Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. My Trip to Israel
2. Two Jewish Environmental Conferences That I Am Scheduled to Attend, and Issues I Plan to Promote
3. JVNA Advisor Has Article in the Jerusalem Post Re AgriProcessors/Postville
4. Comments on the Above Article by the Blogmaster at Failedmessiah.com
5. Article by an Orthodox Rabbi on “Judaism and the Environment”
6. Leading Climate Experts issues Dire Warning Re Global Warming
7. Canfei Nesharim’s Material on Tu B’Shvat
8. League of Environmental Voters Analysis of the Current State of the Environment
9. New Vegetarian Resource Guide Released
10. NY Times Writer Discusses Various Vegetarian Diets
11. Vegan Home Hospitality Offered
12. Roberta Kalechofsky’s Letter to the Editor
13. Continuing Threats to Biodiversity
Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.
[Materials in brackets like this [ ] 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. Also, information re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsements by JVNA, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in.
As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.
Thanks,
Richard
=========================
1. My Trip to Israel
I spent much time on this trip on family matters, including attending a wonderful bat mitzvah of a granddaughter, touring, and trying to keep up with e-mail. However, I did manage to spend some time promoting vegetarianism and environmental involvement. In addition to speaking briefly at a great Tu B’Shvat seder at the Jerusalem Jewish Vegetarian Society HQ, I gave six talks (in one day) at the Orthodox Union’s “Israel Center” (see below). In some ways, I overdid it on this trip, including climbing Masada (instead of using the cable cars), giving the six talks in one day, and two long days of touring. So, I did not make my usual contacts on this trip, and I apologize too people whom I neglected to call.
Here is my speaking schedule at the OU Israel Center:
Root & Branch Association (in cooperation with the Israel Center)
Thursday, January 20th, 1:00-9:15 p.m.
Pre-Tu Bishvat Seminar
13:00 "Responding Jewishly to Israeli Environmental Problems"
14:15 "How a Vegetarian Diet can save your Life"
15:30 "How serious are Global Warming and other Environmental
Threats, and how should Jews Respond?"
16:45 "Should Jews be Animal Rights Activists?"
19:00 "Applying Jewish Values to help save Humanity and
Revitalize Judaism"
20:15 "Should Jews be Vegetarians?"
by Richard H. Schwartz
Professor Emeritus (Mathematics), College of Staten Island;
Author, "Judaism and Vegetarianism", "Judaism and Global Survival", "Mathematics and Global Survival"
www.jewishveg.com/schwartz
Israel Center 22 Keren Hayesod (02)566-7787
Info: rb@rb.org.il/www.rb.org.il, NIS 25 per person, members NIS 20,
students NIS 10.
Return to Top
=========================
2. Two Jewish Environmental Conferences That I Am Scheduled to Attend, and Issues I Plan to Promote
I am now scheduled to attend two important Jewish environmental conferences in February:
* The 2nd annual Canfei Nesharim Shabbaton, which will take place in Silver Spring, MD on February 25-26.
Here is background information for people who might be interested in attending:
Canfei Nesharim (The Wings of Eagles), an organization dedicated to educating the Orthodox community about protecting the environment from the perspective of Torah and halacha, invites you to share an uplifting & spiritual experience at its second annual Orthodox Environmental Shabbaton, entitled "Or L'Torah, Maayan L'Olam" (Light of Torah, Source of the World).
The Shabbaton is scheduled for February 25-26, 2005, and will take place at Young Israel Shomrai Emunah of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, MD, who is also co-sponsoring the event. Participants will stay with local families, participate in environmental and Torah learning with the local Orthodox community, and join other Jewish environmental activists from around the world in prayer, meals and celebration. The program will be a traditional Orthodox Shabbaton which includes Orthodox services, kosher food, and plenty of ruach!
This Shabbaton is distinct and separate from the COEJL institute taking place Sunday—Tuesday, February 27—March 1, in nearby Washington DC (see www.coejl.org); however priority for the limited amount of overnight accommodations will be given to those also attending the COEJL event.
The cost to participate in the Shabbaton is:
• $85 for individuals
• $145 for couples
• $42.50 for children under 10
• Children under 3 are admitted free (but register them as well to help with preparations!)
Registration includes:
• divrei Torah from a dynamic keynote speaker
• Shabbat dinner with organic chicken and other organic food
• Lunch
• Sueda shlishit
• home hospitality for two nights
• Nature Park
• Vegan vegetarian meals available!
Scholarships are available for those for whom cost is a barrier; requests should be sent to shabbaton@canfeinesharim.org.
For more information and to reserve your place at this inspiring event, please go to www.canfeinesharim.org.
Places are limited, so please book soon to avoid disappointment!
NOTE: If you live in the Silver Spring area and can help by hosting participants, please email Jason at jrosenbaum@prodigy.net.
------------------
* The 8th Annual Mark and Sharon Bloome
Jewish Environmental Leadership Institute 2005
February 27- March 1, 2005 Washington, DC
For more information, see http://www.coejl.org/
Think Globally, Act Jewishly!
As the Jewish community becomes more aware of the importance of the environment, we continue to find new ways to integrate our Jewish living with caring for creation. Join many Jewish and environmental professionals and activists as we explore Jewish environmental scholarship, education, advocacy, green building and more!
