Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. JVNA’s Goals and Objectives
2. Some Strategy Ideas for JVNA
3. Update on Rabbi Dovid Sears’ Book, "A Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism"
4. Series of Messages on Jewish Teachings on Animals Announced
5. Challenging Misconceptions About Verses in Genesis
6. "A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism"
7. JVNA Leaflets
8. Spiritual Teachings on Environmental Protection
9. How Would the World Change if Hamburgers Were replaced by Veggie Burgers?
10. ACTION ALERT: Help Urgently Needed on Foie Gras Bill in New York State
12. Jewish Quotations on the Proper Treatment of Animals and Vegetarianism/Suggestions welcome
13. Undercover Video Reveals Torture at Tyson Slaughterhouse
14. Could There Be a Global Bird Flu Pandemic?
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. JVNA’s Goals and Objectives
Since I have been asked to indicate my and JVNA’s agenda and goals, I will try to do so in this newsletter. This is a work in progress, so please send your comments and suggestions. Thanks.
Three of the main points that we are trying to make people in the Jewish community more aware of are:
* The mass production and consumption of animal products is causing an epidemic of human degenerative disease and is contributing significantly to global warming, rapid species extinction, the destruction of tropical rainforests and other habitats, a global fresh water crisis and many additional threats to humanity.
* Animal-based diets and agriculture violate basic Jewish mandates to take care of our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help the hungry, and pursue a more peaceful world.
* Because of the above two major points, a switch toward vegetarianism is both a societal imperative and a Jewish imperative. This does not mean that every person has to change his or her diet, but that these issues should be on the agendas of the Jewish community and other religious and secular groups and that there needs to be a shift by a substantial number of people.
We also are trying to get Jewish leaders (and others) to not only discuss Jewish values, but to also apply them. For example, while Judaism stresses the uniqueness, sanctity, and dignity of every human life, there are moral issues related to animal-based diets that the Jewish community does not seem to be considering sufficiently:
* What about the dignity of the over one million Americans stricken annually with heart disease, stroke, various types of cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases strongly connected to the consumption of animal products?
* What about the sanctity of the lives of an estimated 20 million people who die annually from hunger and its effects and of the hundreds of millions of people who are chronically malnourished, while 70 percent of the grain produced in the United States and almost 40 percent of the grain produced worldwide is used inefficiently to fatten confined animals for affluent people’s tables?
* What about the unique value of every human being who is, or soon will be, threatened by global warming, severe water shortages and environmental destruction secondary to the mass global production of 50 billion food animals every year – over ten billion in the United States alone?
We also want to respectfully challenge Jews (and others) to apply Judaism’s very powerful teachings on compassion to animals to the many ways that animals are currently mistreated on factory farms and in other places. In view of the Jewish teaching of tsa’ar ba’alei chaim (the Torah mandate against causing unnecessary pain to animals), can we justify such routine and legal horrors of factory farming as:
• The force-feeding of ducks and geese to create foie gras.
• The separation of calves from their mothers within one or two days of birth to be crated in darkness for sixteen weeks, then slaughtered for veal.
• The infanticide of 250 million newborn male chicks in American egg-laying hatcheries every year because layer chickens are genetically incapable of being converted into chicken meat in six to eight weeks.
• The confinement of egg-laying hens inside filthy rows of wire cages so small and crowded they can’t raise a wing and must be painfully “debeaked” (without the costly benefit of painkillers) to keep them from pecking each other to death.
We want to respectfully challenge the Jewish community with questions such as -- Since we Jews are called to be rachamanim b'nei rachamanim (compassionate children of compassionate ancestors) and to worship a compassionate God, Whose mercies are over all of His creatures, can we continue in good conscience to follow diets that involve so much cruelty to animals?
Clearly, Jewish values and the consumption of animal foods are in serious conflict. If Judaism is to remain relevant to many of the great problems of today, I believe that all Jews must seriously consider adopting a more humane and sustainable plant-based diet. We should stress that this is a moral, social and ecological imperative.
Jews comprise only a small percentage of the world’s people. We are responsible for only a small portion of the problems resulting from modern intensive livestock agriculture. However, it is essential that we Jews strive to fulfil our challenge to be a light unto the nations and to work for tikkun olam – the healing and repair of our imperfect and unjust world. This mission must include the lightening of the immense burden of our diets on animals, the environment and the world’s poor and hungry. To do so is to demonstrate the relevance of Judaism’s eternal teachings to the problems of the world today.
Once again, your suggestions re JVNA’s objectives and issues that should be on our agenda are most welcome.
Return to Top
=========================
2. Some Strategy Ideas for JVNA
I plan to continue working with JVNA to take every opportunity to continue trying to get our message, including the points discussed above, out to as many people as possible.
I would welcome suggestions re how we can get our issues onto the Jewish agenda. I am far from a talmud chachom (Torah scholar), but it seems that there are no rabbis (except Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld of the OU, who did not really address the issues when we debated) willing to debate me.
Here is one example. I recently provided much background material for JVNA member Ivan Kessel who debated a rabbi in Australia. Ivan used our basic arguments and did a great job. (I have a tape cassette.) The rabbi was very sarcastic and insulting and very critical of vegetarians and our arguments. Some of his statements include (paraphrased): the Jewish vegetarian case is so weak that he would argue with just half his mind; we are very dishonest in distorting/misusing Torah teachings; most vegetarian activists don’t know the difference between a cook book and a Rav Kook book; we do not have even a chicken leg to stand on. Many in the audience seemed to appreciate his sarcastic approach, judging by the background laughter. He based his complete case on objections of Rav Kook to vegetarianism before the messianic time, using material from Rav Kook’s “A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace.” When I respectfully emailed the rabbi and asked if he would be willing to have an email debate that would be published in Jewish weeklies, he responded that he did not have the time, but that he would be interested in knowing how I would respond to his arguments. I have sent him some articles, including a draft of an article responding to Rav Kook’s points. After I contacted him more than a week later, he responded that while he disagrees with my arguments, he admires my enthusiasm and passion. He stated that the basic point of contention between us is that he bases his view of what Torah wants from us on the teachings of the sages of the past and present and he defines morality as being what the Torah sages deem right and wrong. On the other hand, he states that while I quote those sages, I feel comfortable extending, extrapolating and assuming positions that they never held.
I responded:
Shalom Rabbi,
In view of your general position, I would like to get your take on a few questions:
Since you indicated in your debate presentation that Jews may choose to be vegetarians, shouldn't dietary choices consider how the production and consumption of animal products impinge on basic Jewish teachings?
If so, should Jews consider that animal-based diets
* are causing an epidemic of human degenerative diseases;
* are currently produced by very cruel treatment of billions of animals on factory farms;
* are contributing significantly to global warming, rapid species extinction, the destruction of tropical rainforests and other habitats, a global fresh water crisis and many additional threats to humanity;
* require far more land, water, energy, and other increasingly scarce resources that plant-based diets;
* involve the feeding of almost 40% of the grain produced worldwide for animal feed, while about a billion people suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition.
In summary, since animal-based diets and agriculture violate basic Jewish mandates to take care of our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help hungry people, shouldn't Jews seriously consider switching toward vegetarian diets?
Looking forward to your response,
Richard
--------------------------------
I believe that we should respectfully challenge people like the Australian rabbi who properly discuss Judaism’s powerful teachings on compassion toward animals and other issues but ignore the many ways that Jewish values are being violated by animal-based diets. In this regard, I think it is essential to emphasize that we believe that Jews have a choice in their diets and that this choice should take basic Jewish teachings into account. Suggestions on this welcome.
Some important tools that can help us become better informed and hence more able to promote vegetarianism are discussed in the next items.
Return to Top
=========================
3. Update on Rabbi Dovid Sears’ Book, “A Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism”
The book can now be ordered from Micah Publications, the publishing arm of the Jewish vegetarian movement, a company founded and directed by scholar, author, editor, and JVNA advisor Roberta Kalechofsky. Micah’s web site is www.micahbooks.com.
Please consider submitting a review of the book at the following web sites:
* Barnes and Noble:
http://tinyurl.com/95dk9
* Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/d4nzu
------------------------------
For the many new JVNA readers, I am including my review of Rabbi sears’ book below. I am expecting a review soon from scholar, author, and JVNA advisor Rabbi Yonassan Gershom that will appear in an upcoming issue.
---------------------------------
David Sears. The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism, Spring Valley, NY: Orot, 2003
Reviewed by Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Currently most Jews eat meat and other animal products and relatively few Jews seem concerned about the cruel mistreatment of animals on factory farms and in other areas. However, David Sears landmark book, with its many examples of Jewish teachings about compassion for animals, has the potential to change all of this.
The Vision of Eden is a compilation of translations from various sources, ranging from the classic texts of Judaism to contemporary rulings in Jewish law, much of which has never before been translated to English. It also includes a number of essays by Sears that serve as prefaces to the translations and provide general overviews that discuss and analyze the source material. It is a companion volume to the author’s book, "Compassion for Humanity in the Jewish Tradition: A Source Book," which was published by Jason Aronson, Inc., in 1998.
This book has great potential to start a respectful dialogue on vegetarianism, the proper treatment of animals, and related issues in the Jewish community. Here are some reasons:
1. Rabbi Sears has the background, wisdom, sensitivity, compassion, and commitment to effectively raise the consciousness of the Jewish community concerning Jewish teachings on animals. As a Breslav Chassid, his commitment to Jewish law and tradition cannot be challenged. No one can claim that he is just one more animal welfare advocate who doesn’t care about Judaism and is not concerned about human problems.
2. The author's knowledge of Hebrew and Kabbalistic, Chassidic, and other Jewish sources has enabled him to find teachings that are not commonly known. His book will enable religious communities to discover the rich treasures of material about compassion to animals that will challenge them to live up to the highest ideals of Judaism.
3. His book goes beyond those of other Jewish scholars who have written about Jewish teachings on animals because he combines his extensive knowledge of Judaism with an awareness of how far realities related to how society treats animals differ from the demands of Jewish teachings, and he is committed to making others aware of the need to end these discrepancies.
4. Because of its scholarly merits and firm grounding in Torah and rabbinic tradition, The Vision of Eden will be a respectful but powerful message to the Jewish community that it will not be able to easily ignore. Because of the authenticity and authority of his sources, no intellectually honest person who reads his book would be able to say, "Animals, animals -- why don’t you worry about people first?" While not a polemic (in working for completeness and objectivity, Sears discusses some passages that favor meat-eating), his book shows that the vast majority of Jews, including those who take Jewish law seriously, are negligent with regard to important Torah teachings related to animals. Many in the Jewish community will be interested in the book because of the uniqueness of a Chassid writing about Jewish teachings on animal welfare. Hence, it has the potential to raise the consciousness of the Jewish community with regard to animal-based diets, wearing fur coats, animal experimentation and other animal-related issues, and to get these issues onto the agenda of the Jewish community.
4. David Sears’ book also has great potential to eventually influence other religious communities and the general public.
As Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi of Haifa, stated in an approbation in the book, “Every reader of this unique and holy book will benefit extensively from it. Indeed, this book, The Vision of Eden, makes one feel that he has been handed a key to open the closed gates of the Garden of Eden that were shut to us ever since Adam was expelled …”
It is essential that rabbis, Jewish teachers, and other influential members of the Jewish community and other communities become aware of the teachings in Sears’ book and put them into practice. The revitalization of Judaism and the sustainability of our imperiled planet depend on it.
Return to Top
=========================
4. Series of Messages on Jewish Teachings on Animals Announced
I was asked to include the following announcement by scholar, author, and JVNA advisor Yosef Hakohen:
"Hazon - Our Universal Vision" is an e-mail study program which explores the universal vision of the Torah and the universal role of the Jewish people. It also explores how the mitzvos - precepts - of the Torah enable us to reach our universal goal. We will now begin a series on our relationship to other creatures. If you would like to be on our mailing list, write to the e-mail address which is listed on our website: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/
-----------------------------
I am looking forward to this series of articles, because I am sure that it will provide much information and valuable insights which will be helpful in our efforts to improve conditions for animals. I strongly recommend that you sign up for these free messages. The first in the series of messages is below. Suggestions on how we can make the Jewish community more aware of the important Jewish teachings re our relationships with animals are welcome.
