1/5/05 Special JVNA Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

This Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter is devoted to a debate on "Judaism and Vegetarianism," in terms of two articles by rabbis that just appeared in the Canadian Jewish News (CJN). It includes my comments on the articles and how we can build upon the dialogue that the two articles represent in terms of promoting vegetarianism and related issues in the Jewish community and beyond.

It has the following items:

1. Article #1: Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat

2. Article #2: Food for Thought on Judaism and Vegetarianism

3. My Comments on the Articles

4. Letter To The Editor by Syd Baumel

5. My Letter To The Editor

6. Suggestions on Building on the Two Articles for Jewish Vegetarian Outreach

[Materials in brackets, preceded by RS, like this [RS ] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]

Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue.

As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,
Richard

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1. Article #1: Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=5223
By RABBI DAVID BAUMAN

With only four days until the fast of Tisha b'Av, my family received an invitation for Shabbat lunch at a friend's house. Our friend posed the question in the following way: "We would love to have you over for Shabbat lunch this week, but you should know that our custom is to eat fleishig [meat] on the Shabbat during the nine days [before Tisha b'Av]. Are you comfortable with this?"

The conversation was a commentary on the Jewish consumption of meat. During the nine-day period that opens the month of Menachem Av, Jews refrain from consuming meat products as a mourning ritual recalling the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem. The Mishnah tractate Ta'anit teaches us that "when Av comes in, gladness must be diminished" (4:6). We diminish our gladness during this period of national mourning by not eating meat or drinking wine, except on Shabbat and a festive meal (Shulchan Aruch O.H. 651:9). This Mishnah conveys an overriding principle of Judaism: holiness is obtained by restricting our behaviour.

This lesson is highlighted on the festival of Shavuot, when we again refrain from eating meat. The Mishnah Berurah (a 19th-century commentary on the Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Israel Meir Ha-Kohen, the Chofetz Chaim) offers an explanation, by way of a midrash, that the dietary laws were established at the time of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. When the Israelites came home from Mount Sinai, they could not eat meat because they had none that was prepared in the appropriate kosher manner. To prepare new meat properly would take too long. They had no choice but to eat dairy foods (Shulchan Aruch O.H. 494:2, Mishnah Berurah 12). Having experienced God's revelation at Mount Sinai, the Israelites yearned to continue that experience after God revealed his instructions. Therefore, they restricted their behaviour until they could act in the appropriate fashion. Rabbi Ismar Schorsch supports this understanding by teaching an enduring lesson of Halachah (Jewish Law): "the culinary practice of refraining from meat products is that dairy products are less self-indulgent. We restrain ourselves from the moment we receive the Torah, for the essence of the Torah is self-restraint" (Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, Parashat Hashavuah Shavuot 5763).

The giving of the Torah sets the stage for later practice, in which Judaism ritualizes the ebb and flow of the Jewish year by degrees of self-indulgence. The Torah is a blueprint for the ideal society and sets forth the paradigm for human living. God said, "See I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth. [I give you] all the green plants for food." (Genesis 1:29-30, NJPS translation). The ideal way for humans to obtain their nourishment is through a vegetarian lifestyle.

But God realizes that the world is not ideal and is in need of repair. This is evident from the fact that God gives permission for humans to eat meat after he has destroyed the world with a great flood. The Torah records, "Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat. You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it" (Genesis 9:3-4). Ideally, the world we live in should be a replica of the Garden of Eden, in which a vegetarian lifestyle represented the purity and wholeness of the Heavenly Kingdom. However, after the flood, God permits us to consume meat in the realization that the world is not the Garden of Eden. The goal to re-inhabit the Garden of Eden and return to a vegetarian lifestyle remains, and thus the permission to eat meat is laden with restrictions.

In his book Halakhic Man, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik talks about the ideal religious person, and the reasoning mirrors God's thinking behind the permissibility to eat meat. "The ideal of halakhic man is the redemption of the world not via a higher world but via the world itself. If a Jew lives in accordance with the Halakhah, then he shall find redemption" (Halakhic Man, pp. 37-38). Halachah is a way for us to live our lives in this world. It infuses our existence with meaning, alleviating mourning with meaning and elevating our celebrations to a level of holiness.