During the 3-day program, we will:
* Tour green synagogues in the D.C. area
* Hear about innovative environmental projects in Israel
* Visit Capitol Hill to hear about the current political climate and what you can do
* Learn about new Jewish environmental scholarship
* Build a community and strengthen the Jewish environmental movement
COEJL, JCPA, and Hillel will organize sessions on a wide range of issues. A number of sessions will be held jointly. All conference registrants are welcome and encouraged to attend programs of all three conferences.
The location:
The Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. is located at 2500 Calvert Street in the Woodley Park section of Washington D.C. and is easily reached by public transportation. Please see the travel page for more information on transportation.
I am scheduled to speak at this conference of negative impacts of modern intensive agriculture.
Ideas I plan to promote:
* Tu B’Shvat should be declared a Jewish Earth Day (in addition to its other important attributes);
* The next Jewish year should be declared a “Year of the Environment;”
* The world is threatened as never before and it is essential that Jewish values be applied in responding to current crises;
* A shift toward vegetarianism is both a Jewish and a societal imperative.
Suggestions welcome. Thanks.
Return to Top
=========================
3. JVNA Advisor Has Article in the Jerusalem Post Re AgriProcessors/Postville
Kashrut in the industrial age
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1107400718407&p=1006953079865
ADAM J. FRANK, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 3, 2005
[During my speaking tour of Israel last spring, Adam was very helpful in setting up talks, and he joined me at many events, where he showed videos about and discussed examples of mistreatment of animals in Israel.]
Is the kosher slaughter process as ethical as it is mandated to be? The controversy over revelations from an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse has drawn attention to the issue recently, but the Conservative movement has long contended that unnecessary pain to the animal can be greatly reduced if the imperatives of Jewish law were applied to their full spirit and clear intent.
In 2000, the Conservative movement's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS) unanimously ruled that slaughtering animals in an inverted position, whether by use of a mechanical inversion pen or the more brutal system of shackling and hoisting an animal by its rear legs, violates the Jewish law prohibiting tsa'ar ba'alei haim, the unnecessary infliction of pain on an animal. There is a better way.
It has been scientifically determined that industrial holding pens that allow the animal to stand upright during shechita (kosher slaughter) greatly reduces the animal's pain and stress at the time of slaughter. When shechita is performed properly in this manner, the animal does not kick or bellow or display other outward signs of anxiety, and evidently is rendered insensate within seconds.
This is hardly the case with the shackle and hoist method nor an inversion holding pen as is evidenced by the recent revelations in Iowa. Since more humane systems exist, the inversion methods are avoidable, and thus a violation of Jewish law.
Last November, an undercover investigation by an animal rights group (see www.petatv.com) caused quite a stir when it revealed grotesque abuses at AgriProcessors, a glatt-kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa. The graphic video, and the subsequent statements by kashrut certifying agencies and the Israeli Rabbinate that the abuse of the animals does not affect the kosher status of the meat, show that the laws of shechita alone do not protect against animal abuse.
Only slaughter that employs both the requirements of shechita and of tsa'ar ba'alei haim can avoid unnecessarily inflicting pain on an animal and ensure compliance with the corpus of applicable halacha.
The expose' showed the use of the very animal handling systems that, though more humane than some, were ruled impermissible by the CJLS's 2000 decision.
So far, the Conservative movement's response has been to restate its ruling against inversion pens and to call upon all kosher processing plants to employ the more humane upright holding pens.
Now, two months later, how can this statement be taken to the next step? Some have suggested that the movement create its own kosher slaughter supervising agency. This is not practical and, most significantly, the goals of the movement can be met without competing with or repeating the work of existing agencies.
The Conservative movement has a constituency of more than one million members, 750 affiliated congregations, 70 Solomon Schechter day schools, and more than 10 summer camps servicing thousands of children and staff. The movement has ordaining seminaries on both the East and West coasts and a rabbinical union with more than 1,400 members.
Representing nearly one-third of affiliated American Jewry, the Conservative movement is influential enough not to compromise its high standard for the ethical treatment of animals in conjunction with its commitment to kashrut.
It is time for the movement to set standards for kosher processing plants that ensure that the kosher slaughter process meets its full ethical potential and mandate. As part of this process, Conservative institutions would buy kosher meat only from suppliers that meet these standards.
The practical work of setting such standards would be greatly assisted by the industry's foremost authority on animal handling systems, Colorado State University animal science professor Temple Grandin. Having designed the upright restraint system used by many kosher abattoirs, she has offered her expertise, contacts, and considerable influence to help eliminate the animal abuse that currently accompanies some kosher slaughter.
Grandin has lectured, gratis, at both of the Conservative movement's seminaries and provided much information for the 2000 CJLS ruling prohibiting inverted slaughter. She is on record as being an avid supporter of shechita, but only when it takes into consideration the welfare of the animal throughout the entirety of the process.
Jewish law demands that the kosher meat industry reform. This reform should take place as the result of Jewish teachings and not as the result of public outcry. Should the reform occur as a result of shame and embarrassment, then Judaism will have lost the opportunity to blaze the path of justice and righteousness that is its mission. This lapse is particularly egregious given that Judaism is characterized by many laws that give humanity dominion over animals while, at the same time, protecting defenseless living creatures from needless cruelty at the hands of people. It would be ironic if kashrut, which historically represented a breathtaking ethical advance in the relationship between people and animals, were to be seen as indifferent to calls to become as ethical as it can and must be. The Conservative movement holds that Jewish law, properly implemented, does not allow this indifference.