The Journey to Unity - 112
The Relationship of Human Beings to Other Creatures:
Rabbi Akiva used to say: "Beloved is the human being who was created in the Divine image. It is indicative of a greater love that it was made known to him that he was created in the Divine image, as it is said (Genesis 9:6): 'For in the image of God He made the human being.' " (Pirkei Avos 3:18)
The Chofetz Chaim, a leading sage of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, conveys the following message regarding the potential of the human being to emulate the universal lovingkindness of Hashem – the Compassionate One: "Scripture records (Genesis 1:27) that 'God created the human being in His image.' The commentators take the statement to refer to His attributes. He gave the human soul the capacity to emulate the attributes of Hashem, the Blessed One - to do good and act with lovingkindness with others, as Scripture states: 'Hashem is good to all, and His compassion is on all His works' (Psalm 145:9), and 'He gives food to all flesh, for His lovingkindness endures forever' (Psalm 136:25). The existence of the entire world then depends on this virtue." ("Loving Kindness" chapter 2)
Dear Friends,
Each human being that is born into the world is beloved, for each human being is created in the Divine image. Every human being therefore has the capacity to emulate the universal Divine love and compassion. The Compassionate One did not only give us the gift of being in the Divine image; the Compassionate One lovingly made us aware of this gift through the Torah - the Divine Teaching. For without an awareness of the great spiritual potential within us, we could make the mistake of thinking that we are just another species of the animal world; thus, we could mistakenly conclude that our main purpose on this earth is to gratify our animal instincts. One does not have to be a sociologist to realize that many people in our modern society have come to this false conclusion. To our great sadness, they never learned how beautiful and holy it is to be a human being. They are therefore unaware of the great spiritual potential within themselves.
My parents, of blessed memory, were the children of Jewish immigrants who came to America before World War 1. My parents did not have the opportunity to get a proper Torah education, but they absorbed from their parents certain traditional Jewish values, including the value of human dignity. The belief in human dignity was a motivating factor in my parents' struggle against racism and anti-Semitism, and in their struggle to ensure that all human beings receive proper housing, employment, and educational opportunities. My parents also absorbed the traditional Jewish idea that human beings are placed on this earth in order to develop a compassionate and caring society. They therefore opposed those who wanted to create a society based on the "law of the jungle" - where only the "strong" survive. To my parents, such an attitude was "inhuman"! And when they wanted to praise someone who was an ethical and giving person, they would say that he or she was a "mensch" - a true human being. In their own way, my parents recognized the unique spiritual potential within all human beings.
In a previous letter, we discussed the mitzvah – Divine mandate – to actualize our unique spiritual potential through emulating the Divine ways, especially the Divine compassion. This mitzvah should therefore inspire us to create a society where other creatures are treated in a "humane" way, for it is written, "The Compassionate One is good to all, and His compassion is on all His works" (Psalm 145:9). In fact, there are many Torah teachings and mitzvos which can help us to achieve this goal, and we shall discuss some of them in future letters.
There are activists on behalf of animal welfare who are inspired by the Torah's perspective on human potential. There are, however, some activists on behalf of animal welfare who disagree with the Torah's perspective on human potential, for they view the human being as just another form of animal life; thus, they will not use terms such as "human dignity" and "humane behavior" which imply that there is something special about being human. Jewish tradition would encourage these activists to use their human intelligence and think about the following idea: The very compassion and concern that they feel for all creatures is a reminder of the unique spiritual greatness of the human being. As Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, a leading 19th century sage and biblical commentator, writes:
"Compassion is the feeling of empathy which the pain of one being of itself awakens in another; and the higher and more human the beings are, the more keenly attuned are they to re-echo the note of suffering, which - like a voice from heaven - penetrates the heart, bringing to all creatures a proof of their kinship in the universal God. And as for the human being, whose function it is to show respect and love for God's universe and all its creatures, his heart has been created so tender that it feels with the whole organic world." (Horeb 17).
According to Jewish tradition, the human being is a microcosm of the whole organic world. The Vilna Gaon, a leading sage of the 18th century, finds this idea expressed in the following verse:
"And God said: 'Let us make the human being in our image and after our likeness.' " (Genesis 1:26)
Who was the Creator speaking to when He said, "Let 'us' make the human being"? The Vilna Gaon states that the Creator was addressing all the creatures that preceded the human being, bidding each to contribute a portion of its characteristics to the human being. For example, the human being's inner strength is traced to the lion, his swiftness to the deer, his agility to the eagle, his cunning to the fox, his capacity for growth to the flora - all of which are unified within the human being.
The Vilna Gaon's teaching leads to the following insight: Since the human being reflects the unity of the Divine creation, the human being has the unique ability to identify and empathize with all aspects of creation. The Creator therefore chose the human being to be the steward over the Divine estate, as it is written:
"The Compassionate and Just One took the human being and placed him in the Garden of Eden to serve it and to protect it." (Genesis 2:15)
Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)
Related Comments:
1. Last year, we began the series titled, "The Journey to Unity." The upcoming letters regarding our relationship to other creatures are a continuation of this series, for the unity that we are seeking is a unity which includes all the creatures within the Divine creation. As we travel on the next stage of our journey, we will come across some unfamiliar terrain. I am therefore pleased to announce that we are privileged to have an experienced guide for this stage of our journey: Rabbi David Sears. He is the author of, "The Vision of Eden" – Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism. The book is published by Orot: www.orot.com. Rabbi Sears is the author of several other books, including "Compassion for Humanity in the Jewish Tradition," and "The Path of the Baal Shem Tov: Early Chassidic Teachings and Customs."
2. A copy of our previous letter on the mitzvah to emulate the Divine ways is available upon request.
3. A copy of our letter on how to emulate the Divine empathy in a healthy and life-affirming way is also available upon request.
Hazon - Our Universal Vision: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/
Return to Top
=========================
5. Challenging Misconceptions About Verses in Genesis
The following article reinforces some of the points in the above article. It also indicates that Jews and animal activists need not be in conflict if some often misunderstood verses in Genesis are properly interpreted.
Religion: Friend or Foe of Animal Activism
by Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D. and Rabbi Dovid Sears
Some animal activists regard organized religion as an ideological opponent. Concerning Judaism, this negative presumption is largely due to the misunderstanding of two important biblical verses that, when properly conceived, actually endorse the struggle to improve conditions for animals.
The first misunderstanding is that the biblical teaching that humans are granted dominion over animals gives us a warrant to treat them in whatever way we may wish. Jewish tradition interprets "dominion" as guardianship or stewardship, not domination: we are called upon to be co-workers with God in improving the world. This biblical mandate does not mean that people have the right to wantonly exploit animals, and it certainly does not permit us to breed animals and then treat them as machines designed solely to meet human needs.
In "A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace," Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel and a leading 20th century Jewish thinker, states: "There can be no doubt in the mind of any intelligent person that [the Divine empowerment of humanity to derive benefit from nature] does not mean the domination of a harsh ruler, who afflicts his people and servants merely to satisfy his whim and desire, according to the crookedness of his heart. It is unthinkable that the Divine Law would impose such a decree of servitude, sealed for all eternity, upon the world of God, Who is 'good to all, and His mercy is upon all his works' (Psalms 145:9), and Who declared, 'The world shall be built with kindness' (Psalms 89:33)."
This view is reinforced by the fact that immediately after God gave humankind dominion over animals (Genesis 1:26), He prescribed vegetarian foods as the diet best suited to humans (Genesis 1:29). This mandate is almost immediately followed by God's declaration that all of Creation was "very good" (Genesis 1:31). Perhaps this indicates that Adam and Eve's original vegetarian diet was consistent with the stewardship that God entrusted to them and to all humankind.
The second error of some animal activists is the presumption that the biblical teaching that only people are created in the Divine Image means that God places little or no value on animals. While the Torah states that only human beings are created "in the Divine Image" (Genesis 1:27, 5:1), animals are also God's creatures, possessing sensitivity and the capacity for feeling pain. God is concerned that they are protected and treated with compassion and justice. In fact, the Jewish sages state that to be "created in the Divine Image," means that people have the capacity to emulate the Divine compassion for all creatures. "As God is compassionate," they teach, "so you should be compassionate."
A rabbinic teaching that we should imitate God is Hama bar Hanina's interpretation of the verse, "After the Lord your God you shall walk" (Deuteronomy 13: 5): "How can man walk after God?" the ancient sage queries. "Is He not called a 'consuming fire'? Rather, what is meant is that man ought to emulate the attributes of God. Just as God clothes the naked, so you shall clothe the naked. Just as God visits the sick, so you shall visit the sick. Just as God comforts the bereaved, so you shall comfort the bereaved. Just as He buries the dead, so you shall bury the dead."
In his classic work Ahavat Chesed ("The Love of Kindness"), the revered Chafetz Chayim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin) discusses this teaching at length. He writes that whoever emulates the Divine love and compassion to all creatures "will bear the stamp of God on his person." Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, a leading 19th century Jewish thinker, also discusses this concept: "You can know God only through His acts of love and justice; and, in turn, you too are called upon to act with love and justice." Concerning the biblical concept that human beings were created to "serve and safeguard the earth" (Genesis 2:15), Rabbi Hirsch states that this actually limits our rights over other living things. He writes: "The earth was not created as a gift to you. You have been given to the earth, to treat it with respectful consideration, as God's earth, and everything on it as God's creation, as your fellow creatures - to be respected, loved, and helped to attain their purpose according to God's will... To this end, your heartstrings vibrate sympathetically with any cry of distress sounding anywhere in Creation, and with any glad sound uttered by a joyful creature."
In summation, as the Lord is our shepherd, we are to be shepherds of voiceless creatures. As God is kind and compassionate to us, we must be considerate of the needs and feelings of animals. To this we may add that by showing compassion to animals through a vegetarian diet, we help fulfill the commandment to imitate God's ways.
Critics of religion may be correct in asserting that the various religious communities are not doing enough to end the many horrible abuses of animals today. However, the correct response to this failure is not to scorn and repudiate religion altogether, but as much as possible to enlist the religious world in the common cause of eliminating the cruel misuses of animals.
Jewish tradition clearly forbids any display of cruelty toward animals. In Hebrew, this is called tza'ar ba'alei chayim, the biblical mandate not to cause "pain to any living creature." In contrast to this, Psalms 104 and 148 bespeak the worthiness of the animals of the field, creatures of the sea, and birds of the air before their Creator. Psalm 104 depicts God as "giving drink to every beast of the field," and "causing grass to spring up for the cattle." Perhaps the Jewish attitude toward animals is best summarized by Proverbs 12:10: "The righteous person regards the life of his or her animal." In his explanation of this verse, the Malbim, a 19th century biblical commentator, explained that the righteous person understands the nature of the animal, and hence provides food at the proper time, and according to the amount needed. He is also careful not to overwork the animal. According to the Malbim, the tzaddik (righteous person) acts according to the laws of justice. Not only does he act according to these laws with human beings, but also with animals.
In conclusion, it would be a tragic mistake for animal activists to dismiss the various religious communities as unconcerned with the plight of animals. Rather, we all should seek ways to transcend our philosophical differences, and find a common ground on which we may stand together for the benefit of animals and humankind.
Return to Top
========================
6. “A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism”
As indicated in the last JVNA newsletter, we now have a new, valuable tool to help promote vegetarianism in the Jewish community and other communities -- the booklet: “A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism”
I urge you to obtain copies of the booklet and get them to rabbis, Jewish educators, other Jewish leaders, family members and friends, and others who might be interested. Also, please consider distributing copies at synagogues, Jewish day schools, and Jewish-related conferences. Thanks.
You can order as many free copies as you can use at
www.goveg.com/feat/jewishveg/
or
http://cl.exct.net/?ffcc17-fe62167174650078731d-fe3115737664057b711779
Return to Top
=========================
7. JVNA Leaflets
You can get multiple free copies of JVNA leaflets by contacting us at mail@jewishveg.com. The leaflets are very attractive and have much valuable information and quotations on Jewish teachings related to vegetarianism.
I urge you to obtain copies and get them to rabbis, Jewish educators, other Jewish leaders, family members and friends, and others who might be interested. Also, please consider distributing copies at synagogues, Jewish day schools, and Jewish-related conferences. Thanks.
Return to Top
=========================
8. Spiritual Teachings on Environmental Protection
The following article was also submitted by Yosef Hakohen:
"The Land is Mine"
In the Torah portion of this past Shabbos, we find the following Divine proclamation: "The land shall not be sold permanently, as the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me" (Leviticus 25:23).
