No More Hindquarter Meat

Within a month of his appointment, Rav Yechezkel placed a full-page notice in the Jewish Chronicle, setting out the strict steps that the beis din was now going to take. He never gave up his aim of ending the sale of hindquarter meat altogether. During the Second World War, with many of the porgers away on war service, he succeeded in obtaining a ban.

The ban met strong resistance. Sir Robert Waley Cohen, who was a vice president of the United Synagogue, feared that it would require more cattle and make British Jews look unpatriotic at a time of rationing. The Shechita Board was also facing a deficit from rationing, and the lost license fees threatened to deepen it. Rav Yechezkel did not back down. His wife Reizel supported him, even offering to open a restaurant to support the family if he had to resign.

In 1941, at a meeting with the Shechita Board, he gave an ultimatum: if the sale of hindquarter meat did not stop, he would leave his post. He rose, handed in his letter of resignation and walked out of the room. Seeing how serious he was, the members voted as one to forbid the sale. The ban has never been cancelled, and British Jews are protected from eating gid hanasheh because of his steadfastness, to this day.