Marcus
March 27th, 2014
The Jewish Press » » Muslims Want Halal Food in NYC Schools – Kosher Not Option
CAIR-NY at Muslim Day in Albany where they lobbied for a
bill requiring large city school districts to provide halal food.
Proposed legislation was introduced into New York City Council to require that the city’s public schools provide Islamic-compliant food – halal – as an option in the cafeterias. The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) joined forces with council member Rafael L. Espinal, Jr. (Brooklyn) to support Resolution 54 at a press conference on the steps of New York City Hall on Wednesday, March 26.
Fourteen other city councilmembers co-sponsored Espinal’s Resolution.
The Resolution goes into explicit detail about what Islamic-observant students are permitted to eat and what they must avoid eating, as well as stating who made those determinations. To wit:
Whereas, The practice of Islam is determined by the Islamic teachings as guided by the holy book Quran and the Hadith, and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad, which includes observing dietary laws; and[........]
Whereas, Islamic dietary laws delineate foods that are halal, meaning lawful or permitted, and those that are haram, meaning not permitted;
and Whereas, Haram foods include pork and its by-products, meat and poultry not slaughtered according to the Islamic dietary law, alcohol and foods prepared with and containing alcohol, foods containing blood and blood by-products, and foods containing whey prepared with non-microbial enzyme, rennet, animal shortening, monoglycerides and diglycerides from an animal source, sodium stearoyl lactylate, and L-cysteine.
Of course, there are other students in the New York City public schools who have religious dietary requirements. That would be Jewish observant children. The New York City public schools Don’t offer kosher lunches and to date, NO Jewish groups have marched themselves into the New York City council chambers demanding that there be a kosher food option.
[........]
No word yet from the American Civil Liberties Union or any of the other organizations that typically do a quick burn whenever anything that smells like government accommodating religious requirements is announced.
CAIR’S New York office had more news about its recent legislative activities.
Its press release explained that CAIR-NY had already lobbied the New York state legislature to urge the passage of S6834. That proposed law would amend New York state education law to require any city in the state with over one million residents to offer halal food options in public schools during lunch.
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