Dear Friends,
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel is one of the leading Israeli environmental organizations, and over fifteen years ago they sponsored an ad in Israeli newspapers with the following heading: "The land shall not be sold permanently, as the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me" (Leviticus 25:23). Their use of this verse from the Torah is an indication that some Israeli environmentalists are beginning to recognize that the ultimate solution to the environmental crisis facing Israel and the world is a spiritual one. They recognize that the root cause of the destruction of the environment is the view that the human being is the owner and master of the earth. It is therefore not surprising that they are drawn to those Torah teachings which remind us that the earth belongs to Hashem - the Compassionate One. As the Divine voice proclaimed at Mount Sinai, "All the earth is Mine!" (Exodus 19:5)
At Mount Sinai, we were given mitzvos - Divine mandates - which help us to realize that human beings are just the custodians and not the owners of the earth. These mitzvos are in the spirit of the very first Divine mandate in human history which serves as a prototype for all the Torah's mitzvos:
"The Compassionate and Just One took the human being and placed him in the Garden of Eden to serve it and to protect it." (Genesis 2:15)
Among the mitzvos which specifically remind us that the earth belongs to the Compassionate One is the following land-related mitzvah:
"Six years shall you sow your land and gather in its produce. But in the seventh year, you shall let it go and abandon it, and the needy of your people shall eat, and the wildlife of the field shall eat what is left; so shall you do to your vineyard and your olive grove. (Exodus 23:10,11)
Maimonides, in his classical work, "The Book of the Mitzvos," discusses the above mitzvah, and he writes: "By this injunction, we are given a mandate to renounce as ownerless all produce of the land in the Sabbatical Year, and to permit anybody to take what grows in our fields" (Mitzvah 134). A related mitzvah, writes Maimonides, is the mandate to desist from cultivating the land during the seventh year (Mitzvah 135). The source for this second mitzvah is found in the following verses which we read on this Shabbos:
"The Compassionate One spoke to Moshe on Mount Sinai, saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you come into the land that I will give you, the land shall observe a Shabbos for the Compassionate One. For six years you may sow your field and for six years you may prune your vineyard; and you may gather in its crop. But the seventh year shall be a complete rest for the land, a Shabbos for the Compassionate One; your field you shall not sow and your vineyard you shall not prune." (Leviticus 25:1-4)
Through this mitzvah, states the Talmud, the Compassionate One is telling Israel: "Sow for six years and let go of the land in the seventh year in order that you know that the land is Mine" (Sanhedrin 39a).
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains that the mitzvah of the Sabbatical Year is the great act by which an entire nation proclaims Hashem - the Compassionate One - as the true Owner and Master of the land. Through this act, the nation proclaims that it is a nation of strangers and sojourners on its own soil, dwelling upon it only through the permission of Hashem. This awareness does away with the arrogance of those who pride themselves for standing on their own soil, and who tend to become unsympathetic and harsh in dealing with those who are poor and without property. Rabbi Hirsch adds that the recognition that we are only strangers and sojourners on the land leads to a more loving and giving attitude towards others. He writes: "It engenders that frame of mind which lovingly includes the stranger, the poor, and also the animals, as creatures of Hashem who have the right to live in a land which belongs to Hashem, which all are to share in common." (Commentary to Exodus 23:10,11)
It is written, "The land is Mine, for you are strangers and sojourners with Me" (Leviticus 25:23). With these words, say our sages, the Compassionate One is conveying the following paradoxical message: "When it is Mine, then it will be yours" (Sifra). When we acknowledge that the land belongs to the Compassionate One, then the Compassionate One gives us the right to live in the land and to serve as its custodians.
Have a Good and Sweet Shabbos,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)
A Story for Shabbos:
During the early days of the State of Israel, the secular establishment was hostile to the whole idea of "Shmittah" - the Sabbatical Year. They felt that the observance of Shmittah would conflict with their goal of creating a modern and prosperous state in the Middle East. It therefore took exceptional courage and faith for religious farmers of that period to attempt to observe the Torah's laws regarding Shmittah, especially since farmers in Israel depend to some degree on the support and cooperation of various government agencies.
During that period, there was a beloved sage, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, who was the founder and head of the Ponivez Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. Rabbi Kahaneman was aware of the economic and social difficulties facing those farmers who were striving to fulfill the teachings and laws of the Shmittah. On the eve of the Sabbatical Year, this sage traveled to Kibbutz Chafetz Chaim, a religious kibbutz which was keeping the Shmittah laws, for he desired to strengthen the spirit of the farmers. He spoke to them about the holiness of this "Shabbos for Hashem" - a holiness which permeates each plant and each "boimelah" (an affectionate Yiddish term for a tree). As the Shmittah year was about to begin, he suggested that every farmer go over and wish a tree, "Gut Shabbos, boimelah." He himself then kissed the earth and wished it a "Gut Shabbos"!
Hazon - Our Universal Vision: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/
Return to Top
=========================
9. How Would the World Change if Hamburgers Were replaced by Veggie Burgers?
The following article was forwarded by Dan Brook and Lew Regenstein, both of whom are scholars, authors, and JVNA advisors:
What Would 100 Billion McVeggie Burgers Mean?
Healthier Customers, Study Says
Do you want that with soybeans?
www.whsc.emory.edu/press_releases2.cfm?announcement_id_seq=3623
As junk food consumption continues to escalate, Emory University researchers would like to change the nation's fast food habits.
If the next 100 billion burgers sold under the Golden Arches were veggie-based instead of beef, Americans' cholesterol levels, fiber intake and overall health would all improve, according to an article in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The study's senior author is Erica Frank, MD, MPH, vice chair and associate professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine. Elsa Spencer, PhD, an Emory University post-doctoral fellow, and Nichole McIntosh, MD, a former Emory University School of Medicine student, are the other
authors.
Dr. Frank says the impetus for the study was seeing the McDonald's signs that say 'Over 100 billion burgers sold.' The study compares the McVeggie burger with McDonald's beef burger and asks what if the next 100 billion burgers were McVeggie patties instead of beef? McDonald's customers would benefit from an estimated 1 billion more pounds of
fiber, 550 million fewer pounds of saturated fat, 1.2 billion fewer total pounds of fat and even 660 million more pounds of protein, the authors say.
"I wondered how Americans and the environment might look different if these burgers had been veggie burgers instead of cow burgers," says Dr. Frank. "The bottom line of the study is that the McVeggie burger substitution would provide over a billion fewer pounds of fat, one billion more pounds of fiber, and even more protein."
McVeggie burgers are sold in Canada and in some major cities across the United States, but not in Atlanta. Burger King sells a veggie burger in all of its restaurants.
If given the option, Dr. Frank does not believe that it would be difficult for customers to make the change from beef to plant-based patties.
"It just seems like a pretty obvious thing, especially for burgers, which are mainly vectors to deliver ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles," she says. "You usually can't even taste the burger - which is actually pretty tasty in the case of the veggie burger. So, if someone wants to make a transition to eating better at a fast food restaurant, a veggie burger is a really good way to do it." Since an estimated 8 percent of Americans eat at a McDonald's on an average day, and 96 percent eat a meal there at least yearly, Dr. Frank says that American consumers might suffer from fewer health problems like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, cancer and cardiovascular disease if McDonald's next 100 billion burgers were McVeggie burgers.
Dr. Frank received no funding for the study.
"I have an interest in this because fast food is so prevalent," she says. "For me, this is a very clear choice, and Americans must examine whether they're willing to trade the health consequences of eating a beef patty versus a soy burger. Veggie burgers lower your cholesterol and give you more fiber and more protein. Beef raises your cholesterol, gives you more fat, more saturated fat, and usually includes raising and slaughtering cows in some pretty nasty conditions. Raising cows also wastes resources. For example, cows eat about 10 pounds of soy and grain to make one pound of meat.
"Besides that, both burgers taste pretty similar," Dr. Frank adds. "So, if you want to pick an easy way to improve your health and the health of the planet, this is a simple and good place to start."
Return to Top
=========================
10. ACTION ALERT: Urgent Action Needed to Move Foie Gras Bill!
Legislation to prohibit the cruel and unnecessary force-feeding of birds for foie gras (Assembly Bill 6212) has been scheduled for review in the Assembly Agriculture Committee on Wednesday, June 1. While this bill has previously been introduced for a number of years, this is the first time this bill has ever gotten a hearing and is a major development. We absolutely need your help to advance this important measure!
Please contact the Agriculture Committee. Call and simply say, "I'm calling to ask Assemblymember [NAME] to support Assembly Bill 6212, to ban the cruel force-fooding of birds for foie gras." You can find members of the committe at assembly.state.ny.us/comm/?sec=mem&id=2. It would be great if you could call them all, but if you don't have time, just call a few. They need to know that people care about this bill!
Please also call your own Assemblymember. You can find them at assembly.state.ny.us/mem or ask us for their contact info.
Foie gras is created by sticking a steel pipe down the throats of geese and ducks three times a day and using pressurized air to force large quantities of food into their stomaches. This force feeding causes the birds' livers to grow to ten times their normal size, producing "fatty liver," or "foie gras" (FWAH GRAH) in French. The birds suffer enormously, and many die. Foie gras production has been banned in many countries, most recently in Israel, the world's third largest producer of foie gras. Foie gras is producted in the U.S. only in New York and California, and California last year banned it, making passage of the New York bill absolutely critical.
For more information about foie gras, visit www.NoFoieGras.org. For more ways to help on vegetarian legislation, visit JewishVeg.com/action.
Return to Top
=========================
12. Jewish Quotations on the Proper Treatment of Animals and Vegetarianism/Suggestions welcome
Thanks to scholar, author, and JVNA advisor Rabbi Dovid Sears for submitting the following quotations (Lewis Regenstein sent the final one.). I am planning to include several such quotations at the end of JVNA newsletters on a rotating basis. Please send other quotations for possible conclusion. Thanks.
--------------------------------
"God is good to all, and His mercy is upon all of His works" (Psalms 145:9).
"The righteous person understands the needs of his animal" (Proverbs 12:10).
"Just has God has compassion for humans, so He has compassion for animals" (Midrash: Devarim Rabbah 6:1).
"We should regard all creatures as our friends in the universe, for we are all created beings whose abilities are God-given" (Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov ["Master of the Good Name"] 1698-1760)
Just as [God] is merciful, so shall you be merciful. (Talmud: Sota 14a).
God watches over and shows mercy to all. Similarly, a person should be benevolent to everyone, and no creature should seem despicable to him. Even the smallest living thing should be exceedingly worthy in his eyes. (Rabbi Moses Cordovero).
The Maker of All, the Wise One Who transcends everything, is associated with His creatures in having made them. To disparage them, God forbid, would reflect upon the honor of their Maker. (Rabbi Moses Cordovero)
Love of all creatures is also love of God, for whoever loves God, loves all the works that He has made. (Maharal of Prague).
The rabbis regarded the human body as a sanctuary (Ta'anit 11a-b).
Since maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of God – for one cannot understand or have any knowledge of the Creator if one is ill - therefore one must avoid that which harms the body and accustom oneself to that which is helpful and helps the body become stronger.
- Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot
Return to Top
=========================
13. Undercover Video Reveals Torture at Tyson Slaughterhouse
Forwarded message:
PETA’s latest undercover video reveals horrific cruelty to animals at a Tyson slaughterhouse in Alabama. (Tyson Foods is a major supplier of KFC). A PETA investigator documented chickens who had their bodies mutilated by malfunctioning machinery, birds who had their heads torn off by hand, and others who were scalded to death, all while still completely conscious and able to feel pain.
For more information, to watch the video, and to find out how you can help stop this, visit TorturedByTyson.com
Return to Top
=========================
14. Could There Be a Global Bird Flu Pandemic?
Thanks to Dan Brook for forwarding the following message:
Renewed warning over [bird/avian] flu pandemic
There is renewed warning that bird flu could cause a global pandemic, perhaps affecting tens of millions of people around the world. Some people in Asia have died already. Other animals, including tigers, have also been affected by this often fatal disease. This is all because chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and other birds are raised for consumption. See the links below and, as always, also do your own research.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4579777.stm
What is Bird Flu?
www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19161715.htm
Viva! Bird Flu Fact Sheet
www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/chickens/brdflu_factsheet.html
Eco-Eating
www.brook.com/veg
If anyone would like to check the above web sites and send us a summary report, it would be very welcome. Thanks.
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.
May 26, 2005
May 19, 2005
5/19/05 JVNA Online Newsletter
Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. Shavuot and Vegetarianism
2. "A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism" Booklet Now Free Online
3. "Lessons We Can Learn From Animals," By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
4. "Learning Spirituality From a Hart," by Yosef Hakohen
5. Listening as a Political Act
6. Columbia Graduate/JVNA Advisor Returns His Ph.D. to Protest Animal Cruelty
7. Some Important News Items Re Global Warming
8. 2005 Vegan Speaking Tour
9. Know Any Supportive Rabbis?
10. American Vegan Society Annual Picnic
11. Undercover Video Reveals Shocking Scenes at Animal Lab
12. Job Opportunity for Nitritional Researcher at Animal Advocacy Foundation
13. ACTION ALERT: Your Call Needed TODAY to Save Horses
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. Shavuot and Vegetarianism
Now that we are “counting” the days until Shavuot, I am planning to send my article below to the Jewish media. Suggestions for improvements are very welcome. Please consider using the article and the sample letter below for letters, calls to radio programs, and talking points. Thanks.