Conservative Judaism stands for the synthesis of observance of Jewish law and Torah study with modernity. The industrialization of food production brings with it new challenges, creating the responsibility to apply all areas of applicable Jewish law to this modern interaction between people and animals. The movement would be providing a great service, not only to its members but to many other Jews and non-Jews who care about the humane treatment of animals, if it recognized kosher plants that use the halachically mandated ethical practices, allowing consumers to avoid meat from those who do not. A leadership committed to both tradition and modernity is just the body to pilot this effort.
The writer, a rabbi, teaches at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
[Please send a letter to the Jerusalem Post at letters@jpost.com.]
Return to Top
=========================
4. Comments on the Above Article by the Blogmaster at Failedmessiah.com
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2005/02/rubashkin_boyco.html#more
A conservative rabbi of some note has called for a boycott of Rubashkin and Alle processing meat:
The Conservative movement has a constituency of more than one million members, 750 affiliated congregations, 70 Solomon Schechter day schools, and more than 10 summer camps servicing thousands of children and staff. The movement has ordaining seminaries on both the East and West coasts and a rabbinical union with more than 1,400 members.
Representing nearly one-third of affiliated American Jewry, the Conservative movement is influential enough not to compromise its high standard for the ethical treatment of animals in conjunction with its commitment to kashrut.
It is time for the movement to set standards for kosher processing plants that ensure that the kosher slaughter process meets its full ethical potential and mandate. As part of this process, Conservative institutions would buy kosher meat only from suppliers that meet these standards.
… Jewish law demands that the kosher meat industry reform. This reform should take place as the result of Jewish teachings and not as the result of public outcry. Should the reform occur as a result of shame and embarrassment, then Judaism will have lost the opportunity to blaze the path of justice and righteousness that is its mission. This lapse is particularly egregious given that Judaism is characterized by many laws that give humanity dominion over animals while, at the same time, protecting defenseless living creatures from needless cruelty at the hands of people. It would be ironic if kashrut, which historically represented a breathtaking ethical advance in the relationship between people and animals, were to be seen as indifferent to calls to become as ethical as it can and must be. The Conservative movement holds that Jewish law, properly implemented, does not allow this indifference.
If this is done, and if the Reform Movement endorses it (as it surely will), Rubashkin, Alle Processing and their rabbis – especially the OU – may finally be forced to take tzaar baalei hayyim issues seriously.
But the non-Orthodox movements need to act soon if they want to have any real impact.
The kosher meat industry and its rabbis are working to circumvent both the Food Marketing Institute and USDA standards for humane slaughter.
If they succeed, the only way for a Conservative Jew to keep kosher will be to go vegetarian.
Please post a comment at failedmessiah.com
Return to Top
=========================
5. Article by an Orthodox Rabbi on “Judaism and the Environment”
Ecology: A Jewish Perspective http://www.aish.com/tubshvat/tubshvatinterests/Ecology_A_Jewish_Perspective.asp
by Rabbi Yehudah Levi
Man is entrusted with the proper management of the world. We may not stand aside and watch the world being destroyed.
Before we can hope to solve the problems of ecology in the technological age, we must get at the roots of these problems. These lie primarily in our basic attitude toward the purpose of our life -- in our choice of priorities. In the secular society, the top priority is self-interest. Any sense of responsibility toward the world at large is -- if it exists at all -- extremely secondary.
Let us illustrate this with a typical example. In a certain industry, it is standard practice to use a manufacturing process which is highly economical, but at the same time contributes to the destruction of the protective ozone layer in the atmosphere. If we were to suggest to the manager of a company in this industry that he use an alternative process which reduces pollution, but is more costly, he would answer, My first responsibility is to the stockholders. I do not have the right to tell them to reduce their profits in order to preserve the quality of the atmosphere fifty years from now. From a secular standpoint, this claim is difficult to refute.
The Secular Approach
Present efforts to stem this tide focus mainly on legislation to impose restraints on the public. But this approach has very limited effectiveness -- and occasionally even backfires due to the cumbersome bureaucracy required1. Auxiliary propaganda drives to recruit public support, too, are largely ineffectual, because they lack a rational basis. The spirit of After us the deluge! is difficult to overcome.
The Torah View
The Torah attacks this problem by helping us to change our inner motivation. Specifically: The whole of Torah is for the sake of social harmony2. And: [Be considerate of your fellow's wishes] -- that is the whole of Torah3.
The Torah shapes the human personality on two planes. It works on the cognitive level by providing a rational and integrated ideology and world view conducive to social harmony. It works along behaviorist lines by imposing a body of regulations prescribing in detail the required course of action in given situations. By developing an awareness of the divine origin of the prescribed code of conduct of Jewish law, it nurtures inner motivation and thus minimizes the need for externally imposed enforcement and the concomitant bureaucracy.
What does Torah ideology say on our issue?
When God created the first couple, he blessed them, Fill the world and conquer it 4. Conquest can be for the purpose of exploitation, or for the sake of development. Which did the Creator intend? Our Sages answer this question in a midrash:
“When God created the first man, he took him around to all the trees in the Garden of Eden and said to him, See my handiwork, how beautiful and choice they are... Be careful not to ruin and destroy my world, for if you do ruin it, there is no one to repair it after you.” 5
We see here that the Torah views man as being entrusted with the orderly and proper management of the world. Therefore we may not stand aside and watch the world being destroyed.
