7/1/2008 Special JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

This special Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter is devoted to seeking ways to help get vegetarianism and related issues onto the Jewish agenda through connections to Tisha B'Av.

The threats from global warming are so serious that we must take every opportunity to get our issues onto the Jewish agenda. Therefore, I have put this special JVNA newsletter together as an attempt to relate our issues to Tisha B'Av.


The newsletter has the following items:

1. Press Release Relating Tisha B'Av to Today's Environmental Crises

2. Article: “Relating Tisha B'Av to Today's Environmental Crises”

3. Article “Tisha B'Av and Vegetarianism”

4. Sample Letter to the Editor

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, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of the kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observances, 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. Also, JVNA does not necessarily agree with all positions of groups whose views are included or whose events are announced in this newsletter.

As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,

Richard

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1. Press Release Relating Tisha B'Av to Today's Environmental Crises

JEWISH GROUP URGES THAT LESSONS OF TISHA B'AV BE APPLIED TO CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS

For Immediate Release:

July1, 2008
Contact:
Richard H. Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA)
president@JewishVeg.com Phone: (718) 761-5876

Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) announced today that it is initiating a campaign to have the Jewish community apply lessons of Tisha B'Av (which starts this year on the evening of August 9) to responding to current environmental threats.

“Thousands of years ago, Jews failed to respond to the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed,” stated JVMA president Richard H. Schwartz. “Today, we have modern day 'Jeremiahs' warning that it is not just Jerusalem, but the entire world that is threatened. Many climate scientists, including James Hansen of NASA, are warning that global warming could reach a tipping point and spin out of human control within a few years, with catastrophic consequences, unless major changes are soon made. We have been receiving many wake up calls, including the massive Midwestern floods, the widespread California wild fires, the severe droughts in Israel and other countries, and much more. In a 2007 report, 11 retired US generals and admirals stated that the effects of global climate change, including droughts, flooding, wildfires and severe storms, will sharply increase the number of refugees and increase the prospects for instability, violence, terrorism and war.”

JVNA is urging rabbis to connect the many calamities that occurred to the Jewish people on Tisha B'av through many centuries to the major threats to Jews, Israel and all of humanity today. The group advocates that tikkun olam (the healing of the world) become a major focus in all sectors of Jewish life today.

JVNA also urges consideration of an inconvenient truth that is generally being ignored, even by Al Gore: animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars and other means of transportation worldwide combined (18 percent vs. 13.5 percent), according to a 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organization report. Making the situation even worse, that same report indicates that the consumption of animal products is projected to double in 50 years. If this happens, it will make it very difficult, if not impossible, to reduce overall greenhouse emissions enough to avoid very severe effects from global climate change.

Further information about these issues can be found at the JVNA web site JewishVeg.com. JVNA will provide a complimentary copy of their new, highly-acclaimed documentary A SACRED DUTY: APPLYING JEWISH VALUES TO HELP HEAL THE WORLD to rabbis and other Jewish leaders who contact them (president@JewishVeg.com) and indicate that they will consider using it as part of an effort to educate others about the issues. The entire movie can be seen and further information about it can be found at ASacredDuty.com.
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2. Article: “Relating Tisha B'Av to Today's Environmental Crises”

RELATING TISHA B'AV TO TODAY'S ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES

Richard H. Schwartz

Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which occurs this year on August 9-10, commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. The first Temple was destroyed after the Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah.

Today, modern day “Jeremiahs” are warning that it is not just Jerusalem, but the entire world that faces destruction, from global warming and other environmental threats. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has projected a temperature increase of 3 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit in the next century. That such a change would have disastrous effects can be seen from the fact that an increase in about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years has already resulted in many negative effects, including severe heat waves, droughts, storms, floods and wild fires.

Some noted climate experts, including James Hansen of NASA, are warning that global warming could reach a tipping point and spin out of human control within a decade, with catastrophic consequences, unless major changes are soon made. In a 2007 report, 11 retired US generals and admirals stated that the effects of global climate change, including droughts, flooding, wildfires and severe storms, will sharply increase the number of hungry, thirsty, frustrated refugees and increase the prospects for instability, violence, terrorism and war. A recently released UN report indicated that the genocidal conflict in Darfur has been driven by climate change and environmental degradation, which threaten to trigger a series of additional wars across Africa unless the damage is soon contained.

A 2007 report by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED) warned that Israel is especially threatened by global warming. The organization warned that global climate change could: cause major heat waves; reduce the rainfall that Israel is so dependent on by up to 30 percent; cause severe storms; increase the level of the Mediterranean Sea, threatening Israel's ports and infrastructure and threatening the 60 percent of Israelis who live in its coastal plain with flooding. Israel also has other major environmental problems. More Israelis die from air pollution than from terrorism and automobile accidents combined and almost all Israeli rivers are badly polluted.

