12/27/2010 JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:

1. Happy New Year

2. Tu B’Shvat and Vegetarianism

3. Building JVNA’s Jewish Media List

4. Israel’s Water Shortage Worsens

5. Student’s Essay on Vegetarianism vs. Veganism Based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s Book Eating Animals

6. Sharing God's Green Earth: Planting a Green World by Engaging the Greater Community

7. Source for Information on the Many Negatives of Animal-Based Foods and the Many Benefits of Plant-Based Foods

8. California Temple Schedules Showing of A Sacred Duty at Rosh Hodesh (New Month) Celebration for Women

9. Web Site Provides Valuable Veg Nutritional Information

10. The Thirteen Principles of Jewish Medical Ethics

11. Two Reviews of Judaism and Global Survival

12. Weekend for Sermons on Climate Change Scheduled

13. Excellent Discussions about “Greening” of Synagogues

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. Happy New Year

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful, happy, healthy, successful New Year, one in which your fondest wishes are fulfilled.

Let us hope and work such that this year there is great progress toward vegetarianism/veganism, better conditions for animals, environmental sustainability and a more harmonious, humane, just and peaceful world.

Thanks to everyone for all you have done during the past year.

If anyone would like to volunteer to further the efforts of JVNA, please let me know. Thanks.

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2. Tu B’Shvat and Vegetarianism

Please consider organizing and having a Tu B’Shvat seder or other event in your community this year. Or check with local rabbis about the possibility of attending a scheduled seder and possibly making a short statement about vegetarian connections to the holiday. This most vegetarian and environmental of holidays begins this Jewish year on Wednesday evening, January 19, 2011. For background ideas, please see my articles related to the holiday at the holiday section at JewishVeg.com/schwartz and consider an Internet search for tips on running a Tu B’Shvat seder. Thanks.

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3. Building JVNA’s Jewish Media List

We are trying to revise, update and expand the JVNA Jewish media list, so we can try to reach wider audience with our vegetarian messages. If you have suggestions about publications that should be added or other relevant ideas, please let me know. Thanks.

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4. Israel’s Water Shortage Worsens

Jewish Ideas Daily

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2010/12/22/main-feature/1/and-not-a-drop-to-drink

Israel's water woes
December 22, 2010

And Not a Drop to Drink
By Alex Joffe

With Israel's Carmel fires barely extinguished, word came in early December that the water level in the Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee, was approaching the "black line" at which no more pumping could take place. At the conclusion of the driest November since 1962, already dismal forecasts of winter rain were being revised downward; they would be only slightly alleviated by a suddenly vicious storm that dumped snow and rain on the north—as if to taunt Israel as it stood on the brink of yet another abyss.

Over the next two decades, the real wild card for political and social unrest in the Middle East is not war, terrorism, or revolution; it is water.

Divided into two plants that can operate independently, Israel's newest desalination project at Hadera will produce almost a half-million cubic meters of drinking water per day.

Cores drilled from deep below the seabed point to a complicated and unexpected history.

The Kinneret covers about 64 square miles; its watershed, an area of about a thousand square miles, is home to over 200,000 people. The lake plays host to two to three million people each year who come to relax, swim, and admire the landscape. Some 30 percent of Israel's potable water is pumped from the lake via the National Water Carrier, a system of pipes and reservoirs that opened in 1964. It was a technical triumph, logical and in a way compact, but it fed both agricultural and urban growth that was sprawling and unplanned.

Lakes, like forests, project a quality of timelessness, but looks are deceiving. Humans have lived around the fluctuating shores of the Kinneret for millennia; evidence of previous habitations is revealed whenever the level drops precipitously. During the 1980s, a 20,000-year-old site was uncovered bearing well-preserved seeds of wild barley and fruit. The "Jesus boat," a small 1st-century B.C.E. fishing vessel, was unveiled the same way. Dotted around the shore are ancient stone piers, further evidence of life during the time of the Gospels. If too much water erases humans, too little can cause the social fabric to evaporate.