Halachah enables us to celebrate life and God through Jewish living. The Mishnah Berurah discusses the consumption of meat products as a practical way to honour Shabbat: "One should make it delightful by eating large fish, heads of garlic and a dish of a beet-like plant. These foods were distinguished in their time; by the same token, people should make the day delightful by the food and drink they consider delicious. Since most people find their main delight in meat, wine and sweets, one should lavish with meat, wine and sweets according to one's means" (Shulchan Aruch O.H. 242:1; M.B. 1-2). These comments direct us to make Shabbat special. Eating meat and drinking wine are not the only ways to do so, but they are the most common.

Our tradition's reason for indulging in these delicacies is religious and spiritual. Our rabbis referred to the time period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av as "Bein HaMitzarim," between the straits. The world events of the last four years remind us, the Jewish community, that we are still bein hamitzarim. Meat products are the ultimate of indulgence, both in taste and in cost. Therefore, they remind us of our need to celebrate life and the goodness of God's world. This is why my wife enthusiastically accepted our friend's invitation for a fleishig lunch on Shabbat during the nine days preceding Tisha b'Av.

Rabbi David Bauman is assistant rabbi at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue.

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2. Article #2: Food for Thought on Judaism and Vegetarianism
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=5207
By RABBI MICHAEL SKOBAC

The Jewish Vegetarians of North America recently published their "Top 10 Reasons for Being a Kosher Vegetarian." First on the list: "Two words - buttered challah!" I welcomed this moment of levity about an issue that often generates a tremendous amount of passion on both sides of the table. When the plates are cleared, though, it seems to me that there are some compelling Jewish reasons for shifting our diets toward vegetarianism.

Understanding the Torah's portrayal of both the beginning and climax of history is helpful in formulating a Jewish perspective on the issue of vegetarianism. Man's original diet in the Garden of Eden did not include the flesh of animals. "And God said: 'Behold I have given you every herb-yielding seed which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed - to you it shall be for food.'" (Genesis 1:29)

When God led the Jewish people out of Egypt in their journey toward the Promised Land, He sustained them for 40 years without meat on a diet of manna from heaven. Based on these two passages, Rabbi Isaac Arama asserted in his Akedat Yitzchak (15th century) that the ideal human diet would be vegetarian.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the chief rabbi of pre-state Israel, wrote about vegetarianism ultimately emerging as the human standard in the idyllic Messianic future. His tract A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace views the permission given to mankind to consume meat as a concession that would be transcended in the future. To support this, he cites the passage: "I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; I will also banish the bow and sword, and war from the land." (Hosea 2:20)
Rav Kook's successor, Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, wrote that "Jews will move increasingly to vegetarianism out of their deepening knowledge of what their tradition commands." The ethical treatment of animals in Judaism is primarily an issue of human responsibility rather than one of animal rights. The Bible prohibits "tzaar baalei chaim" - causing any needless pain to animals. The Torah also contains numerous injunctions that govern how we treat our animals, including the prohibition against plowing with two different sized species (Deuteronomy 22:10), the requirement to feed our animals before we eat (Deuteronomy 11:15) and the prohibition of muzzling animals employed to thresh our fields (Deuteronomy 25:4).

According to Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero's Tomer Devorah and numerous other sources, the Torah's method of ritual slaughter was designed to kill animals as humanely and painlessly as possible. Unfortunately, the conditions under which animals are raised commercially for food production today (crowding, lack of fresh air, and painful shackling and hoisting prior to slaughter) routinely violates the prohibition of "tzaar baalei chaim." It is hardly consistent to abuse animals from birth and then only be concerned about minimizing their pain when we end their lives. Until these objectionable practices are cleaned up, the consumption of mistreated animals should be questioned.

Even more basic to Jewish values than compassion for animals is the primacy of human life. The ultimate value that Torah places on human life leads to the principle of pikuach nefesh - with three notable exceptions, we [may] violate every Jewish law whenever there is the possibility of saving a life. [That is, no Jewish law should stand in the way of trying to save a life, other than the laws forbidding murder, sexual immorality, and idol worship.] The biblical directive to "carefully guard your souls" (Deuteronomy 4:15) is understood as an urging to do everything possible to maintain our health.