Environmentalists are also warning that the world faces many other environmental threats, including rapid species extinction, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, soil erosion and depletion and pollution of air and water. Unfortunately, as in the time of Jeremiah, these increasingly strong warnings are generally being ignored.

Jeremiah stressed that people should apply basic Jewish teachings to avoid the looming catastrophe. Today, as well, the application of basic Jewish environmental teachings can help us avoid modern perils. These teachings include:

* We are to be co-workers with God in working to protect the environment.
* We are to work the land and to guard it (Genesis 2:15); hence, we are to be shomrei ha'adamah, guardians of the Earth.
* We are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value (bal tashchit, based on Deuteronomy 20: 19. 20).

Jewish sages connected the word "eichah" (alas! what has befallen us?) that begins the reading of Lamentations on Tisha B'Av and a word that has the same root "ayekah" ("Where art thou?"), the question addressed to Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. In order to avoid having to mournfully recite “eichah” regarding present results of global warming, perhaps we have to properly respond to “ayekah” today by answering “hineni,” here I am, ready to apply Jewish teachings in response to current environmental threats.

The reading of the book of Lamentations on Tisha B'Av is meant to awaken the Jewish people to the need to return to God's ways, by showing the horrors that resulted when God's teachings were ignored. The readings on Tisha B'Av help to sensitize us so that we will hear the cries of lament and change our ways. Rabbi Yochanan stated "Jerusalem was destroyed because the residents limited their decisions to the letter of the law of the Torah, and did not perform actions that would have gone beyond the letter of the law" ('lifnim meshurat hadin') (Baba Metzia 30b). in this time of major environmental threats, widespread hunger, and epidemics of chronic degenerative diseases, perhaps it is necessary that Jews go beyond the strict letter of the law and play out our mandated role to be a “light unto the nations” in leading in efforts to reduce global warming and other environmental problems.

In view of the many threats to humanity today, it is important that Jews enhance their commemoration of the spiritually meaningful holiday of Tisha B'Av by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism's highest moral values and teachings. On this solemn occasion, we should learn from our history and heed a basic lesson of the holiday -- that failure to respond to proper admonitions can lead to catastrophe. The Jewish people must make tikkun olam (the repair and healing of the planet) a major focus in Jewish life today, and consider personal and societal changes that will reduce environmental threats.. By doing this, we would be performing a great kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God's Name) by helping move our imperiled planet to a sustainable path, and by showing that Judaism's eternal values have relevance to today's critical issues.

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3. Article “Tisha B'Av and Vegetarianism”

TISHA B'AV and VEGETARIANISM

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

There are many connections between vegetarianism and the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av:

1. Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. Today the entire world is threatened by destruction by a variety of environmental threats, and modern intensive livestock agriculture is a major factor behind most of these environmental threats.

2. In Megilat Eichah (Lamentations), which is read on Tisha B'Av, the prophet Jeremiah warned the Jewish people of the need to change their unjust ways in order to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. There have been many warnings since then from modern “Jeremiahs,”, including climate scientists who argue that global warming may spin out of control within a decade, with disastrous consequences, unless major changes are soon made. Vegetarians join in these warnings, and add that a switch toward vegetarianism is an essential part of the "major changes" that are required.

3. On Tisha B'Av, Jews fast to express their sadness over the destruction of the two Temples and to awaken us to how hungry people feel. So severe are the effects of starvation that the Book of Lamentations (4:10) states that "More fortunate were the victims of the sword than the victims of famine, for they pine away stricken, lacking the fruits of the field." Yet, today over 70% of the grain grown in the United States and about 40% of the grain grown worldwide is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as an estimated 20 million people worldwide die annually because of hunger and its effects.

4. During the period from Rosh Chodesh Av to Tisha B'Av known as the "nine days", Jews do not eat meat or fowl, except on the Sabbath day. After the destruction of the second Temple, some sages argued that Jews should no longer eat meat, as a sign of sorrow. However, it was felt that the Jewish people would not be able to obey such a decree. It was also believed then that meat was necessary for proper nutrition. Hence, a compromise was reached in terms of Jews not eating meat in the period immediately before Tisha B'Av.

5. Jewish sages connected the word "eichah" (alas! what has befallen us?) that begins Lamentations and a word that has the same root "ayekah" ("Where art thou?"), the question addressed to Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Vegetarians are also respectfully asking "where art thou?" What are we doing re widespread world hunger, the destruction of the environment, the cruel treatment of farm animals, etc.? Perhaps failure to properly hear and respond to "ayekah" in terms of stating "Hineni" - here I am, ready to carry out God's commandments so that the world will be better - causes us to eventually have to say and hear "eichah".