Shavuot and Vegetarianism
By Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
There are many connections between vegetarianism and the important Jewish festival of Shavuot:
1. Shavuot is described as "z'man matan Toratenu" (the season of the giving of our law (the Torah)). It is this Torah that has in its very first chapter God's original, strictly vegetarian, dietary regimen: "And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all 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).
2. To honor the Torah, many Jews stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to study Torah teachings. It is some of these teachings -to guard our health and our lives, to treat animals with compassion, to share with hungry people, to protect the environment, and to conserve natural resources - that are the basis for Jewish vegetarianism.
3. Shavuot is also known as "Chag Hakatzir" (the Harvest Festival), since it climaxes the year's first harvest. Hence, it can remind us that many more people can be sustained on vegetarian diets than on animal -centered diets. While the Torah stresses that farmers are to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of their harvests for the hungry, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as 15 to 20 million people worldwide die annually because of hunger and its effects.
4. The Talmudic sages also referred to Shavuot as "Atzeret" (the closing festival of Passover). This name implies not only that Shavuot completes the harvest begun at Passover time, but also suggests that the Torah completes the physical liberation celebrated during Passover. Yet, while the Torah has many teachings on compassion toward animals and indicates, as part of the Ten Commandments, that animals are also to be able to rest on the Sabbath day, most farm animals are kept in cramped confined spaces where they are denied exercise, fresh air, sunlight, and the fulfillment of their instinctual needs.
5. There are several other Torah teachings that are seriously violated by animal-based diets: a) While the Torah mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives (Deuteronomy: 4-9, 4-15), animal-centered diets have been linked to heart disease, stroke, several forms of cancer, and other illnesses. b) While many Torah teachings are concerned with protecting the environment, modern intensive animal agriculture results in soil erosion and depletion, extensive air and water pollution related to chemical fertilizer and pesticides, and the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats. c) While the Torah mandates bal tashchit, (Deuteronomy 20:19, 20) that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, livestock agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
6. Shavuot is a festival of thanksgiving to the Creator for His kindness. The full Hallel, psalms of praise and thanksgiving from Psalm 113 to 118, are chanted during morning synagogue services. Since one must be in good health and have a clear conscience in order to fully rejoice and be thankful, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are not harmful to hungry people or animals are factors that can enhance thankfulness.
7. On Shavuot, Jews read the Book of Ruth in synagogues. One reason is that its barley-harvest setting echoes the harvest just ending as Shavuot arrives. One of Ruth's outstanding attributes was her acts of kindness. Vegetarianism is a way of showing kindness, because it best shares food with hungry people and it doesn't involve the mistreatment and death of animals.
8. The Book of Ruth begins with Naomi, Ruth's future mother-in-law, and her family leaving Israel because of a severe famine. Today, major shortages of food in the near future are being predicted by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington DC think tank, and others, and one major reason is that people in China, Japan, India, and other countries where affluence has been increasing, are joining the US and other western countries by moving to animal-centered diets that require vast amounts of grain.
9. The Book of Ruth indicates that Naomi's family suffered the death of her husband and her two sons because the family fled in the time of famine rather than using their leadership to help others in need. In contrast to this selfish act, vegetarianism considers not only personal well being, but also encompasses broader concerns, including the global environment, the world's hungry people, animals, and the efficient use of the world's resources.
10. According to the Talmud, Shavuot is the day of judgment for fruit trees and there is an obligation to pray for them. Yet, to create pasture land for cattle, tropical forests are being rapidly destroyed. The production of just one quarter-pound fast food hamburger can require the destruction of almost 55 square feet of tropical rain forest along with much animal and plant life.
11. Shavuot involves the highest spiritual teachings (the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai) and down-to-earth considerations - the wheat harvest and the offering of the first fruits in the Temple. This reminds us that ideally we should relate heaven to earth and translate the Divine laws to our daily lives. Vegetarianism is an attempt to do this because it applies Torah teaching to our sustenance needs.
In view of these and other connections, I hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of the beautiful and spiritually meaningful holiday of Shavuot by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and teachings by moving toward a vegetarian diet.
============================
Sample letter material re Shavuot and vegetarianism:
Dear editor,
Since Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people, and there is increased Torah study on this important holiday, with many religious Jews staying up all night engaged in Torah study, it makes me wonder why the many ways that animal-based diets and agriculture violate Torah values seem to be generally ignored in the Jewish community:
1. While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives, numerous scientific studies have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.
2. While Judaism forbids tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain on animals, most farm animals -- including those raised for kosher consumers -- are raised on "factory farms" where they live in cramped, confined spaces, and are often drugged, mutilated, and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and any enjoyment of life, before they are slaughtered and eaten.
3. While Judaism teaches that "the earth is the Lord’s" (Psalm 24:1) and that we are to be God's partners and co-workers in preserving the world, modern intensive livestock agriculture contributes substantially to soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, global warming, and other environmental damage.
4 While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, and that we are not to use more than is needed to accomplish a purpose, animal agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
5. While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and share our bread with hungry people, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter (it takes about 9 pounds of grain to produce one pound of edible beef), while an estimated 20 million people worldwide die because of hunger and its effects each year.
In view of these important Jewish mandates to preserve human health, attend to the welfare of animals, protect the environment, conserve resources, help feed hungry people, and pursue peace, contrasted with the harm that animal-centered diets do in each of these areas, shouldn’t committed Jews (and others) sharply reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products?
One could say "dayenu" (it would be enough) after any of the arguments above, because each one constitutes by itself a serious conflict between Jewish values and current practice that should impel Jews to seriously consider a plant-based diet. Combined, they make an urgently compelling case for the Jewish community to address these issues.
Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people. There is increased Torah study on this important holiday, and many religious Jews stay up all night engaged in Torah study. Hence, this may provide a good occasion to respectfully raise some questions, such as:
* Since the Torah mandates the avoidance of tsa’ar ba’alei chaim (causing unnecessary pain to animals), why isn’t there far greater concern about the horrible treatment of animals (10 billion annually in the US alone) on factory farms?
* Since the Torah mandates that we should very diligently guard our health, why don’t Jewish leaders speak out about the many negative health effects of animal-based diets?
* Since the Torah mandates that we are to be shomrei adamah (guardians of the earth – Genesis 2:15), why are the many current severe environmental threats (all of which are significantly worsened by animal-based agriculture) not being adequately addressed by the Jewish community?
* Since the Torah mandates that we are not to waste resources (bal tashchit – Deuteronomy 20: 19, 20), why isn’t the Jewish community addressing the fact that animal-based agriculture requires far more land, water, energy, and other agricultural resources than plant-based agriculture?
* Since the Torah mandates that we are to share with hungry people, why isn’t the Jewish community (and others) addressing the fact that 70% of the grain produced in the United States is being fed to animals destined for slaughter while an estimated 20 million people worldwide die from malnutrition and its effects annually?
Return to Top
=========================
2. “A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism” Booklet Now Free Online
Several months ago, a JVNA newsletter announced the publication of a wonderful new tool to help us reach out to the Jewish community, a very comprehensive, clear booklet on Judaism and Vegetarianism: “A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism: For Animals, For Yourself, and For the Environment.” It was written primarily by scholar and long-time Jewish vegetarian activist Aaron Gross with some input from myself, Roberta Kalechofsky, and others.
You can now download this booklet or order one or more free copies at
www.goveg.com/feat/jewishveg/
or
http://cl.exct.net/?ffcc17-fe62167174650078731d-fe3115737664057b711779
The booklet is written in a way to reach out to Jews with various religious beliefs. While emphasizing Biblical and Rabbinic teachings that support vegetarianism, the book also discusses the vibrant vegetarian advocacy found among many Jewish literary giants from S.Y. Agnon to Franz Kafka. It also features a first-of-its-kind article by nutrition author Dr. Jay Levine detailing the devastating health problems caused disproportionately in the Jewish community by eating meat.
The strength of this booklet is that it combines the full range of Jewish text-based arguments for vegetarianism with carefully culled, detailed examples of conditions on factory farms, health information from medical journals, and data from studies on the environmental problems caused by meat-eating.
The booklet has supporting blurbs from Rabbis David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, member of the Board of Trustees of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author and founder and director of “Simply Jewish” and the “One River Foundation,” Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, Harvard Hillel Director, and Rabbi Barry Schwartz, member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis Task Force on Kashrut.
Though the booklet was written independently, it is being distributed for free through the generous help of PETA (who did not influence the content). You can also get free individual copies or multiple copies to distribute by calling PETA's toll free hotline, 1-888-VEG FOOD. Press the number for the booklet, and you will also receive a vegetarian starter kit (with recipes). If you want extra copies, simply indicate that when you call and PETA will send you as many as you can use.
I urge you to obtain copies of the booklet and get them to rabbis, Jewish educators, other Jewish leaders, family members and friends, and others who might be interested. Also, please consider distributing copies at synagogues, Jewish day schools, and Jewish-related conferences.
I suggest that you consider using the booklet in conjunction with the following points, as discussed many times in previous issues of this newsletter;
* The world is greatly threatened today by global warming and its effects, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, desertification, widening water shortages and many other threats;
* The application of Jewish values to our diets and other aspects of life is essential in responding to current threats;
* A shift toward vegetarianism is both a societal imperative and a Jewish imperative;
Your comments and suggestions about the booklet and how to use it effectively are very welcome.
Return to Top
==========================
3. “Lessons We Can Learn From Animals,” By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
Article by scholar, author, and JVNA advisor Rabbi Yonassan Gershom:
MOTHER CHICKENS LOVE THEIR BABIES, TOO!
My wife and I are vegetarians, but we do eat eggs --from our own happy hens, who are treated as co-citizens that share the land on our Minnesota hobby farm. Because we have gotten to know chickens as individuals, we could never eat them, nor could we condone the way they are treated on factory farms.
We eat eggs because my wife, Caryl Rachel, has severe allergies and difficulties in digesting vegetable protein. So we cannot be vegans. But we also believe that we must take personal responsibility for knowing where our eggs come from and how the birds are treated. Our chickens are free-run in the summertime, and live in an old-fashioned henhouse in the winter. They have a dirt floor to dust bathe, lots of straw to scratch in, natural roosts made from tree-branches to sit on, and plenty of room to run around and socialize.
Maimonides said that the love of a mother animal for her young is the same as that of a human for her child. He was speaking primarily about mammals, but I believe this applies to birds, too. In the past two weeks, two of my hens have hatched out chicks. I prefer to use hens rather than an incubator because the hens take such loving good care of the babies, and a little bird deserves to know its mother.
Chicks raised by their mothers seem to be healthier and more secure than incubator chicks, too. She teaches them to eat and drink, how to scratch for food, etc. -- all this I have watched. When they are cold, they cuddle under her wings and she clucks softly to them.
When my hens have chicks, they are not entirely free-run, because we have predators around here and the hawks would get the babies. But they do have nice roomy cages with straw to scratch in, etc. When they get older they will be able to run free and follow their mothers around the yard. If danger appears, she lets out a distinctive squawk and the brood scatters in all directions to hide. When all is safe again, she calls them back together.
When a hen is to old to lay eggs anymore, she gets to live out her life in retirement. One of my best broody hens doesn't lay much anymore, but she still enjoys hatching out a batch of chicks. I think of her as an old grandmother with plenty of child-rearing experience!
The Talmud tells us that if God had not given us the Torah, we would have learned courtesy from the rooster -- and I can tell you why. When a rooster finds something especially good to eat -- a worm or whatever -- he calls his flock to come eat first!
Return to Top
==========================
4. “Learning Spirituality From a Hart,” by Yosef Hakohen
The following healing message was written and submitted by author, scholar, and JVNA advisor Yosef Hakohen.
The Loving Empathy of the Hart:
In speaking about the One Creator of all life, Job proclaimed: "He teaches us from the animals of the land, and from the birds of the heavens He makes us wise" (Job 35:11 - Translation of the Talmud: Eruvin 100b).