Weather in the eastern Mediterranean is part of a planetary whole, and Israel is stuck in the middle between vastly larger forces. Thanks to the high North Atlantic Oscillation, depressions that would otherwise track southeast across the Mediterranean end up instead over northwest Europe. Hence, Scotland shivers under the most snow in 40 years while Israel burns. The Indian monsoon, Saharan dust, and a host of other factors can conspire to keep hot air over the Middle East during the fall and winter rainy seasons. In part because of this fickleness, water in semi-arid zones is precious, and ancient peoples who prayed to weather gods knew what they were doing and why.

As surely as forests, lakes can also be killed. In a typically megalomaniacal exercise in Soviet planning, the Aral Sea—over 400 times larger than the Kinneret—was pumped to extinction to feed Central Asian cotton farms. The Israeli approach to nature—from the invention of drip irrigation to the invention of the cherry tomato—is more graduated and innovative, though capable of producing crises of its own. Water-hogging eucalyptus trees, much beloved by early Zionists, still exist, but gone are the days when inappropriate crops like cotton would monopolize agricultural water. Today's agricultural water is drawn from treated sewage.

In a measure of the very success of the Zionist ingathering, however, the thirst of towns and cities grows. The population of Israel and the Palestinian territories is larger than it has ever been in history, well over ten times what it was a century ago. Coastal aquifers are near collapse from over-pumping, and ownership of those in the West Bank is bitterly contested by the Palestinians. Existential problems are sometimes met with puzzlingly Brobdingnagian proposals. At one point not long ago, colossal schemes to build water pipelines from Turkey were seriously contemplated; but Turkey is no longer an ally and is embroiled in bitter water disputes of its own with Syria and Iraq. As usual, Israel will have to go it alone.

This year the world's largest desalination plant, using advanced reverse-osmosis technology, went on line at Hadera, another in a series that will in a decade or so provide most of Israel's water. Will these be enough? Some Israeli environmentalists criticize the impact of desalination, proposing that instead of emphasizing new supplies, Israel should further reduce its water use, already the most efficient in the world, through recycling and conservation. Others urge reviving the moribund Jordan River and the disappearing Dead Sea, or making it a national priority to see to the needs of the Palestinians. Politics and science, already deeply intertwined, cannot easily be teased apart.

Water is also fundamentally a security issue, but where does it fit in the scheme of things? The Ashkelon desalination plant was opened in 2006 at a cost of approximately $212 million—somewhere in the range of a single Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. But the plant and its counterparts have giant bulls' eyes painted on them, and are hardly likely to be spared by Iranian or Hizballah rockets in wartime. So which is the answer to Israeli security, the water or the warplane?

The eastern Mediterranean is full of surprises. Even a decade ago, few would have expected to learn that titanic natural-gas reserves sit off Israel's shores, or that more than a billion barrels of oil may lie under Israel itself. Solutions beget problems, as problems beget solutions. In the desiccated year of 1962, Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona went critical, putting the country irrevocably on the path toward a nuclear future, for better and for worse. Humans rarely give up technologies, and despite the costs and risks, desalination in Israel will necessarily be expanded dramatically in coming decades. The key is learning to live with the uncertainty of nature—and with the uncertainties introduced by our own choices.

Alex Joffe is a research scholar with the Institute for Jewish and Community Research.

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5. Student’s Essay on Vegetarianism vs. Veganism Based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s Book Eating Animals

Sam Silverman

The Souls of Animals Course

Fall 2010

Prof. Stuart

In the book Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer addresses the issue of whether, in modern America, it is morally acceptable to eat meat. The conclusion he reaches is a resolute and resounding “no,” and in the process advocates the embracement of a non-vegan vegetarian diet. Foer, however, fails to carry out his argument to the next step: is it good enough, morally speaking, to adhere to just a non-vegan vegetarian diet, or should we cut animal products out of our diet completely? In other words, is non-vegan vegetarianism (as opposed to veganism) a morally stable position? I believe that, granting the acceptance of the arguments made by Foer in Eating Animals, the answer to this question is no, non-vegan vegetarianism is not a morally stable position. I will support this claim by outlining the essential argument made by Foer against eating meat, then examining the practices of the dairy and egg producing industries, and finally, relating Foer’s focal argument against eating meat to an argument against eating dairy and egg products.