6. The book of Lamentations was meant to wake up the Jewish people to the need to return to God's ways. Since vegetarianism is God's initial dietary regimen (Genesis 1:29), vegetarians are also hoping to respectfully alert Jews to the need to return to that diet.

7. Rabbi Yochanan stated "Jerusalem was destroyed because the residents limited their decisions to the letter of the law of the Torah, and did not perform actions that would have gone beyond the letter of the law" ('lifnim meshurat hadin') (Baba Metzia 30b). In the same way, perhaps, many people state that they eat meat because Jewish law does not forbid it. Vegetarians believe that in this time of factory farming, environmental threats, widespread hunger, and epidemics of chronic degenerative diseases, Jews should go beyond the strict letter of the law and move toward vegetarianism.

8. Tisha B'Av has been a time of tears and tragedy throughout Jewish history. Animal-based diets are also related to much sorrow today due to its links to hunger and environmental destruction.

9. Tisha B'Av is not only a day commemorating destruction. It is also the day when, according to Jewish tradition, the Messiah will be born, and the days of mourning will be turned into joyous festivals. According to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, the Messianic period will be vegetarian. He based this view on the prophecy of Isaiah, "The wolf will dwell with the lamb . . .the lion will eat straw like the ox . . . and no one shall hurt nor destroy in all of God's holy mountain" (Isaiah 11: 6-9).

10. The readings on Tisha B'Av help to sensitize us so that we will hear the cries of lament and change our ways. Vegetarians are also urging people to change their diets, to reduce the cries of lament of hungry people and of animals.

11. The first Temple was destroyed because the people committed three cardinal sins: idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed (Yoma 9b). Animal-based diets today have links to these sins; (1) we have made our stomachs an idol and will do almost anything to appease it; (2) a diet that wastes so much grain and other agricultural resources while millions of people lack adequate food can be considered immoral; (3) there is much bloodshed from the 10 billion farm animals that are slaughtered annually in the United States alone to satisfy people's appetites for meat.

12. After the destruction of the second Temple, the Talmudic sages indicated that Jews need not eat meat in order to rejoice during festivals. They stated that the drinking of wine would suffice, (Pesachim 109a)

13. More than a day of lamentation, Tisha B'Av is also a day of learning - learning essential lessons about our terrible past errors so that they will not be repeated. Vegetarians believe that if people learned the incredible realities related to the production and consumption of meat, many would change their diets so as to avoid continuing current errors.

14. After the destruction of Jerusalem, while sighing and searching frantically for food, the people proclaimed, "Look God and behold what happened to me because I used to be gluttonous!" (Lamentations 1:11). Today too, gluttony (excessive consumption of animal and other products) is leading to widespread hunger and destruction.

15. The Book of Lamentations ends with "Chadesh yamenu k'kedem - make new our days as of old." We can help this personal renewal occur by returning to the original human diet, the vegetarian diet of Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden), a diet that can help us feel renewed because of the many health benefits of plant-based diets.

16. On Tisha B'Av, Jews do not wear leather shoes; one reason is that while commemorating events that involved so much death, we do not want to wear something manufactured from animal skin, a product derived from the deaths of another Divinely-created living being.

17. The Book of Lamentations has many very graphic descriptions of hunger. One is: "The tongue of the suckling child cleaves to its palate for thirst. Young children beg for bread, but no one extends it to them." 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 moving to animal-centered diets that require vast amounts of grain.

In view of these and other connections, I hope that Jews will enhance their commemoration of the solemn but spiritually meaningful holiday of Tisha B'Av by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism's highest moral values and teachings, and one important way to do this is by moving toward a vegetarian diet.

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4. Sample Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor:

Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which we commemorate this year on August 9-10, reminds us that over 2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

Today there are many modern “Jeremiahs” warning us that now it is not just Jerusalem but the entire world that faces destruction from global warming and its effects, species extinction, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, and many other environmental threats. We have already seen many effects of global warming, including severe heat waves, droughts, wild fires, storms and floods. Many climate scientists, including James Hansen of NASA, are warning that global warming may reach a tipping point, and spin out of human control within a decade, with disastrous consequences, unless major changes soon occur.

This Tisha B'Av, I hope that we will begin to heed one of its basic lessons -- that failure to respond to proper admonitions can lead to catastrophe. The Jewish people must make tikkun olam (the repair and healing of the planet) a major focus in Jewish life today, and consider personal and societal changes that will start to move our precious, but imperiled, planet to a more sustainable path. By doing this, we would be performing a great kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God's Name) by working to meet our mandate to be a “light unto the nations,” and showing that eternal Jewish teachings are relevant to today's crises.

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