Dear Friends,
According to Jewish tradition, each creature within creation has something to teach us. In this spirit, we will begin to discuss a deeper meaning of the following verse which mentions a characteristic of the "hart" - a male deer:
"As the hart cries longingly for the springs of water, so does my soul cry out for you, O God." (Psalm 42:2)
The classical commentator, Rashi, cites the Midrash, which understands the crying of the hart in the following manner:
The rabbis, of blessed memory, say that the hart is the most loving of the wild animals. When the wild animals are thirsty for water, they gather to the hart so that he should raise his eyes to heaven. And what does he do? He digs a pit and thrusts his antlers into it. He then screams in anguish. The Holy One, blessed be He, has compassion on him, and sends water from the depths.
The above Midrash reveals a reason why King David compared his crying out to God to the crying out of the hart. This reason is discussed in a book of commentaries on the Book of Psalms by various Rebbes of the Radomsker Chassidim. According to this Chassidic interpretation, King David, the leader of the Community of Israel, was indicating that just as the hart feels loving empathy for all the animals of the forest and prays on their behalf, so too, he feels loving empathy for the Community of Israel and prays on their behalf. We too should emulate the loving empathy of the hart; thus, when we pray, we should not just pray for ourselves alone, but for the entire community. In fact, most of our traditional prayers are written in the plural form, as we are asking the Compassionate One to enlighten, forgive, renew, heal, sustain, and redeem the Community of Israel, so that we can fulfill the spiritual and universal mission that was assigned to us. We want to live and serve not for the sake of national pride, but for the sake of the loving and life-giving Divine truth which we are to represent to the world through the power of our own example. And when we are confronted with powerful enemies that seek to destroy our people and the Divine Truth which we are to represent, we pray for salvation with the following words of David:
"Not for our sake, O Compassionate One, not for our sake, but for Your Name's sake give honor - for Your lovingkindness, for Your Truth!" (Psalm 115:1)
When one reads the Book of Psalms, one can find moving prayers by David which express a yearning for the redemption of the Community of Israel, as well as for the World Community. The following psalm which we chant on Shabbos, the Festivals, and the New Moon before thanking the Compassionate One for our food, can serve as an example of his yearning for the redemption of his people:
"A Song of Ascents: When the Compassionate One will return the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers. Then our mouth will be filled with laughter and our tongue with joyous song. Then they will say among the nations, ' The Compassionate One has done great things for them.' The Compassionate One has indeed done great things for us; we will rejoice. O Compassionate One, return our captivity like springs in the desert. Those who sow in tears will reap with joyous song. Though the one who carries the bag of seeds walks along weeping, he will return with joyous song carrying his sheaves." (Psalm 126)
The following psalm which we chant when we welcome the arrival of Shabbos can serve as an example of David's yearning for world redemption:
"Tell it among the nations: When the Compassionate One reigns, the world will not falter; He will judge the peoples with fairness. The heavens will be glad and the earth will rejoice; the sea and its fullness will roar. The field and everything in it will exult; then all the trees of the forest will sing with joy - before the Compassionate One, for He will have arrived, He will have arrived to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and peoples with His truth." (Psalm 96:10-13).
Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen
Hazon- Our Universal Vision: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/
Return to Top
=========================
5. Listening as a Political Act
The article below is by author, scholar and JVNA advisor Dan Brook may be helpful as we continue wrestling over how best to proceed:
Open Our Ears: Listening for a Change
By Dan Brook
Jewish Magazine
Issue Number 90
May 2005
[I believe that the following article has implications re promoting vegetarianism and other causes.]
The writer Louise Erdrich once wondered how the world would be different if we thought of listening as a political act. I also wonder how the world would be different if we thought of political acts as spiritual acts. The central statement of Judaism is the Sh'ma, the Listen: Sh'ma Yisrael, YHVH Elokaynu, YHVH Echad, reminding us to recognize the Oneness that pervades our Being and Reality (despite its often fractured appearance).
Further, Jewish mysticism, or Kabala, teaches us that not only are we shomrei adamah for tikkun olam, partners in the creation, healing, and transforming of the world, but that we continually re-create the world and can continually receive its wonders, wildness, and wisdom each moment. We can read and study the Written Law (Torah) and the Oral Law (Talmud), but we have to receive and listen to the Silent Law (kabalah). If we are receptive to it, the Silent Torah teaches that a way of wisdom is listening to ourselves as well as others and that wisdom is a way to peace. The opposite of listening, Rabbi Arthur Waskow teaches, is arrogance.
All good organizers as well as good counselors, therapists, rabbis and other clergy, attorneys, students, teachers, writers, spiritual seekers, politicians, parents, friends, lovers, and others know well that listening, indeed active listening, and what Jewish author and counselor Kim Chernin calls "generous listening", is key to success.
Through active listening, which is comprised of both verbal and physical cues that indicate attentive listening and accurate understanding of another person's points and perspective, we can accomplish many goals. Some of these include learning about others and ourselves, validating another person as a person (even without necessarily validating their ideas), creating an arena for valuable feedback, building a social relationship (even an ephemeral one), and ultimately being able to potentially change that person's mind on a particular issue or, more importantly, change that person's world view. One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears, former Secretary of State Dean Rusk advises, that is, "by listening to them".
Good organizers and others also know that we have to go where people are, both literally and metaphorically, and speak the language, again both literally and metaphorically, going to those with whom we wish to
communicate and persuade. That doesn't mean that we should violate our principles or compromise our values; we shouldn't. Neither does that mean we should be manipulative, condescending, or patronizing; we shouldn't. None of this would be good ethically or ultimately effective politically.
If we have the interest and take the time to find out, for example, that a person's hobby is growing tomatoes in their yard, we should want to and be able to talk about tomatoes, while employing our sociological imaginations, dialectically linking personal issues with social problems, individual constraints with societal structures, tomatoes with political economy.
We might discuss, for instance, the variety of uses for tomatoes, the potential health benefits of tomatoes, the choice between growing versus buying, the implications of subsistence versus surplus farming, the risks of chemical agriculture and the possibilities and benefits of organic agriculture, the threats from genetic engineering, the realities of globalization and corporate concentration in the seed, distribution, and retail industries, the decline of tomato and other species, how Reagan characterized ketchup as a vegetable for school kids, how the first Bush publicly declared his immature dislike of another vegetable (broccoli), while the second Bush administration defined frozen French fries as "fresh vegetables", in addition to issues of water, soil, land, energy, farms, costs, health, ecology, and the control over and conservation of vital resources. And this is not an exhaustive list. Needless to say, we should be able to do this with most any subject and with most any person.
Personalizing and customizing abstract and complex issues is most often what motivates people much more than ideological sloganeering, not to mention much more so than insults, rants, statistics, and other techniques that tend to make and leave people defensive, confused, or numb and frequently angry and antagonistic too.
By going to people where they are, by meeting them where they're at, by actively and eloquently listening, by speaking their language, and by being able to resonate with what's resonant in them, we create the social bonds necessary to most effectively teach and learn, to constructively critique and provide alternatives, to energize and awaken, as well as to build the individual and collective capacity and the social and political infrastructure necessary for potential future action.
Further, having discussions with people about politics is also a good way to practice listening and speaking skills, to clarify one's points and arguments, to get more familiar with both typical and unusual responses, to hone one's debating dexterity, and of course to make known and spread one's (progressive) perspective.
Of course, how we say things, and how we present our information and perspective, is vital. In the US, we might want to use the metaphors and frames of independence, freedom, equal protection and equal opportunity, justice, basic fairness, fair play, leveling the playing field, common good, progress, rights, democracy, security, innovation, improvement, health, happiness, strength in numbers, thinking outside the box, community, Main Street, and others in this vein, using them in genuine ways and in expansive ways, not in the more typically cynical and Orwellian ways. Just as the Zapatistas effectively draw upon a powerful figure from Mexican revolutionary history, we need to do likewise. For better or worse, we don't have an American Zapata, but there are plenty of other melodic tunes in our cultural juke boxes and mp3 players. We just need to listen.
We also need to realize that learning is always a cumulative process, and so while whatever we may say to any given person, at any given time, may not have any immediate discernable effect, it may in fact sometimes have very positive consequences which will manifest at a later time, even if we may be unaware of it. Teachers already know that; everyday political activists need to recognize this truism as well.
Paradigms shift slowly, but they do shift. Up until a tipping point, it may appear as if the dominant beliefs in society are not budging at all, yet when a tipping point is finally reached, paradigms seem to change in the wink of an eye. Some will later refer to this as spontaneous change, but they would be missing all the political activity: all the agitating, all the educating, all the organizing, all the talking and all the listening, as well as everything else, that had been going on with diligence, determination, and dedication for years.
We may or may not be able to change any given person's mind on a particular issue, including our own, but we can change the world if we persevere. As Hillel continually challenges us, if not now, when? Ultimately, the prophet Isaiah beseeches us to listen that you may live and be more alive to the changes all around. Shhh. Sh'ma.
Let's listen for a change!
----------
Dan Brook, Ph.D., is a teacher and also a trained community mediator. He can be contacted via Brook@california.com
Return to Top
=========================
6. Columbia Graduate/JVNA Advisor Returns His Ph.D. to Protest Animal Cruelty
On Tuesday, May 17--the day before Columbia University’s 251st Commencement--Dr. Charles Patterson returned his doctorate to the Office of the President to protest Columbia's ongoing mistreatment of animals in its labs.
(PRWEB) May 18, 2005 -- On the day before Columbia University’s 251st Commencement on Wed., May 18, Charles Patterson (Ph.D.‘70) returned his doctorate to the Office of President Lee Bollinger in Low Library, Rm. 202, to protest his alma mater's abuse of animals.
Patterson, the author of Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, is upset by the cruelty practiced at Columbia by Doctors Mehmet Oz, E. Sander Connolly, Michel Ferin, Raymond Stark, and other Columbia vivisectors. He says, "Dr. Josef Mengele, who conducted experiments on Jews and Gypsies at Auschwitz (he had two doctorates, by the way), would have fit in quite nicely at Columbia."
The title of Patterson's book Eternal Treblinka--now in seven languages--comes from the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, to whom the book is dedicated. "In relation to them, all people are Nazis," he wrote, "for animals it is an eternal Treblinka." (Treblinka was a Nazi death camp north of Warsaw.)
Columbia has a long history of animal abuse and grotesque experiments (visit www.ColumbiaCruelty.com), but it took Dr. Catherine Dell'Orto, a post-doctoral veterinarian fellow, to blow the whistle on the university's latest transgressions: "What I saw at Columbia still gives me nightmares. I saw baboons whose left eyes had been cut out--so that major blood vessels could be clamped off through the empty eye sockets to induce strokes--who had collapsed in their cages, unable even to lift their heads, eat, or drink. They were left to die without painkillers."
Columbia students, staff, faculty, and alumni who are concerned about this problem and want to do something about it are constantly rebuffed by the administration. President Bollinger refuses to meet with them to discuss the issue.
One of the most important lessons of the Holocaust, Patterson believes, is that we must never again remain silent in the face of evil. In the words of Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
"While I worked long and hard for my doctorate (it included writing a 320-page dissertation)," says Patterson, "the lives of the innocent and helpless are more important than a piece of paper."
He also has a Master of Arts degree in English literature from Columbia. When asked if he was planning on returning that degree as well, he said, "No, I'm going to hold onto it for awhile. However, if Columbia doesn't curb its cruelty soon, maybe I'll return that one too. I only wish I could do more."
Charles Patterson, author of
Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust
Lantern Books, New York, 2002 (2nd printing)
ISBN 1-930051-99-9
http://www.powerfulbook.com
Translations: German, Italian, Polish, Czech, Croatian, Hebrew (forthcoming)
Return to Top
===========================
7. Some Important News Items Re Global Warming
Forwarded message from iNSnet!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. U.S. put wealth before global warming
http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1158
The United States said it is not convinced of the need to move
quickly to combat climate change, deepening environmentalists'
fears that a summit on the issue in July will make no concrete progress.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Global Economic Growth Strains Earth's Vital Signs http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1157
The world is producing - and consuming - more food, material goods and natural resources than ever before, according to the Worldwatch Institute's "Vital Signs 2005" report on trends shaping the world's future.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Rebuffing Bush, 132 Mayors Embrace Kyoto Rules
http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1156
Unsettled by a series of dry winters in this normally wet city, Mayor Greg Nickels has begun a nationwide effort to do something the Bush administration will not: carry out the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
d. Study: Climate change to swell, dry up rivers
http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1155
Like oil in the 20th century, water could be the resource that
triggers armed conflicts at the end of this century, according to
experts forecasting changes in the world's major rivers caused by
global warming.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
iNSnet promotes a sustainable society by offering access to news,
opinions and information sources related to sustainable development.