The Problem of Over-consumption
The ecological problem has another source. Two hundred years ago, economist Thomas Malthus published a thesis according to which mankind has a built-in time bomb ticking away inside it. The world's population multiplies at an ever-increasing rate, with which the rate of food production cannot possibly keep up. Although his thesis is rational, it is highly misleading. More recent research has found that this is not the primary problem at all. A factor of considerably greater importance is the average individual consumption, which is increasing at a much faster rate than that of population, as indicated by the following figures:
the course of 30 years, the world's population doubled, while energy consumption per capita increased eightfold in this period. We may add to this the fact that in North America and Western Europe, ten percent of the population consumes 50% of the world's energy.
At this point, then, the real danger to the world lies in this excessive consumption. Not only does it deplete the world's energy store, it also is the chief cause of the warming of the atmosphere.
This over-consumption is also manifest in our use of raw materials. It can even be found in our dietary habits. Note that the production of one kilogram of beef consumes sixteen kilogram of grain.6 People are well aware of this; the problem is that they are not prepared to act accordingly.
The Torah Approach
All this shows that the root of the problem lies in a selfish world view which inflates personal consumption beyond the essential. Regarding this problem, the Torah instructs us to be holy, or in other words, to refrain from self-indulgence and luxuries.7 (The Hebrew word for holy, kadosh, signifies dedication to an ideal.)
Noble ideas, you may say, but how are they to be implemented? The answer to this objection lies in halakhah, Jewish law. Halakhah is a body of strict, detailed demands which the Torah places upon the Jew. Halakhah is not interested in the individual's world view, and its demands are not affected by it. On the contrary, by guiding his actions and thereby molding his character according to the principles of behaviorist psychology, the halakhah supports the ideology, enabling it to develop man's world view and hence, again, his conduct.
As in all areas of life, regarding environmental quality the Torah does not merely call for sublime goals. It harnesses halakhah in the service of its noble concepts, thus transforming the abstract vision into a functioning principle in society. It does this on two levels: first, through laws which instill awareness of our obligations toward society and the environment; second, through other mitzvot which train us in self-control, and thus to sanctity and acceptance of divine service. These mitzvot change our selfish orientation, and teach us to be guided by ideals and not simply by desires.
Let us discuss a number of Torah-ordained commandments whose thrust is ecological.
Damages to Neighbors
In the commandment to love your fellow as yourself,8 the Torah has given us a principle which is indeed great,9 but which would remain a mere utopia were it not anchored in halakhah. One of the halakhic areas which educates us to love our fellow and to be concerned for his welfare is that of damages to neighbors. This is a broad topic, which also has a significant influence on the ecology.
The Torah deals at length with owners' responsibility for damages caused by their possessions, at times even if caused only indirectly and also if caused by an object which technically they did not own.
In the case of an inanimate object, such damages are classified as damages caused by a pit. The responsibility rests with the person who dug or uncovered the pit in the public domain.10 In this category are damages caused by a banana peel thrown in the street, or dangerous waste material disposed of in the public domain. When the object is transported by natural forces, such as the wind, it is in the category of fire,11 which includes damage caused by pollution of air or waterways.
Surprisingly, we are cautioned against causing the loss of benefit to another, even if he has no legal claim to it.12 The principle that one should not drain the water of his well when others need it is found in the Mishnah.13 A Jew is even commanded to prevent damage threatening his neighbor from an outside force.14
The Sages of the Talmud expanded these rules also to psychological disturbances, such as possible exposure to a neighbor's observation, noises, and so on. Anyone suffering such annoyances may appeal to the courts to force his neighbor to remove them. This may include the removal of the cause of the noise, although the noise is only indirectly due to it15 and even if its removal will cause the owner financial hardship. Based on these rules, the Ryvash drafts the guiding principle: One may not protect his own property from damage at the expense of his fellow's damage.16 This principle could serve as a guideline in modern legislation for pollution control.
Four particular nuisances are especially liable to legal action according to Jewish law: smoke, sewage odors, dust and similar aerosols, and vibrations.17 Even if consent had initially been given, the offended neighbor can retract it. All of these are forms of pollution which are a source of great concern to this day. In particular, halakhah limits the proximity of certain industrial processes to the city, to prevent air pollution within the city. Included are threshing floors (because of the chaff), processing of carcasses, tanneries (because of the smell), and furnaces (because of the smoke).18 Tanneries are specifically limited to the areas east of the city, in consideration of the prevalent wind patterns in the Land of Israel.19
We have already mentioned the value the Torah places on beauty. It is obvious, then, that mere aesthetic damage such as littering in public places is also included in the prohibition against causing damage -- if not according to the letter of halakhah, then according to its spirit. We find at least one example of such legislation: furnaces were forbidden in Jerusalem because the smoke blackened the walls of the houses, and this is a disgrace.20
All the above is only a small sampling from over one hundred paragraphs in the Code of Jewish Law21 which deal with damages caused to neighbors, most of them environmental. One who studies and applies these laws in daily life becomes considerate and sensitive, and will not make light of harming the environment. He will beware of causing damage in general, and ecological damage in particular.