To begin to answer the question of whether non-vegan vegetarianism is a morally sound position, I must first explicitly define the terms “non-vegan vegetarian” and “vegan”. A non-vegan vegetarian (referred to simply as a “vegetarian” from here on out) is a person whose diet excludes animal products that result from the death of an animal. Therefore, a vegetarian does not consume animal flesh, or any by-products of animal slaughter (lard, and gelatin, for example) (“The Vegetarian Society - Definitions”). A vegan, on the other hand, is a person whose diet consists of no animal products whatsoever. Therefore, a vegan will not eat animal flesh, by-products of animal slaughter, dairy, eggs, honey, or anything else coming from an animal (“The Vegetarian Society - Definitions”).

To condense the central argument that Foer puts forth in Eating Animals into a single sentence, eating meat in modern America is morally wrong because the meat one consumes is virtually guaranteed to come from a factory farm, and all factory farms in America (without exception) treat animals in appallingly inhumane manners. Foer shows that this is the case for factory farm animals – whether they are chickens, turkeys, fish, pigs, or cattle – both in how they are raised and how they are slaughtered. He does so by describing these practices in gruesome detail. The examples I will use to illustrate Foer’s main point will be Foer’s descriptions of the life and slaughter of “beef cattle” (cows designed to produce meat) and “broiler-chickens” (chickens designed to produce meat). I will use these animals in order to compare them to the lives of their milk-producing and egg-laying sisters later on.

In his lifetime, a beef cow will be fed a diet poorly fitted for his digestive system, disbudded (the practice of removing horns with hot irons), branded, and castrated (Foer, 224). Between the age of 12 and 14 months, he will be shipped off to slaughter, a journey that can last up to 48 hours and during which he is completely deprived of food and water (Foer, 227). In the final phase of his life, he is slaughtered:

A steel bolt shoots into the cow’s skull… usually rendering the animal unconscious or causing death. Sometimes the bolt only dazes the animal, which either remains conscious or later wakes up as it is being “processed”… animals are bled, skinned, and dismembered while conscious. It happens all the time… the knocked cow – unconscious, semi-conscious, fully conscious, or dead – moves down the line… and [is hoisted] into the air… the animal, now dangling from a leg, is mechanically moved to a “sticker,” who cuts the carotid arteries and jugular vein in the neck… The cow should now be a carcass, which will move along the line to a ‘head-skinner,’ which is exactly what it sounds like… the percentage of cattle still conscious at this stage is low but not zero… After the head-skinner, the carcass (or cow) proceeds to the “leggers,” who cut off the lower portions of the animal’s legs… The animal then proceeds to be completely skinned, eviscerated, and cut in half… (Foer, 229-233).

The life of a broiler chicken is similarly grotesque. The standard amount of space that a broiler chicken lives in is eight-tenths of a square foot, which is roughly the size of a piece of printer paper (Foer, 129). Artificial lighting tricks him into eating more than he naturally would, and sleeping the bare minimum amount he needs in order to survive (Foer, 130). The incredibly overcrowded and unnatural environment in which he lives will cause a broiler chicken to suffer from any of the following conditions: sudden death syndrome (which affects between 1 and 4 percent of broiler chickens on factory farms), ascites (a condition in which excess fluids fill the body cavity, affecting 5 percent of broiler chickens), walking impairment (which affects 3 in 4 broiler chickens), as well as:

deformities, eye damage, blindness, bacterial infections of bones, slipped vertebrae, paralysis, internal bleeding, anemia, slipped tendons, twisted lower legs and necks, respiratory diseases, and weakened immune systems (Foer, 131).

After living in these conditions for 42 days, the broiler chicken is stuffed into a transport crate and is sent off to slaughter:

If [a factory farm’s] operation is running at the proper speed – 105 chickens crated by a single worker in 3.5 minutes is the expected rate –… birds will be handled roughly and… the workers will regularly feel the birds’ bones snapping in their hands… [the process continues as the workers] load the crates into trucks. Ignore weather extremes and don’t feed or water the birds, even if the plant is hundreds of miles away… hang [the birds] upside down by their ankles in metal shackles, onto a moving conveyer system. More bones will be broken… Often the birds will defecate in pain and terror. The conveyer system drags the birds through an electrified water bath. This most likely paralyzes them but doesn’t render them insensible… The next stop on the line for the immobile-but-conscious bird will be an automated throat slitter… about 180 million chickens are improperly slaughtered each year (Foer, 132).