Internetwork for Sustainability © 2005
Return to Top
============================
8. 2005 Vegan Speaking Tour
Forwarded message:
Reserve a Spot on the 2005 Veg Speaking Tour
George Eisman, R.D., one of the nation's foremost educators on
vegetarian nutrition, is traveling the country to spread the word
about the health benefits of a vegan diet. Having served as a faculty
member in Dietetics and Nutrition at several universities, George
uses his knowledge and expertise to educate the public about the
links between diet and disease and the important reasons for
switching to a plant-based diet. Contact us now to reserve your spot
on the Veg Tour!
http://www.vegforlife.org/veg_tour.htm
=========================
9. Know Any Supportive Rabbis?
We are planning to create a list of rabbis who are supportive of vegetarianism. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks.
Return to Top
==========================
10. American Vegan Society Annual Picnic
Forwarded message from Pamela Rice, director of the VivaVegie Society:
[This is a wonderful annual event. The food is great; the talks always inspiring; and the grounds where AVS has its headquarters are absolutely liberating. Make a point to enjoy yourself by taking time for this event. AND NOTE: Two people (one being Caryn herself, the other, an old friend of mine) need a ride from Manhattan. If you're going to the event by car and have a seat or two extra, please contact Freya (FVDinshah@aol.com) - Pamela Rice]
American Vegan Society
56 Dinshah Lane
PO Box 369
Malaga NJ 08328-0908
(856) 694-2887, Fax: -2288
**********
For immediate release
Sunday May 29: American Vegan Society annual picnic and talk.
A noon picnic lunch will be followed at 2 pm with presentations by Dr. Milton Mills, and Caryn Hartglass.
Milton Mills, MD will speak on Human Physiology and Healthful Eating. He is a preventive medicine specialist, and coauthored the report Racial & Ethnic Bias in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Caryn Hartglass, executive director of EarthSave International, will
review How Lifestyles Affect the Environment, and sing for us. Caryn
is a chemical engineer by profession.
Freshly-picked locally-grown and wild foods will be featured on the menu: Asparagus with Carrot-Herb Dressing, Nettle-Spinach Purée, Potato Salad, Veggie Burgers, Carob Sponge Cake with Strawberries and Vanilla-Pear Nut Cream, Herb Teas.
The event is open to all, and will be held at the American Vegan Society headquarters, 72 Dinshah Lane, Malaga New Jersey 08328. For lunch, please make reservations. Phone: (856) 694-2887 for more information. The society website is www.americanvegan.org
Contacts:
Freya Dinshah, (856) 694-2887,
American Vegan Society www.americanvegan.org
Caryn Hartglass (718) 459-7668
EarthSave International: www.earthsave.org
Dr. Milton Mills (703) 642-0855 (H), (202) 352-4352 (Cell)
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (202) 686-2210 xt309,
www.pcrm.org
A nonprofit organization, founded 1960
Ahimsa lights the way!
www.americanvegan.org
Return to Top
=========================
11. Undercover Video Reveals Shocking Scenes at Animal Lab
Forwarded message from Author, editor, and JVNA advisor Syd Baumel:
PETA Breaking News
Today, at a news conference in Washington, D.C., PETA revealed the findings of its 11-month undercover investigation into Covance, the international drug-testing giant (formerly known as Hazelton).
PETA's investigator worked as a technician inside the Vienna, Virginia, Covance laboratory, where she documented workers who were striking, choking, taunting, and deliberately tormenting terrified monkeys. She documented monkeys with broken arms left without proper veterinary treatment and animals in desperate need of euthanasia, who were kept alive and in agony just to please drug companies. Other primates, used in lethal irradiation experiments, developed open wounds on their stomachs.
When PETA called the U.S. Department of Agriculture for help during our investigation, the agency took five days to respond. Please help these suffering primates, who live in constant fear of the next horrible thing that will happen to them. Read about our investigation and watch our video at CovanceCruelty.com now!
------------------------------
CNN.com featured a front-page article about PETA's investigation into Covance-a billion-dollar Princeton, N.J.-based company that owns one of the world's largest contract animal-testing laboratories. At a laboratory in Vienna, Va., PETA videotaped repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act by Covance workers. Please write a letter thanking CNN for this story and asking them to feature similar articles in the future. For facts, go to http://www.covancecruelty.com/ and http://www.peta.org/Automation/NewsItem.asp?id=6410.
Send e-mails at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?18.
"PETA accuses lab of animal cruelty"
By Kathy Benz & Michael McManus
CNN News May 17, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/17/peta.lab/index.html
Return to Top
=========================
12. Job Opportunity for Nutritional Researcher at Animal Advocacy Foundation
From: "Bruce Prince" bruceprince@verizon.net
HI,
I don't know if you are right resource for this, but I am trying to locate a nutritional researcher to work in DC for an animal advocacy foundation. The candidate needs to have experience in conducting clinical trials, have a PhD and doesn't even have to be Jewish!
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Bruce Prince
212.564.6500
Return to Top
=========================
13. ACTION ALERT: Your Call Needed TODAY to Save Horses
Stop Federal Funding of the Slaughter of Wild Horses
Support the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment
TODAY, Thursday, May 19, Representatives Rahall (D-WV) and Whitfield (R-KY) will introduce the Rahall-Whitfield Amendment to Interior Appropriations, to ensure that no tax dollars are used for sales of wild horses that could lead to their slaughter. We must reach every single member of the U.S. House of Representatives and secure their vote! This is the most critical time for saving our horses.
· Call YOUR US Representative before Thursday May 19th! Your phone call could make all the difference. Call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to find your US Representative or go to www.house.gov or ask us at mail@jewishveg.com.
· Pass this alert far and wide - it is critical that the phones resonate on the Hill!
Not sure what to say? Here's a sample phone script for when you call:
"My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your city and state]. I'm calling to urge Representative [your Representative's name] to vote YES on Thursday's vote on the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations amendment to protect wild horses from sale and slaughter. I care very much about our wild horses and am horrified that 41 were recently sent to slaughter. Thank you."
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.
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. Shavuot and Vegetarianism
2. "A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism" Booklet Now Free Online
3. "Lessons We Can Learn From Animals," By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
4. "Learning Spirituality From a Hart," by Yosef Hakohen
5. Listening as a Political Act
6. Columbia Graduate/JVNA Advisor Returns His Ph.D. to Protest Animal Cruelty
7. Some Important News Items Re Global Warming
8. 2005 Vegan Speaking Tour
9. Know Any Supportive Rabbis?
10. American Vegan Society Annual Picnic
11. Undercover Video Reveals Shocking Scenes at Animal Lab
12. Job Opportunity for Nitritional Researcher at Animal Advocacy Foundation
13. ACTION ALERT: Your Call Needed TODAY to Save Horses
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. Shavuot and Vegetarianism
Now that we are “counting” the days until Shavuot, I am planning to send my article below to the Jewish media. Suggestions for improvements are very welcome. Please consider using the article and the sample letter below for letters, calls to radio programs, and talking points. Thanks.
Shavuot and Vegetarianism
By Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
There are many connections between vegetarianism and the important Jewish festival of Shavuot:
1. Shavuot is described as "z'man matan Toratenu" (the season of the giving of our law (the Torah)). It is this Torah that has in its very first chapter God's original, strictly vegetarian, dietary regimen: "And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all 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).
2. To honor the Torah, many Jews stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to study Torah teachings. It is some of these teachings -to guard our health and our lives, to treat animals with compassion, to share with hungry people, to protect the environment, and to conserve natural resources - that are the basis for Jewish vegetarianism.
3. Shavuot is also known as "Chag Hakatzir" (the Harvest Festival), since it climaxes the year's first harvest. Hence, it can remind us that many more people can be sustained on vegetarian diets than on animal -centered diets. While the Torah stresses that farmers are to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of their harvests for the hungry, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as 15 to 20 million people worldwide die annually because of hunger and its effects.
4. The Talmudic sages also referred to Shavuot as "Atzeret" (the closing festival of Passover). This name implies not only that Shavuot completes the harvest begun at Passover time, but also suggests that the Torah completes the physical liberation celebrated during Passover. Yet, while the Torah has many teachings on compassion toward animals and indicates, as part of the Ten Commandments, that animals are also to be able to rest on the Sabbath day, most farm animals are kept in cramped confined spaces where they are denied exercise, fresh air, sunlight, and the fulfillment of their instinctual needs.
5. There are several other Torah teachings that are seriously violated by animal-based diets: a) While the Torah mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives (Deuteronomy: 4-9, 4-15), animal-centered diets have been linked to heart disease, stroke, several forms of cancer, and other illnesses. b) While many Torah teachings are concerned with protecting the environment, modern intensive animal agriculture results in soil erosion and depletion, extensive air and water pollution related to chemical fertilizer and pesticides, and the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats. c) While the Torah mandates bal tashchit, (Deuteronomy 20:19, 20) that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, livestock agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
6. Shavuot is a festival of thanksgiving to the Creator for His kindness. The full Hallel, psalms of praise and thanksgiving from Psalm 113 to 118, are chanted during morning synagogue services. Since one must be in good health and have a clear conscience in order to fully rejoice and be thankful, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are not harmful to hungry people or animals are factors that can enhance thankfulness.
7. On Shavuot, Jews read the Book of Ruth in synagogues. One reason is that its barley-harvest setting echoes the harvest just ending as Shavuot arrives. One of Ruth's outstanding attributes was her acts of kindness. Vegetarianism is a way of showing kindness, because it best shares food with hungry people and it doesn't involve the mistreatment and death of animals.
8. The Book of Ruth begins with Naomi, Ruth's future mother-in-law, and her family leaving Israel because of a severe famine. Today, major shortages of food in the near future are being predicted by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington DC think tank, and others, and one major reason is that people in China, Japan, India, and other countries where affluence has been increasing, are joining the US and other western countries by moving to animal-centered diets that require vast amounts of grain.
9. The Book of Ruth indicates that Naomi's family suffered the death of her husband and her two sons because the family fled in the time of famine rather than using their leadership to help others in need. In contrast to this selfish act, vegetarianism considers not only personal well being, but also encompasses broader concerns, including the global environment, the world's hungry people, animals, and the efficient use of the world's resources.
10. According to the Talmud, Shavuot is the day of judgment for fruit trees and there is an obligation to pray for them. Yet, to create pasture land for cattle, tropical forests are being rapidly destroyed. The production of just one quarter-pound fast food hamburger can require the destruction of almost 55 square feet of tropical rain forest along with much animal and plant life.
11. Shavuot involves the highest spiritual teachings (the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai) and down-to-earth considerations - the wheat harvest and the offering of the first fruits in the Temple. This reminds us that ideally we should relate heaven to earth and translate the Divine laws to our daily lives. Vegetarianism is an attempt to do this because it applies Torah teaching to our sustenance needs.
In view of these and other connections, I hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of the beautiful and spiritually meaningful holiday of Shavuot by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and teachings by moving toward a vegetarian diet.
============================
Sample letter material re Shavuot and vegetarianism:
Dear editor,
Since Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people, and there is increased Torah study on this important holiday, with many religious Jews staying up all night engaged in Torah study, it makes me wonder why the many ways that animal-based diets and agriculture violate Torah values seem to be generally ignored in the Jewish community:
1. While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives, numerous scientific studies have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.
2. While Judaism forbids tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain on animals, most farm animals -- including those raised for kosher consumers -- are raised on "factory farms" where they live in cramped, confined spaces, and are often drugged, mutilated, and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and any enjoyment of life, before they are slaughtered and eaten.
3. While Judaism teaches that "the earth is the Lord’s" (Psalm 24:1) and that we are to be God's partners and co-workers in preserving the world, modern intensive livestock agriculture contributes substantially to soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, global warming, and other environmental damage.
4 While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, and that we are not to use more than is needed to accomplish a purpose, animal agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
5. While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and share our bread with hungry people, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter (it takes about 9 pounds of grain to produce one pound of edible beef), while an estimated 20 million people worldwide die because of hunger and its effects each year.
In view of these important Jewish mandates to preserve human health, attend to the welfare of animals, protect the environment, conserve resources, help feed hungry people, and pursue peace, contrasted with the harm that animal-centered diets do in each of these areas, shouldn’t committed Jews (and others) sharply reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products?
One could say "dayenu" (it would be enough) after any of the arguments above, because each one constitutes by itself a serious conflict between Jewish values and current practice that should impel Jews to seriously consider a plant-based diet. Combined, they make an urgently compelling case for the Jewish community to address these issues.
Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people. There is increased Torah study on this important holiday, and many religious Jews stay up all night engaged in Torah study. Hence, this may provide a good occasion to respectfully raise some questions, such as:
* Since the Torah mandates the avoidance of tsa’ar ba’alei chaim (causing unnecessary pain to animals), why isn’t there far greater concern about the horrible treatment of animals (10 billion annually in the US alone) on factory farms?