A Psychological Revolution22
In searching for the sources of the problems of ecological destruction, whether industrial- or consumer-centered, we will find that they lie chiefly in people's selfishness. When personal advantage tops the scale of priorities and everyone tries to expand the sphere of his own power, the expanding spheres are bound to collide, creating shortages and conflict. This fosters a situation where mankind seems to march toward massive environmental degradation -- unless, that is, it finds an alternative to this basic self-centered orientation.
This is where the Torah steps in. It works to eliminate the prime cause of conflict by providing a goal common to all mankind: to make us into loyal servants of God. Such a servant will see to it that he acquires the tools he needs to succeed at his job -- but no more. As a result, he will not strive for unlimited expansion of his sphere of influence.
Such a world view also transforms the entire creation into a means toward, and partner in, the service of God. Ultimately it will all be part of one system, all of whose components contribute to the common goal. If mitzvot were only given as a means to refine mankind,23 then the Torah and its mitzvot treat, in the most fundamental manner, the problems of the quality of the environment. They also hold the only solution to the problem of the ecology: a reshaping of man's character.
Perhaps this is the message of Ezekiel's vision24 when he was shown a polluted ocean, with its fish and other marine life near death.25 Then a small trickle of water emerged from under the threshold of the Temple -- water signifies Torah,26 and the Temple is but the sanctuary of the Torah.27 Gradually the water grew to a great stream, on whose shore grew all manner of fruit trees, whose leaves do not wither and whose fruits never cease. When these waters reach the ocean, the polluted ocean waters are healed, and all the fish and marine life return to health.
Here we behold a vision of an ecological paradise coming into existence through the Torah.
This article is excerpted from A Compendium of Sources in Halacha and the Environment, to be published by Canfei Nesharim in Spring 5765. For more information on Canfei Nesharim and halachic perspectives on protecting the environment, visit www.canfeinesharim.org.
NOTES
1. M. Gerstenfeld, Environment and Confusion (Academon, Jerusalem, 1994).
2. BT Gittin 59b, from Proverbs 3:17.
3. BT Shabbath 31a (cf. above, essay 12, note 3).
4. Genesis 1:28.
5. MR Ecclesiastes 7:13 s.v. reëh.
6. F.M. Lappe, Diet for a Small Planet, Ballentine (NY, 1975); pp.11, 382.
7. Leviticus 19:2 and RaMBaN commentary ad loc. from BT Yevamoth 20a.
8. Leviticus 19:18.
9. JT Nedarim 9:4.
10. M Bava Kama 1:1 and commentaries ad loc.; ibid chap. 3.
11. Loc. cit.
12. BT Yevamoth 44a; (M Yevamoth 4:11).
13. According to SeMaG (neg. #229) and Meiri (BT Yevamoth 44a), the prohibition is based on bal tashchith.
14. BT Bava Metzi'a 31a; SA CM 259:9.
15. BT Bava Bathra 23a; SA CM 155:39.
16. Responsa RYVaSh #196.
17. SA CM 155:36.
18. M Bava Bathra 2:8-9; SA CM 155:22-23.
19. Loc. cit.
20. Rashi BT Bava Kama 82b.
21. SA CM #153-6.
22. The ideas in this section are, primarily, from R. A. Carmell, Judaism and the Quality of the Environment, in Challenge, A. Carmell & C. Domb, eds., (Feldheim, 1976); pp.500-525.
23. MR I 44:1.
24. Ezekiel 47:1-12.
25. The prophet refers to the waters of the sea being cured; this implies that they had been polluted; his vision concerning the animals around the water: they will live, implies that they had been near death. The Hebrew term used to describe the uncured water is mutza-im, which is cognate with tzoah = feces, again implying pollution (Cf. 2 Kings 10:27, as read.)
26. BT Bava Kama 17a.
27. The purpose of a building is indicated by its innermost content. In the sanctuary, the Torah and the Tablets were in the Holy of Holies. Cf. Rabbi S.R. Hirsch on Exodus 25:21.
Copyright © 1995-2005 Aish HaTorah. All rights reserved. http://www.aish.com
Return to Top
=========================
6. Leading Climate Experts Issues Dire Warning Re Global Warming
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=603752
Global warming approaching point of no return, warns leading climate expert
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
23 January 2005
Global warning has already hit the danger point that international attempts to curb it are designed to avoid, according to the world's top climate watchdog.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the official Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told an international conference attended by 114 governments in Mauritius this month that he personally believes that the world has "already reached the level of dangerous concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere" and called for immediate and "very deep" cuts in the pollution if humanity is to "survive".
His comments rocked the Bush administration - which immediately tried to slap him down - not least because it put him in his post after Exxon, the major oil company most opposed to international action on global warming, complained that his predecessor was too "aggressive" on the issue.
SNIP
But this month, at a conference of Small Island Developing States on the Indian Ocean island, the new chairman, a former head of India's Tata Energy Research Institute, himself issued what top United Nations officials described as a "very courageous" challenge.
He told delegates: "Climate change is for real. We have just a small window of opportunity and it is closing rather rapidly. There is not a moment to lose."
Afterwards he told The Independent on Sunday that widespread dying of coral reefs, and rapid melting of ice in the Arctic, had driven him to the conclusion that the danger point the IPCC had been set up to avoid.
SNIP
Return to Top
================
7. Canfei Nesharim’s Material on Tu B’Shvat
[Because I was away, this material is late, but I still think it is valuable.]