Government estimates suggest that annually, about four million broiler chickens are alive and conscious when going into the scalding tank (the process in which boiling hot water is used to remove the feathers and skin of the chicken) (Foer, 133). Even still, none of this takes into account the sadistic behavior of many factory farm workers. At one particular slaughterhouse (which was designated as a “Supplier of the Year” for the KFC restaurant chain), workers were documented “tearing the heads off live birds, spitting tobacco into their eyes, spray-painting their faces, and violently stomping on them… dozens of times” (Foer, 67).

Now, in order to effectively compare the practices of the meat-producing industries to the practices of the dairy-producing and egg-producing industries, I will objectively state the practices of modern dairy farms and egg farms, without comment as to the morality of the practices. After all of the facts have been stated, I will relate these practices back to the central argument made by Foer.

Modern day dairy farms are simply another type of factory farm. The living conditions of a dairy cow on a typical American dairy farm are as follows: she is confined to a stall not large enough to turn around or lie down in, forced to stand on either a dirt or concrete floor, is exposed to all types of weather with no protection, and is forced to stand in a soup of feces and urine since the floors are cleaned no more than twice a year (Masson, 81). Similar to all other mammals, a cow must get pregnant before she begins to lactate. Therefore, in order to have a cow produce the maximum amount of milk possible, she is artificially inseminated and subsequently kept lactating as long as possible after she has given birth to her calf (Dawn, 162). As soon as her lactation period ends, she is again artificially inseminated and the process repeats itself. In another effort to maximize the amount of milk produced, a dairy cow is injected with a number of growth hormones that cause her to produce up to approximately 10 times the amount of milk she would produce naturally (Masson, 84). A metabolic imbalance that results from the unnaturally high milk production makes a dairy cow extremely susceptible to bacterial and viral infections (Masson, 84). The most notable of these infections is mastitis, which is “an infection of the udders that causes swelling and can make milking excruciating” (Dawn, 164). Mastitis affects half of all cows on dairy farms (Masson, 84). The cycle of impregnation and lactation lasts until the cow is about four years old (her natural lifespan is about 20 years), at which point she is no longer producing milk at a profitable rate (Dawn, 164). After being deemed “spent”, the dairy cow is sent to slaughter for meat, enduring the same fate that beef cattle endure at the slaughterhouse (described above) (Dawn, 165). Another effect of the practices of the dairy farms is the creation and continued existence of the veal industry. After a dairy cow gives birth, her calf is taken away within moments (this denial of her offspring causes the mother to bellow and ram the walls of her stall for days on end, and is acknowledged to be the “single worst incident in the life of a dairy cow” by leading animal slaughter experts (Masson, 80)). If it is a female calf, she will be raised as the next generation of dairy cows; a male calf, on the other hand, will either be sent immediately to slaughter, or to a veal farm. This is because “[d]airy cattle are not meant for meat, so to raise a male until adulthood is not economically feasible” (Masson, 81). On a veal farm, a male calf is chained around the neck inside of a wooden crate not large enough to turn around in or lay in with legs outstretched. He is fed an iron deficient diet and denied any form in exercise in order to keep his flesh pale and tender. These living conditions cause one in five veal calves to die in confinement (Masson, 83). Those who do not die in confinement are slaughtered at sixteen weeks (Dawn, 165).

Like dairy farms, egg farms are a form of factory farming. A hen on a typical American egg farm will live in a cage with between three and seven other hens. The cage that these hens share is twelve inches by twenty inches, and is made with wide-spaced wire. The cages are stacked from floor to ceiling, and the wide-spaced wire allows waste to drop from hens in the top tiers onto hens in the lower tiers (Dawn, 169). In order to prevent a hen from attacking and injuring the other hens in her cage, a hot knife is used to cut off her beak – which contains bone, cartilage, soft tissue, and nerves (“Mercy For Animals”). A hen is kept alive only as long as she is laying eggs at a profitable rate. Once her production rate starts to decline, a hen will sometimes be force molted in an attempt to shock her body into another egg-laying cycle. Force molting is a practice in which a hen will be starved, denied water, and kept in the dark for up to 18 days (“Mercy For Animals”). Similar to a dairy cow, an egg-laying hen is not genetically designed for her meat, so it is usually not worth the effort it takes to slaughter her. Therefore once she is “spent,” she is disposed of by the cheapest means possible. More often than not, this entails burying her alive in a large ditch with other spent hens (Dawn, 171). The male offspring of a hen is considered completely economically unprofitable, and is thus killed the day he is hatched. The two most common methods of extermination for a male chick are to allow him to suffocate in a plastic garbage bag or to grind him up while he is still alive (Dawn, 169).