* Since the Torah mandates that we should very diligently guard our health, why don’t Jewish leaders speak out about the many negative health effects of animal-based diets?
* Since the Torah mandates that we are to be shomrei adamah (guardians of the earth – Genesis 2:15), why are the many current severe environmental threats (all of which are significantly worsened by animal-based agriculture) not being adequately addressed by the Jewish community?
* Since the Torah mandates that we are not to waste resources (bal tashchit – Deuteronomy 20: 19, 20), why isn’t the Jewish community addressing the fact that animal-based agriculture requires far more land, water, energy, and other agricultural resources than plant-based agriculture?
* Since the Torah mandates that we are to share with hungry people, why isn’t the Jewish community (and others) addressing the fact that 70% of the grain produced in the United States is being fed to animals destined for slaughter while an estimated 20 million people worldwide die from malnutrition and its effects annually?
Return to Top
=========================
2. “A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism” Booklet Now Free Online
Several months ago, a JVNA newsletter announced the publication of a wonderful new tool to help us reach out to the Jewish community, a very comprehensive, clear booklet on Judaism and Vegetarianism: “A Case for Jewish Vegetarianism: For Animals, For Yourself, and For the Environment.” It was written primarily by scholar and long-time Jewish vegetarian activist Aaron Gross with some input from myself, Roberta Kalechofsky, and others.
You can now download this booklet or order one or more free copies at
www.goveg.com/feat/jewishveg/
or
http://cl.exct.net/?ffcc17-fe62167174650078731d-fe3115737664057b711779
The booklet is written in a way to reach out to Jews with various religious beliefs. While emphasizing Biblical and Rabbinic teachings that support vegetarianism, the book also discusses the vibrant vegetarian advocacy found among many Jewish literary giants from S.Y. Agnon to Franz Kafka. It also features a first-of-its-kind article by nutrition author Dr. Jay Levine detailing the devastating health problems caused disproportionately in the Jewish community by eating meat.
The strength of this booklet is that it combines the full range of Jewish text-based arguments for vegetarianism with carefully culled, detailed examples of conditions on factory farms, health information from medical journals, and data from studies on the environmental problems caused by meat-eating.
The booklet has supporting blurbs from Rabbis David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, member of the Board of Trustees of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author and founder and director of “Simply Jewish” and the “One River Foundation,” Rabbi Jonathan K. Crane, Harvard Hillel Director, and Rabbi Barry Schwartz, member of the Central Conference of American Rabbis Task Force on Kashrut.
Though the booklet was written independently, it is being distributed for free through the generous help of PETA (who did not influence the content). You can also get free individual copies or multiple copies to distribute by calling PETA's toll free hotline, 1-888-VEG FOOD. Press the number for the booklet, and you will also receive a vegetarian starter kit (with recipes). If you want extra copies, simply indicate that when you call and PETA will send you as many as you can use.
I urge you to obtain copies of the booklet and get them to rabbis, Jewish educators, other Jewish leaders, family members and friends, and others who might be interested. Also, please consider distributing copies at synagogues, Jewish day schools, and Jewish-related conferences.
I suggest that you consider using the booklet in conjunction with the following points, as discussed many times in previous issues of this newsletter;
* The world is greatly threatened today by global warming and its effects, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, desertification, widening water shortages and many other threats;
* The application of Jewish values to our diets and other aspects of life is essential in responding to current threats;
* A shift toward vegetarianism is both a societal imperative and a Jewish imperative;
Your comments and suggestions about the booklet and how to use it effectively are very welcome.
Return to Top
==========================
3. “Lessons We Can Learn From Animals,” By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom
Article by scholar, author, and JVNA advisor Rabbi Yonassan Gershom:
MOTHER CHICKENS LOVE THEIR BABIES, TOO!
My wife and I are vegetarians, but we do eat eggs --from our own happy hens, who are treated as co-citizens that share the land on our Minnesota hobby farm. Because we have gotten to know chickens as individuals, we could never eat them, nor could we condone the way they are treated on factory farms.
We eat eggs because my wife, Caryl Rachel, has severe allergies and difficulties in digesting vegetable protein. So we cannot be vegans. But we also believe that we must take personal responsibility for knowing where our eggs come from and how the birds are treated. Our chickens are free-run in the summertime, and live in an old-fashioned henhouse in the winter. They have a dirt floor to dust bathe, lots of straw to scratch in, natural roosts made from tree-branches to sit on, and plenty of room to run around and socialize.
Maimonides said that the love of a mother animal for her young is the same as that of a human for her child. He was speaking primarily about mammals, but I believe this applies to birds, too. In the past two weeks, two of my hens have hatched out chicks. I prefer to use hens rather than an incubator because the hens take such loving good care of the babies, and a little bird deserves to know its mother.
Chicks raised by their mothers seem to be healthier and more secure than incubator chicks, too. She teaches them to eat and drink, how to scratch for food, etc. -- all this I have watched. When they are cold, they cuddle under her wings and she clucks softly to them.
When my hens have chicks, they are not entirely free-run, because we have predators around here and the hawks would get the babies. But they do have nice roomy cages with straw to scratch in, etc. When they get older they will be able to run free and follow their mothers around the yard. If danger appears, she lets out a distinctive squawk and the brood scatters in all directions to hide. When all is safe again, she calls them back together.
When a hen is to old to lay eggs anymore, she gets to live out her life in retirement. One of my best broody hens doesn't lay much anymore, but she still enjoys hatching out a batch of chicks. I think of her as an old grandmother with plenty of child-rearing experience!
The Talmud tells us that if God had not given us the Torah, we would have learned courtesy from the rooster -- and I can tell you why. When a rooster finds something especially good to eat -- a worm or whatever -- he calls his flock to come eat first!
Return to Top
==========================
4. “Learning Spirituality From a Hart,” by Yosef Hakohen
The following healing message was written and submitted by author, scholar, and JVNA advisor Yosef Hakohen.
The Loving Empathy of the Hart:
In speaking about the One Creator of all life, Job proclaimed: "He teaches us from the animals of the land, and from the birds of the heavens He makes us wise" (Job 35:11 - Translation of the Talmud: Eruvin 100b).
Dear Friends,
According to Jewish tradition, each creature within creation has something to teach us. In this spirit, we will begin to discuss a deeper meaning of the following verse which mentions a characteristic of the "hart" - a male deer:
"As the hart cries longingly for the springs of water, so does my soul cry out for you, O God." (Psalm 42:2)
The classical commentator, Rashi, cites the Midrash, which understands the crying of the hart in the following manner:
The rabbis, of blessed memory, say that the hart is the most loving of the wild animals. When the wild animals are thirsty for water, they gather to the hart so that he should raise his eyes to heaven. And what does he do? He digs a pit and thrusts his antlers into it. He then screams in anguish. The Holy One, blessed be He, has compassion on him, and sends water from the depths.
The above Midrash reveals a reason why King David compared his crying out to God to the crying out of the hart. This reason is discussed in a book of commentaries on the Book of Psalms by various Rebbes of the Radomsker Chassidim. According to this Chassidic interpretation, King David, the leader of the Community of Israel, was indicating that just as the hart feels loving empathy for all the animals of the forest and prays on their behalf, so too, he feels loving empathy for the Community of Israel and prays on their behalf. We too should emulate the loving empathy of the hart; thus, when we pray, we should not just pray for ourselves alone, but for the entire community. In fact, most of our traditional prayers are written in the plural form, as we are asking the Compassionate One to enlighten, forgive, renew, heal, sustain, and redeem the Community of Israel, so that we can fulfill the spiritual and universal mission that was assigned to us. We want to live and serve not for the sake of national pride, but for the sake of the loving and life-giving Divine truth which we are to represent to the world through the power of our own example. And when we are confronted with powerful enemies that seek to destroy our people and the Divine Truth which we are to represent, we pray for salvation with the following words of David:
"Not for our sake, O Compassionate One, not for our sake, but for Your Name's sake give honor - for Your lovingkindness, for Your Truth!" (Psalm 115:1)
When one reads the Book of Psalms, one can find moving prayers by David which express a yearning for the redemption of the Community of Israel, as well as for the World Community. The following psalm which we chant on Shabbos, the Festivals, and the New Moon before thanking the Compassionate One for our food, can serve as an example of his yearning for the redemption of his people:
"A Song of Ascents: When the Compassionate One will return the captivity of Zion, we will be like dreamers. Then our mouth will be filled with laughter and our tongue with joyous song. Then they will say among the nations, ' The Compassionate One has done great things for them.' The Compassionate One has indeed done great things for us; we will rejoice. O Compassionate One, return our captivity like springs in the desert. Those who sow in tears will reap with joyous song. Though the one who carries the bag of seeds walks along weeping, he will return with joyous song carrying his sheaves." (Psalm 126)
The following psalm which we chant when we welcome the arrival of Shabbos can serve as an example of David's yearning for world redemption:
"Tell it among the nations: When the Compassionate One reigns, the world will not falter; He will judge the peoples with fairness. The heavens will be glad and the earth will rejoice; the sea and its fullness will roar. The field and everything in it will exult; then all the trees of the forest will sing with joy - before the Compassionate One, for He will have arrived, He will have arrived to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness and peoples with His truth." (Psalm 96:10-13).
Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen
Hazon- Our Universal Vision: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/
Return to Top
=========================
5. Listening as a Political Act
The article below is by author, scholar and JVNA advisor Dan Brook may be helpful as we continue wrestling over how best to proceed:
Open Our Ears: Listening for a Change
By Dan Brook
Jewish Magazine
Issue Number 90
May 2005
[I believe that the following article has implications re promoting vegetarianism and other causes.]
The writer Louise Erdrich once wondered how the world would be different if we thought of listening as a political act. I also wonder how the world would be different if we thought of political acts as spiritual acts. The central statement of Judaism is the Sh'ma, the Listen: Sh'ma Yisrael, YHVH Elokaynu, YHVH Echad, reminding us to recognize the Oneness that pervades our Being and Reality (despite its often fractured appearance).
Further, Jewish mysticism, or Kabala, teaches us that not only are we shomrei adamah for tikkun olam, partners in the creation, healing, and transforming of the world, but that we continually re-create the world and can continually receive its wonders, wildness, and wisdom each moment. We can read and study the Written Law (Torah) and the Oral Law (Talmud), but we have to receive and listen to the Silent Law (kabalah). If we are receptive to it, the Silent Torah teaches that a way of wisdom is listening to ourselves as well as others and that wisdom is a way to peace. The opposite of listening, Rabbi Arthur Waskow teaches, is arrogance.
All good organizers as well as good counselors, therapists, rabbis and other clergy, attorneys, students, teachers, writers, spiritual seekers, politicians, parents, friends, lovers, and others know well that listening, indeed active listening, and what Jewish author and counselor Kim Chernin calls "generous listening", is key to success.
Through active listening, which is comprised of both verbal and physical cues that indicate attentive listening and accurate understanding of another person's points and perspective, we can accomplish many goals. Some of these include learning about others and ourselves, validating another person as a person (even without necessarily validating their ideas), creating an arena for valuable feedback, building a social relationship (even an ephemeral one), and ultimately being able to potentially change that person's mind on a particular issue or, more importantly, change that person's world view. One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears, former Secretary of State Dean Rusk advises, that is, "by listening to them".
Good organizers and others also know that we have to go where people are, both literally and metaphorically, and speak the language, again both literally and metaphorically, going to those with whom we wish to
communicate and persuade. That doesn't mean that we should violate our principles or compromise our values; we shouldn't. Neither does that mean we should be manipulative, condescending, or patronizing; we shouldn't. None of this would be good ethically or ultimately effective politically.
If we have the interest and take the time to find out, for example, that a person's hobby is growing tomatoes in their yard, we should want to and be able to talk about tomatoes, while employing our sociological imaginations, dialectically linking personal issues with social problems, individual constraints with societal structures, tomatoes with political economy.
We might discuss, for instance, the variety of uses for tomatoes, the potential health benefits of tomatoes, the choice between growing versus buying, the implications of subsistence versus surplus farming, the risks of chemical agriculture and the possibilities and benefits of organic agriculture, the threats from genetic engineering, the realities of globalization and corporate concentration in the seed, distribution, and retail industries, the decline of tomato and other species, how Reagan characterized ketchup as a vegetable for school kids, how the first Bush publicly declared his immature dislike of another vegetable (broccoli), while the second Bush administration defined frozen French fries as "fresh vegetables", in addition to issues of water, soil, land, energy, farms, costs, health, ecology, and the control over and conservation of vital resources. And this is not an exhaustive list. Needless to say, we should be able to do this with most any subject and with most any person.
