Thirty UK rabbis signed on to a letter signalling their support for a national fur ban with an exemption for shtreimels, the traditional fur hats worn by Haredi Jews from Eastern Europe.
Those who signed the statement addressed to environment minister Lord Zac Goldsmith included Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, the Senior Rabbi of Masorti Judaism in the UK and Rabbi Charley Baginski, the chief executive of UK Liberal Judaism, reported the Jewish Chronicle.
The letter stated their hope that the “Jewish faith is not used as a device to oppose such progressive and compassionate legislation.”
It continued, “Tradition is important, but so too is compassion and ethics, and indeed the two are interlinked… It may well be that one day all shtreimels will be faux fur, but in the meantime a UK fur sales ban has our support and we hope that going forward the Jewish faith is not used as a device to oppose such progressive and compassionate legislation.”
The letter mentioned that California put forward legislation to ban fur in 2019 that contained an exemption for shtreimels.
Israel also recently outlawed the sale of fur, with the law expected to come into effect later in the year. The legislation includes exemptions for shtreimels.
However, there is a fear is that the Supreme Court will strike down the religious exemption on the grounds that such exemptions are unequal.
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel had sat on the new regulations for a year due to opposition from Haredi political parties.
The UK rabbis' letter is part of a national public consultation on imposing a ban on the sale and importation of fur that will end on June 28.
The farming of fur was made illegal in England and Wales in 2000. The ban was enlarged to cover Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2002.