Now to tackle the issue of why vegetarianism is not a morally sound position: I believe that, from the descriptions provided of the life of a dairy cow (and by extension, veal calf), and egg-laying hen, it is clear that these animals lead lives in which they are raised and slaughtered cruelly and inhumanely, and have just as much (if not more) pain and suffering inflicted upon them than the amount of pain and suffering inflicted upon animals raised for meat. Foer argues that it is immoral to eat meat in today’s society precisely because the manner in which factory farmed animals are raised and killed is cruel, inhumane and undeniably causes the animals’ immense pain and suffering. Therefore, since the morality of eating meat is based upon the suffering of the animals being slaughtered for meat, and animals raised to produce dairy and egg products undergo equivalent amounts of pain and suffering as animals raised for meat, there is no difference between the morality of eating meat and the morality of eating dairy and egg products.

A potential objection to the claim that eating meat, dairy, and eggs is not a morally sound position is “what if the food comes from a local farm where the animals are treated humanely?” Foer addresses this objection in terms of meat, referring to those who restrict their intake of meat to humane meat as “selective omnivores” (Foer, 56). His reasoning is that since the immorality of eating meat lies in the suffering and inhumane treatment of the animals being slaughtered, and animals that are raised and slaughtered humanely do not endure this suffering, it is morally defensible to eat the meat that comes from these animals. However, more than 99% of animals killed for meat are raised on factory farms (Foer, 12), which means that there is very little ethical meat available to the public. For example, “there isn’t enough non-factory chicken produced in America to feed the population of Staten Island… let alone the country” (Foer, 256). So although selective omnivorism is a morally acceptable alternative to vegetarianism, it is simply unfeasible. As Foer states, “[e]thical meat is a promissory note, not a reality” (Foer, 256).

To extend Foer’s argument about the selective omnivore to those who eat dairy and egg products only from animals that are raised humanely, the morally acceptable alternative to veganism is “selective vegetarianism”. Again, the immorality of eating dairy and egg products lies in the suffering and inhumane treatment of the animals that produce the dairy and eggs, so to eat dairy and egg products that come from humanely treated animals would be morally acceptable. The problem arises in that, similar to the percentage of meat that comes from factory farms, 98% of dairy and eggs produced in the United States come from animals raised on factory farms (Mason, 68). With that being said, although 98% of dairy and egg products come from animals raised on factory farms, it is actually easier to find ethical dairy and eggs than it is to find ethical meat. This is due in large part to the efforts of one organization: the Humane Farm Animal Care is “a national non-profit 501(c)3 organization created to improve the lives of farm animals by setting rigorous standards, conducting annual inspections, and certifying their humane treatment” (“Certified Humane”). Humane Farm Animal Care designates certain farms as “Certified Humane,” which means that the farms “[meet] the Humane Farm Animal Care program standards, which includes nutritious diet without antibiotics or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviors” (“Certified Humane”). Certified Humane products, which are mainly dairy or egg products (with a few exceptions), can be found in a number of grocery stores throughout the country. However, these products are not yet widespread enough to make selective vegetarianism is a viable option. So, just as it is virtually guaranteed that one cannot find enough ethical meat to completely replace factory farmed meat in one’s diet and become a selective omnivore, one would be hard-pressed to find enough humane dairy and egg products to become a selective vegetarian. Therefore, while selective omnivorism and selective vegetarianism are both morally defensible positions, there are simply not enough resources at the moment to make them realistic possibilities in the United States (although it is, in fact, slightly more realistic in the selective vegetarian’s case).