Forwarded message from Canfei Nesharim:
Hello everyone,
This Monday night [January 24. 2005] begins Tu b’Shevat, the traditional Jewish “new year of the trees.” This year Canfei Nesharim’s third annual Tu b’Shevat Learning Campaign has gathered four articles to share with participating communities. Since we know many of you will be celebrating over Shabbos, we wanted to provide the articles for you to use and educate your communities this weekend.
The four articles below are excerpted from our "Compendium of Sources in Halacha and the Environment," to be published this spring. [This should be a very valuable book.] Full text of the articles are available on our website at www.canfeinesharim.org/resources.shtml. Please share them with your communities and give credit to Canfei Nesharim’s compendium as the source.
The following excellent articles relating to Torah and the Environment are available for the Campaign:
- The Unity and Purposefulness of Creation, by Rabbi Gavriel Weinberg. Tu b’Shevat is an appropriate time to appreciate the greatness of Creation, and to honor it. Everything in creation has the potential to give us benefits and we need to treat them with this mindset.
- Living on Future Generations' Account, by Rabbi Yehuda Levi. The roots of our ecological problems lie primarily in our basic attitude toward the purpose of our life—in our choice of priorities. In the secular society, the top priority is self-interest. The Torah attacks this problem by helping us to change our inner motivation. It works to eliminate the prime cause of conflict by providing a goal common to all mankind: to make us into loyal servants of Hashem.
- A Jewish perspective on the “tragedy of the commons," by Rabbi Akiva Wolff. In the Talmudic approach to the environment, each of us must focus on his responsibility to others - regardless of what others are doing. An individual is not allowed to say “since I’m only one of many people contributing to the problem, I’m not responsible." When each individual recognizes his true place in the world and assumes personal responsibility for his actions, there need never be another tragedy of the commons.
- Cosmic Consciousness, Man, and the Worm, by Rabbi David Sears. Nothing could be more "down to earth" than preservation of the planet. Yet the spiritual dimension of ecological awareness is often overlooked. When we act as self-absorbed individuals, with little regard for anyone or anything that exists outside ourselves, we immediately fall into moral and spiritual error. Thus, countless laws in the Torah adjure us to open our eyes, and act responsibly and compassionately toward the world around us.
If you know of any other organizations that would like to post these articles on their websites or in newsletters for Tu b’Shevat, please let us know, or contact them directly to invite them to participate.
Thank you, chag sameach, and good Shabbos!
The Canfei Nesharim Steering Committee
Return to Top
=========================
8. League of Environmental Voters Analysis of the Current State of the Environment
State of the Environment Briefing
http://www.lcv.org/Features/Features.cfm?orgid=insider020305&ID=3651&c=46&MX=591&H=1
This week the national environmental community issued a State of the Environment briefing to the press. Read the summary of the report below, then download the entire report.
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Polls have consistently found that a solid majority of Americans oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge. But the oil industry and its allies in Congress are once again lobbying hard to open the coastal plain of the Refuge to oil drilling.
Energy Policy/Global Warming
The case for a shift to clean energy has never been stronger, yet Congress and the Bush Administration continue to push for the dirty energy policies of the past. Already leaders in Congress are talking about resurrecting some if not all of the disastrous energy bill blocked by the Senate last year. Meanwhile, as most of the rest of the developed world agreed to take real action to combat global warming, political leaders in the U.S. refuse to do anything nationally to curb our emissions.
Clean Air
The Bush Administration along with allies in Congress are pushing for an air pollution plan that would repeal, weaken, and delay key Clean Air Act safeguards. The Administration plan weakens protections from soot, smog, and toxic mercury; Repeals safeguards for local air quality; hamstrings safeguards for downwind states and National Parks; and worsens global warming.
Clean Water
In the coming year, the most damaging attacks on the Clean Water Act and related programs that protect water quality will continue to be made through rulemakings, guidances, directives and other formal or informal policies of the Bush administration. There is strong and reliable bipartisan support for the Clean Water Act on the Hill, making it unlikely that major weakening amendments to existing federal law could be made in Congress.
Endangered Species Act
For over 30 years, the Endangered Species Act has been successful -- the Act has saved hundreds of species from extinction. The Endangered Species Act also enjoys broad public support ‹ fully 86% of voters nationwide support it. But the Bush Administration is using administrative actions and allies in Congress intend on moving ‘reforms’ to undermine this important safety net for America’s wildlife, plants and fish on the edge of extinction.
Oceans
Within the last year and a half, two blue ribbon panels have concluded that our oceans are in trouble and urgent action needs to be taken. Several bills were introduced in both the House and the Senate that would seek to implement report recommendations. President Bush delivered his response to the Ocean Commission recommendations in December. While the president embraced the spirit of the report and its recommendations, the response lacked substance. While the administration has been encouraged to increase funding for the agencies charged with implementing these recommendations, we expect to see significant decreases for the next fiscal year.
© 2001, 2002 by The League of Conservation Voters, Inc.
1920 L Street, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC, 20036
Phone: 202-785-8683, Fax: 202-835-0491
Return to Top
=========================
9. New Vegetarian Resource Guide Released
Forwarded message:
Las Vegas, NV, For decades vegetarians has searched a plethora of resources to answer their questions about such a lifestyle. Now all their questions are answered in one easy to use reference book.
i-Newswire, 2005-01-31 - Vegetarians Now Have a Reference Guide!
Las Vegas, NV. The Vegetarian Resource Book: A to Z Reference Guide to Vegetarianism has over 600 vegetarianism related terms that are defined.