The Talmud (Chulin 10a) even teaches us to be more concerned about the potential health risks of a food than whether it is kosher. Many people go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the kashrut of their food, but pay little attention to whether it may be unhealthy. Today, the critical role diet plays in health is well-known. Animal products high in saturated fats and cholesterol have been linked to heart disease, stroke and various cancers. The widespread use of growth hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals in the meat production industry pose additional health concerns. Research has shown the positive relationship between vegetarian diets and longevity. This should certainly affect our responsibility to carefully weigh the costs and health benefits of everything that we consume.

Humans are also charged to care for and maintain the earth's environment (Kohelet Rabbah 7:28) and Jewish law strictly prohibits needlessly wasting or destroying anything that has potential value (baal tashchit). Ecologists have demonstrated the inefficiency of using so much of the earth's resources to support meat-centred diets, not to mention the huge amounts of waste and pollution that are by-products of modern meat production. And lest we forget, there are still countless people in the world today who suffer from malnutrition and starvation. Might the limited amounts of land and water available feed more people if they were used for growing grains and other crops rather than raising beef cattle?

I don't know if these issues necessitate the total elimination of meat from our diets. But it seems clear to me that Jews who seek to order their lives according to the teachings of our religion need to at least give some serious thought to these questions.

Rabbi Michael Skobac is education director with Jews for Judaism in Toronto.

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3. My Comments on the Articles

As someone who has long been trying to get a respectful dialogue on vegetarianism onto the Jewish agenda, I am very pleased that the Canadian Jewish News had these two very nice articles, and I hope that it leads to much additional discussion. Please help by writing letters to the editor of the CJN and by discussing the ideas in the articles. Thanks.

Comments on Rabbi Bauman's article

While I disagree with his conclusions, I think that Rabbi Bauman has written a very thoughtful, sensitive article. It is nice that he concedes that Judaism's ideal diet is vegetarian.

Rabbi Bauman argues that "Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat." However, he does not consider that there is little "celebration of life" for:

* The 50 billion land animals and the additional billions of fish and other sea creatures who are slaughtered annually worldwide for human consumption; most of the land animals and farmed fish suffer greatly during their lives;

* The millions of people who are afflicted and sometimes killed by heart disease, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases that have been linked to typical animal-based diets;

* The nearly a billion people who are chronically malnourished and undernourished and the estimated 20 million people who die annually due to hunger and its effects, while 70% of the grain produced in the United States and nearly 40% worldwide is fed to animals destined for slaughter; (of course, the production and consumption of animal products is not the sole cause of hunger, disease, pollution, and other societal problems, but it has a significant effect.)

* The many people who are adversely affected by the many negative environmental and social effects of animal-based agriculture.

In Talmudic times, many vegetarians were ascetics and many people considered it as a rejection of life. Today, vegetarianism is very life-affirming, There are many great tasting vegetarian foods today, and there are a wide variety of vegetarian recipe books. So, vegetarians need not feel that they are missing out on the enjoyments of life. Also, good health is a prerequisite for the fullest enjoyment of life, and vegetarian and vegan diets have great potential advantages for sustaining good health.

Rabbi Bauman indicates that "holiness is obtained by restricting our behavior," and he quotes Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, "the essence of Torah is self restraint." Well, vegetarianism, and even more so veganism, are certainly consistent with these important teachings.

Rabbi Bauman is of course correct in stating: "Halachah is a way for us to live our lives in this world. It infuses our existence with meaning, alleviating mourning with meaning and elevating our celebrations to a level of holiness." However, he does not consider how animal-based diets and modern intensive "livestock" agriculture often violate basic Halachic mandates to preserve our health, treat animals compassionately, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help needy people.

Rabbi Bauman state, "Meat products are the ultimate of indulgence, both in taste and in cost." He fails, however, to note the true cost of this indulgence, in terms of an epidemic of disease, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, rapid loss of biodiversity, widening water scarcities, global climate change, and many more societal threats.

Comments on Rabbi Skobac's article:

I do not think anyone will be surprised to read that I found Rabbi Skobac's article to be far more on target than Rabbi Bauman's article, although, as indicated above, I think Rabbi Bauman wrote a very nice article, considering that, in my opinion, he has a weak case. I think that Rabbi Skobac did an excellent, thorough, but succinct, job of summarizing the case for vegetarianism, based on Jewish values. I encourage you to please carefully read his article and forward it or your summary of it to others. Thanks.