Personalizing and customizing abstract and complex issues is most often what motivates people much more than ideological sloganeering, not to mention much more so than insults, rants, statistics, and other techniques that tend to make and leave people defensive, confused, or numb and frequently angry and antagonistic too.
By going to people where they are, by meeting them where they're at, by actively and eloquently listening, by speaking their language, and by being able to resonate with what's resonant in them, we create the social bonds necessary to most effectively teach and learn, to constructively critique and provide alternatives, to energize and awaken, as well as to build the individual and collective capacity and the social and political infrastructure necessary for potential future action.
Further, having discussions with people about politics is also a good way to practice listening and speaking skills, to clarify one's points and arguments, to get more familiar with both typical and unusual responses, to hone one's debating dexterity, and of course to make known and spread one's (progressive) perspective.
Of course, how we say things, and how we present our information and perspective, is vital. In the US, we might want to use the metaphors and frames of independence, freedom, equal protection and equal opportunity, justice, basic fairness, fair play, leveling the playing field, common good, progress, rights, democracy, security, innovation, improvement, health, happiness, strength in numbers, thinking outside the box, community, Main Street, and others in this vein, using them in genuine ways and in expansive ways, not in the more typically cynical and Orwellian ways. Just as the Zapatistas effectively draw upon a powerful figure from Mexican revolutionary history, we need to do likewise. For better or worse, we don't have an American Zapata, but there are plenty of other melodic tunes in our cultural juke boxes and mp3 players. We just need to listen.
We also need to realize that learning is always a cumulative process, and so while whatever we may say to any given person, at any given time, may not have any immediate discernable effect, it may in fact sometimes have very positive consequences which will manifest at a later time, even if we may be unaware of it. Teachers already know that; everyday political activists need to recognize this truism as well.
Paradigms shift slowly, but they do shift. Up until a tipping point, it may appear as if the dominant beliefs in society are not budging at all, yet when a tipping point is finally reached, paradigms seem to change in the wink of an eye. Some will later refer to this as spontaneous change, but they would be missing all the political activity: all the agitating, all the educating, all the organizing, all the talking and all the listening, as well as everything else, that had been going on with diligence, determination, and dedication for years.
We may or may not be able to change any given person's mind on a particular issue, including our own, but we can change the world if we persevere. As Hillel continually challenges us, if not now, when? Ultimately, the prophet Isaiah beseeches us to listen that you may live and be more alive to the changes all around. Shhh. Sh'ma.
Let's listen for a change!
----------
Dan Brook, Ph.D., is a teacher and also a trained community mediator. He can be contacted via Brook@california.com
Return to Top
=========================
6. Columbia Graduate/JVNA Advisor Returns His Ph.D. to Protest Animal Cruelty
On Tuesday, May 17--the day before Columbia University’s 251st Commencement--Dr. Charles Patterson returned his doctorate to the Office of the President to protest Columbia's ongoing mistreatment of animals in its labs.
(PRWEB) May 18, 2005 -- On the day before Columbia University’s 251st Commencement on Wed., May 18, Charles Patterson (Ph.D.‘70) returned his doctorate to the Office of President Lee Bollinger in Low Library, Rm. 202, to protest his alma mater's abuse of animals.
Patterson, the author of Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust, is upset by the cruelty practiced at Columbia by Doctors Mehmet Oz, E. Sander Connolly, Michel Ferin, Raymond Stark, and other Columbia vivisectors. He says, "Dr. Josef Mengele, who conducted experiments on Jews and Gypsies at Auschwitz (he had two doctorates, by the way), would have fit in quite nicely at Columbia."
The title of Patterson's book Eternal Treblinka--now in seven languages--comes from the Yiddish writer and Nobel Laureate, Isaac Bashevis Singer, to whom the book is dedicated. "In relation to them, all people are Nazis," he wrote, "for animals it is an eternal Treblinka." (Treblinka was a Nazi death camp north of Warsaw.)
Columbia has a long history of animal abuse and grotesque experiments (visit www.ColumbiaCruelty.com), but it took Dr. Catherine Dell'Orto, a post-doctoral veterinarian fellow, to blow the whistle on the university's latest transgressions: "What I saw at Columbia still gives me nightmares. I saw baboons whose left eyes had been cut out--so that major blood vessels could be clamped off through the empty eye sockets to induce strokes--who had collapsed in their cages, unable even to lift their heads, eat, or drink. They were left to die without painkillers."
Columbia students, staff, faculty, and alumni who are concerned about this problem and want to do something about it are constantly rebuffed by the administration. President Bollinger refuses to meet with them to discuss the issue.
One of the most important lessons of the Holocaust, Patterson believes, is that we must never again remain silent in the face of evil. In the words of Auschwitz survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, "Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."
"While I worked long and hard for my doctorate (it included writing a 320-page dissertation)," says Patterson, "the lives of the innocent and helpless are more important than a piece of paper."
He also has a Master of Arts degree in English literature from Columbia. When asked if he was planning on returning that degree as well, he said, "No, I'm going to hold onto it for awhile. However, if Columbia doesn't curb its cruelty soon, maybe I'll return that one too. I only wish I could do more."
Charles Patterson, author of
Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust
Lantern Books, New York, 2002 (2nd printing)
ISBN 1-930051-99-9
http://www.powerfulbook.com
Translations: German, Italian, Polish, Czech, Croatian, Hebrew (forthcoming)
Return to Top
===========================
7. Some Important News Items Re Global Warming
Forwarded message from iNSnet!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
a. U.S. put wealth before global warming
http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1158
The United States said it is not convinced of the need to move
quickly to combat climate change, deepening environmentalists'
fears that a summit on the issue in July will make no concrete progress.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Global Economic Growth Strains Earth's Vital Signs http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1157
The world is producing - and consuming - more food, material goods and natural resources than ever before, according to the Worldwatch Institute's "Vital Signs 2005" report on trends shaping the world's future.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Rebuffing Bush, 132 Mayors Embrace Kyoto Rules
http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1156
Unsettled by a series of dry winters in this normally wet city, Mayor Greg Nickels has begun a nationwide effort to do something the Bush administration will not: carry out the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
d. Study: Climate change to swell, dry up rivers
http://www.virtueel.com/upd/ins_headlines.rxml?cust=2&id=1155
Like oil in the 20th century, water could be the resource that
triggers armed conflicts at the end of this century, according to
experts forecasting changes in the world's major rivers caused by
global warming.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
iNSnet promotes a sustainable society by offering access to news,
opinions and information sources related to sustainable development.
Internetwork for Sustainability © 2005
Return to Top
============================
8. 2005 Vegan Speaking Tour
Forwarded message:
Reserve a Spot on the 2005 Veg Speaking Tour
George Eisman, R.D., one of the nation's foremost educators on
vegetarian nutrition, is traveling the country to spread the word
about the health benefits of a vegan diet. Having served as a faculty
member in Dietetics and Nutrition at several universities, George
uses his knowledge and expertise to educate the public about the
links between diet and disease and the important reasons for
switching to a plant-based diet. Contact us now to reserve your spot
on the Veg Tour!
http://www.vegforlife.org/veg_tour.htm
=========================
9. Know Any Supportive Rabbis?
We are planning to create a list of rabbis who are supportive of vegetarianism. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks.
Return to Top
==========================
10. American Vegan Society Annual Picnic
Forwarded message from Pamela Rice, director of the VivaVegie Society:
[This is a wonderful annual event. The food is great; the talks always inspiring; and the grounds where AVS has its headquarters are absolutely liberating. Make a point to enjoy yourself by taking time for this event. AND NOTE: Two people (one being Caryn herself, the other, an old friend of mine) need a ride from Manhattan. If you're going to the event by car and have a seat or two extra, please contact Freya (FVDinshah@aol.com) - Pamela Rice]
American Vegan Society
56 Dinshah Lane
PO Box 369
Malaga NJ 08328-0908
(856) 694-2887, Fax: -2288
**********
For immediate release
Sunday May 29: American Vegan Society annual picnic and talk.
A noon picnic lunch will be followed at 2 pm with presentations by Dr. Milton Mills, and Caryn Hartglass.
Milton Mills, MD will speak on Human Physiology and Healthful Eating. He is a preventive medicine specialist, and coauthored the report Racial & Ethnic Bias in the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Caryn Hartglass, executive director of EarthSave International, will
review How Lifestyles Affect the Environment, and sing for us. Caryn
is a chemical engineer by profession.
Freshly-picked locally-grown and wild foods will be featured on the menu: Asparagus with Carrot-Herb Dressing, Nettle-Spinach Purée, Potato Salad, Veggie Burgers, Carob Sponge Cake with Strawberries and Vanilla-Pear Nut Cream, Herb Teas.
The event is open to all, and will be held at the American Vegan Society headquarters, 72 Dinshah Lane, Malaga New Jersey 08328. For lunch, please make reservations. Phone: (856) 694-2887 for more information. The society website is www.americanvegan.org
Contacts:
Freya Dinshah, (856) 694-2887,
American Vegan Society www.americanvegan.org
Caryn Hartglass (718) 459-7668
EarthSave International: www.earthsave.org
Dr. Milton Mills (703) 642-0855 (H), (202) 352-4352 (Cell)
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (202) 686-2210 xt309,
www.pcrm.org
A nonprofit organization, founded 1960
Ahimsa lights the way!
www.americanvegan.org
Return to Top
=========================
11. Undercover Video Reveals Shocking Scenes at Animal Lab
Forwarded message from Author, editor, and JVNA advisor Syd Baumel:
PETA Breaking News
Today, at a news conference in Washington, D.C., PETA revealed the findings of its 11-month undercover investigation into Covance, the international drug-testing giant (formerly known as Hazelton).
PETA's investigator worked as a technician inside the Vienna, Virginia, Covance laboratory, where she documented workers who were striking, choking, taunting, and deliberately tormenting terrified monkeys. She documented monkeys with broken arms left without proper veterinary treatment and animals in desperate need of euthanasia, who were kept alive and in agony just to please drug companies. Other primates, used in lethal irradiation experiments, developed open wounds on their stomachs.
When PETA called the U.S. Department of Agriculture for help during our investigation, the agency took five days to respond. Please help these suffering primates, who live in constant fear of the next horrible thing that will happen to them. Read about our investigation and watch our video at CovanceCruelty.com now!
------------------------------
CNN.com featured a front-page article about PETA's investigation into Covance-a billion-dollar Princeton, N.J.-based company that owns one of the world's largest contract animal-testing laboratories. At a laboratory in Vienna, Va., PETA videotaped repeated violations of the Animal Welfare Act by Covance workers. Please write a letter thanking CNN for this story and asking them to feature similar articles in the future. For facts, go to http://www.covancecruelty.com/ and http://www.peta.org/Automation/NewsItem.asp?id=6410.
Send e-mails at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form1.html?18.
"PETA accuses lab of animal cruelty"
By Kathy Benz & Michael McManus
CNN News May 17, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/17/peta.lab/index.html
Return to Top
=========================
12. Job Opportunity for Nutritional Researcher at Animal Advocacy Foundation
From: "Bruce Prince" bruceprince@verizon.net
HI,
I don't know if you are right resource for this, but I am trying to locate a nutritional researcher to work in DC for an animal advocacy foundation. The candidate needs to have experience in conducting clinical trials, have a PhD and doesn't even have to be Jewish!
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Bruce Prince
212.564.6500
Return to Top
=========================
13. ACTION ALERT: Your Call Needed TODAY to Save Horses
Stop Federal Funding of the Slaughter of Wild Horses
Support the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations Amendment
TODAY, Thursday, May 19, Representatives Rahall (D-WV) and Whitfield (R-KY) will introduce the Rahall-Whitfield Amendment to Interior Appropriations, to ensure that no tax dollars are used for sales of wild horses that could lead to their slaughter. We must reach every single member of the U.S. House of Representatives and secure their vote! This is the most critical time for saving our horses.
· Call YOUR US Representative before Thursday May 19th! Your phone call could make all the difference. Call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to find your US Representative or go to www.house.gov or ask us at mail@jewishveg.com.
· Pass this alert far and wide - it is critical that the phones resonate on the Hill!
Not sure what to say? Here's a sample phone script for when you call:
"My name is [your name] and I'm calling from [your city and state]. I'm calling to urge Representative [your Representative's name] to vote YES on Thursday's vote on the Rahall-Whitfield Interior Appropriations amendment to protect wild horses from sale and slaughter. I care very much about our wild horses and am horrified that 41 were recently sent to slaughter. Thank you."
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