There are many issues that are important when trying to live as a vegetarian, such as the origin of ingredients, how to meet other vegetarians, alternatives to dissection, frequently asked questions and myths about vegetarianism. Gone are the days that the vegetarian needs to search multiple sources for answers to all their questions.
With the release of the new Vegetarian Resource Book: A to Z Reference Guide to Vegetarianism by Jacqueline Bodnar all those questions are answered in one place. This is a book that will be handy for every vegetarian, as well as every meat eater that would like to understand vegetarians a little better.
For additional information contact: Jacqueline Bodnar at bodnarjacqueline@aol.com.
This book, ISBN 1932672621, is now available through major online bookstores and is distributed through Ingram, Baker & Taylor.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Jacqueline Bodnar
Author
702-338-3105
http://www.jacquelinebodnar.com
Return to Top
=========================
10. NY Times Writer Discusses Various Vegetarian Diets
January 30, 2005
ON LANGUAGE
Vegan
By WILLIAM SAFIRE
By all that is sacred in our hopes for the human race,'' wrote the passionate poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1813, ''I conjure those who love happiness and truth, to give a fair trial to the vegetable system.'' The cardinal rule of that blithe spirit: ''Never take any substance into the stomach that once had life.''
That philosophy of diet was first recorded by Pythagoras of Samos who munched on his veggies around the fifth century B.C., with Greek philosophers like Plato, Epicurus and Plutarch embracing fleshless eating with enthusiasm. A few decades after Bish's endorsement (the teenager he seduced and later married, Mary Wollstonecraft's daughter, called him Bish), the diet was being called vegetarian, a word popularized by the formation of the vegetarian Society at Ramsgate, England, in 1847. After its planting, that word grew (from the Latin vegetare, ''to grow'') for a century.
Then along came the Yorkshireman Donald Watson, a woodworker in Britain and a devotee of greens, who was looking for a name for his newsletter. ''We should all consider carefully,'' he wrote his early subscribers in 1944, ''what our Group, and our magazine, and ourselves, shall be called.'' He was tired of typing the long word vegetarian thousands of times and believed nondairy was too negative: ''Moreover it does not imply that we are opposed to the use of eggs as food. We need a name that suggests what we do eat.'' He rejected vegetarian and fruitarian as ''associated with societies that allow the 'fruits'(!) of cows and fowls.'' (That's milk and eggs; the poet Robert Lowell wrote in 1959 of a ''fly-weight pacifist,/so vegetarian, /he wore rope shoes and preferred fallen fruit.'')
Watson suggested to his readers that the newsletter be called The Vegan News. ''Our diet will soon become known as a vegan diet, and we should aspire to the rank of vegans.''
As his subscribers swallowed his coinage, Watson promptly made it an -ism : ''Veganism is the practice of living on fruits, nuts, vegetables, grains and other wholesome nonanimal products.'' He thus dissociated his strict -ism from that of vegetarianism, a less rigorous regime that usually permits the eating of eggs, dairy products and honey, as well as the wearing of animal products like leather, wool and silk. (To get the vitamin B12 in animal products, many vegans drink fortified soy milk or take a vitamin pill. Mother's milk is permitted for babies.)
Vegetarian has another offshoot besides the aforesaid fruitarian: ''Pescetarian is a frequently used term for those alleged veggies who eat seafood (but not meat or fowl),'' noted a writer in The Guardian in 2002, ''and irritate meat eaters and genuine vegetarians the world over.''
One who exclusively noshes on crudités (a Yiddish-English-French phrase) is called a rawist. Also coined in the early 90's is flexitarian, one who eats vegetarian dishes at home but will go along with meat, fish or fowl in a restaurant or as a guest. (A food pollster would call these loosey-goosey gourmands swing eaters.)
In the recent presidential campaign, Ralph Nader revealed his food flexitarianism -- no meat, but fish is O.K. -- while Representative Dennis Kucinich firmly asserted his status as a vegan. The strict term can be politically parodied: the humorist Dave Barry, in a healing postelection column, urged readers not to stereotype red-state voters as ''knuckle-dragging Nascar-obsessed cousin-marrying roadkill-eating'' rednecks, nor blue-state voters as ''tofu-chomping holistic-wacko neurotic vegan weenie perverts.''
Vegan, too, has its offshoot: a freegan is an anticonsumerist who eats only what others throw away. Unlike a dumpster diver, a freegan (hard g) limits his scrounging to edibles. I believe this term is too close to euphemisms for copulation to be more than a nonce word.
Do not confuse the noun vegan with the intransitive verb to veg out. The latter is based on vegetate, ''to exist passively,'' coined in that sense by the playwright Colley Cibber in 1740. It means ''to droop into such a state of insensibility as to appear to become a vegetable.''
My problem with vegan, now affirmatively used as self-description by roughly two million Americans, is its pronunciation. Does the first syllable sound like the vedge in vegetable, with the soft g? Or is it pronounced like the name sci-fi writers have given the blue-skinned aliens from far-off Vega: VEE-gans or VAY-gans?
For this we turn to the word's coiner: ''The pronunciation is VEE-gan,'' Watson told Vegetarians in Paradise, a Los Angeles-based Web site, last year, ''not vay-gan, veggan or veejan.'' He chooses the ee sound followed by a hard g. That's decisive but not definitive; some lexicographers differ, and pronunciation will ultimately be determined by the majority of users.