For full disclosure, I should mention that I met Rabbi Skobac a few times, mainly on my visits to conferences in Toronto, and we have had some nice chats.

Since much of what is in Rabbi Skobac's article has been discussed in previous JVNA newsletters and in my articles, I want to just comment on three article segments below.

1) "It is hardly consistent to abuse animals from birth and then only be concerned about minimizing their pain when we end their lives. Until these objectionable practices are cleaned up, the consumption of mistreated animals should be questioned." Please consider this in terms of the tremendous attention being devoted to the Postville slaughterhouse, while the daily abuses of billions of animals on factory farms are being ignored.

2) "The Talmud (Chulin 10a) even teaches us to be more concerned about the potential health risks of a food than whether it is kosher. Many people go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the kashrut of their food, but pay little attention to whether it may be unhealthy." I think this is a tremendously important point. Once again, please consider this in terms of the Postville slaughterhouse issue, in which there is much discussion of the kashrut (kosher status) of the product, but no concern at all about its potentially very negative health effects.

3) "Humans are also charged to care for and maintain the earth's environment (Kohelet Rabbah 7:28) and Jewish law strictly prohibits needlessly wasting or destroying anything that has potential value (baal tashchit). Ecologists have demonstrated the inefficiency of using so much of the earth's resources to support meat-centred diets, not to mention the huge amounts of waste and pollution that are by-products of modern meat production. And lest we forget, there are still countless people in the world today who suffer from malnutrition and starvation. Might the limited amounts of land and water available feed more people if they were used for growing grains and other crops rather than raising beef cattle?"

Unfortunately, these issues are seldom considered, even by most environmentalists, so I think that it is great that Rabbi Skobac emphasized them, and I think that it is important that we help make others aware of the many negative effects of the production of meat and other animal products.

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4. Letter To The Editor by Syd Baumel

info@cjnews.com
Dear Editor:

When you combine the needless harm caused by animal farming (especially today's prevalent factory-style system) and the ease nowadays of following a healthful, kosher plant-based diet with the compelling Jewish teachings discussed by Rabbi Michael Skobac ("Food for thought on Judaism and vegetarianism"), surely the question must not be "why vegetarian or vegan?" but "why not?" To those who fear this would be biting off more than they can chew, a "flexitarian" diet, which allows for some cheating to appease the inner lox or chicken soup addict, is a great way to do a world of good for other creatures and the environment while discovering that a diet with few or no animal products can be completely satisfying for the body and elevating for the spirit.

Syd Baumel
Founder, Eatkind.net
Winnipeg
[Syd is a very valuable JVNA advisor whose editorial skills and very thoughtful analyses are much appreciated.]

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5. My Letter To The Editor

Editor, Canadian Jewish News
info@cjnews.com

Dear Editor:

As president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and author of the book "Judaism and Vegetarianism," I have been trying to get a respectful dialogue on vegetarianism onto the Jewish agenda for a long time. Hence, I want to commend you and Rabbis Bauman and Skobac for their recent very thoughtful discussions on Jewish teachings related to animal-based diets.

Rabbi Skobac provided an excellent summary of the Jewish case for vegetarianism. Rabbi Bauman makes many good points, but in arguing that "Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat," he ignores those whose celebration of life is seriously reduced by the production and consumption of animal products: the millions of people who are afflicted by diseases linked to animal-based diets; the nearly a billion people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition, as 70 percent of US grain is fed to farmed animals to fatten them for slaughter; and the billions of animals who are cruelly treated on factory farms.

While he correctly asserts that Halachah "infuses our existence with meaning," Rabbi Bauman ignores that the production and consumption of animal products violate basic Halachic mandates to preserve our health, treat animals compassionately, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help needy people.

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6. Suggestions on Building on the Two Articles for Jewish Vegetarian Outreach

* Write to the Canadian Jewish News at info@cjnews.com;

* Encourage other Jewish weeklies to have similar debates;

* Forward the articles to others along with my comments or, better, your own comments;

* Use the materials in the articles, the letters above and my comments to write letters to editors

* Try to get the issues stressed in Rabbi Skobac's article, but overlooked in Rabbi Bauman's article onto discussions in your community, synagogue, and wherever else you have a potential impact.

* Send me additional suggestions.

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