I'll go along with the coiner's pronunciation of VEE-gan. He's a charmingly crotchety geezer who began as a vegetarian. ''When my older brother and younger sister joined me as vegetarians, nonsmokers, teetotalers and conscientious objectors,'' Watson says, ''my mother said she felt like a hen that had hatched a clutch of duck eggs.'' He obviously inherited her feel for language. I'm a carnivore myself -- an animal that delights in eating other animals -- but won't treat this guy like a fad-diet freak: Watson has a major coinage under his belt, and he's a spry 94.
Send comments and suggestions to: safireonlanguage@nytimes.com.
Return to Top
=========================
11. Vegan Home Hospitality Offered
Dear Richard, Sorry I never answered your E.mail. I have a 3 bedroom home very cruelty free and there for trust all Vegan friends who need a temporary place. In the "American Vegan" Spring 2002 you can read all about us. Unfortunately my dear husband Hans passed away Jan 23 2003. My new E.Mail is now, sealme@sbcglobal.net. Address 8843 Penfield Ave. Northridge CA 91324 tel. 818 341-6153. I forgot already for what I wrote you, but the same is still standing. Many greetings and keep up the good work for freedom of all animals and peaceful living,
Your friend Coby Siegenthaler
Return to Top
=========================
12. Roberta Kalechofsky’s Letter to the Editor
In response to Beverly Barton's argument that Animals have No Rights
There are many points I agree with in Beverly Barton 's article. Unfortunately, however, there are also points in her article which are philosophically and Judaically suspicious. To begin with, she assumes that if animals are not equal to humans, animals therefore have no rights. The idea of equality is philosophically difficult and muddies the problem of "rights." We all assume that a mentally retarded child is not equal to Einstein, but who would argue that this child has 'no rights," and should not be protected against wanton cruelty?
Secondly, the origin and ideas attendant upon which foods would be kosher and which would not have nothing to do with equality or rights. The division is between predatory and non-predatory creatures: the mercy of the Creator does not make distinctions between predatory and non-predatory. "He opens His hand and feeds all."
I agree with Ms. Barton that PETA often oversteps a line that I too find regrettable. In response to their campaign "Holocaust On Your Plate," I wrote "Animal Suffering and The Holocaust: The Problem With Comparisons." However, Maimonides himself made points of comparison between animals and humans when he wrote, "With respect to the joy and suffering of the mother animal for its young, there is no difference between animals and humans, because these feelings arise from the emotional side of the animal and not the rational side." So too does terror and panic. Physiological pain arises from biological elements, but gives rise to terror and panic, not to mention the pain itself which is probably equal to that of humans in similar situations. If a mouse is consumed in fire, does he burn less painfully than a human consumed in fire? Of if you induce epilepsy in a primate, does his attack cause him less pain, anxiety and fear, than epilepsy in a human being? The aspects of human life that are not "equal" to that of humans, being relegated to the intellect, would make many animals more equal to humans than not.
I agree with Ms. Barton that "tas'ar ba'ale chayim" means that humans should not commit gratuitous acts of pain towards animals. Eating meat and wearing fur in the modern world being totally unnecessary, slaughter of animals for meat and fur, whether kosher or not, must be regarded as gratuitous. As for the requirement to eat meat or fish on Shabbos or yom tov, here is no such thing. There is no commandment to eat. There is a long tradition, but no commandment. There is a commandment to be joyous on the holidays, but after the fall of the Temple, Rabbi Judah Ben Betairah declared that it was no longer necessary to eat meat on yom tovim to fulfill the commandment to be joyous. The issue of vegetarianism for Jews was examined by Rabbi Alfred Cohen in his article, "Vegetarianism from A Jewish Perspective" The Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Fall,1981): "If a person is not comfortable eating meat, there would be no obligation for him to do so on the Sabbath [and] we may clearly infer that not eating meat, even on a Festival is not mandated by the Halacha."
As for the Agriprocessor Plant, in this case, Ms. Barton is blaming the messenger, not the message. Has Ms. Barton seen the video of this place and does she believe that tearing out the trachea from living animals is a kosher practice?
Roberta Kalechofsky, Ph.D.
Founder of Jews for Animal Rights
www.micahbooks.com
Return to Top
=========================
13. Continuing Threats to Biodiversity
Ecologists identify nine new biodiversity "hot spots"
Forwarded message:
The world's biodiversity, it seems, is in trouble. A new report compiled over four years by some 400 ecologists has identified nine new "hotspots" where animal and plant biodiversity is both high and imperiled. The 34 total hotspots identified since 2000 cover only 2.3 percent of the earth's surface but are home to three-quarters of the most threatened mammals, birds, and amphibians. Hotspots are "the environmental emergency rooms of our planet," said Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International and coeditor of the report, and they make conservation, if not easier, at least more focused. Conservationists and governments wondering where to invest their limited resources now have 34 excellent candidates, including newcomers in the mountains of central Asia, the Horn of Africa, and the entire nation of Japan.
straight to the source: The Guardian, John Vidal, 02 Feb 2005
http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4190
straight to the source: Nature.com, Jessica Ebert, 02 Feb 2005
http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4191
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Reuters, 02 Feb 2005
http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4192
Return to Top
=========================
** Fair Use Notice**
This document may contain copyrighted material, use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. I believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
No comments:
Post a Comment