In closing, Foer reaches the conclusion that it is not morally permissible to eat meat, and granting Foer’s argument as to why this is to be true, one must also conclude that it is not morally acceptable to eat dairy and egg products. Therefore, to be a non-vegan vegetarian on moral grounds is, in fact, a morally untenable position.

Works Cited

Dawn, Karen. 2008. Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals. New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins Publishers

“Certified Humane.” Certifiedhumane.org. Humane Farm Animal Care, n.d. Web. 3 Nov 2010. http://www.certifiedhumane.org/.

“Eggs.” Mercy For Animals. Mercy For Animals, n.d. Web. 29 Sep 2010. http://www.mercyforanimals.org/eggs.asp.

Foer, Jonathan Safran. 2009. Eating Animals. New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company

Masson, Jeffry Moussaieff. 2009. The Face On Your Plate: The Truth About Food. New York, N.Y.: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

“The Vegetarian Society - Definitions.” The Vegetarian Society. The Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom, n.d. Web. 30 Sep 2010. http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html.

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6. Sharing God's Green Earth: Planting a Green World by Engaging the Greater Community

By David Krantz [Director of Green Zionist Alliance]

http://www.greenzionism.org/resources/articles/145?utm_content=Dr.%20Richard%20Schwartz&utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=To%20continue%20reading%2C%20click%20here%2E&utm_campaign=GZA%3A%20Sharing%20God%27s%20Green%20Earthcontent

NEW YORK (Dec. 23, 2010) — On the eve of the eve of the most widely celebrated Jewish baby's birthday ever, a holy day for billions of Christians around the world, it's important to remember that we Jews only make up about two tenths of one percent of the world's population. So if we're going to green the world, we can't do it alone. We need to engage with our brothers and sisters of all faiths.

In Israel, that means that we need to work with Christians and Muslims, both within Israel and in Israel's neighboring lands as well, because nature knows no borders. The Green Zionist Alliance, for example, is a North America-based Jewish environmental organization that has embraced diversity: Our volunteers, speakers and interns have included Christians, Muslims and Hindus. At the Green Zionist Alliance, anyone who wants to help green Israel and the Middle East is welcome.

Two Green Zionist Alliance sister organizations also aim to green the region through peaceful cooperation between peoples of different backgrounds and faiths. The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is perhaps the best place in the world to learn about the environment alongside Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians. The accredited school offers master's degrees as well as the opportunity to study for a semester or a year as an undergraduate or graduate student.

And EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth — Middle East brings together Jews, Christians and Muslims in the region to work toward protecting the region's shared environment and, in particular, its shared watersheds.

Here in North America, GreenFaith helps communities of all religions work both independently and together to better serve as stewards of the environment that we collectively believe God has placed in our care. 

All four organizations have found that the way to a greener, more peaceful future is through cooperation with the greater community.

So what can you do to engage the world community? You can support the efforts of the Green Zionist Alliance, Arava Institute, Friends of the Earth and GreenFaith. And you also can follow the example of the Greenpoint Shul — Congregation Ahavas Israel, an Orthodox synagogue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

With help from leaders of the Green Zionist Alliance, this past summer the Greenpoint Shul transformed its dilapidated, weed-thicketed backyard into a thriving, interfaith, organic community garden, tended to by volunteers from the synagogue, the local mosque and a local church. All of the garden's harvest is donated to the neighborhood soup kitchen, run by the church. And from the thaw in spring until the first frost, Jews, Muslims and Christians grow food for the hungry, getting together in the synagogue's backyard to work in the garden. It's a beautiful thing.

And it's a model that could be replicated in every Jewish community across the country. Greenpoint Shul is putting the green in Greenpoint — you can put the green in your town. By working together with others, we can achieve a greener future.

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7. Source for Information on the Many Negatives of Animal-Based Foods and the Many Benefits of Plant-Based Foods

http://www.yeenet.eu/index.php/component/content/article/452

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8. California Temple Schedules Showing of A Sacred Duty at Rosh Hodesh (New Month) Celebration for Women

Potluck, film fete Rosh Hodesh

Temple Beth El in Aptos will host a Rosh Hodesh celebration for women Jan. 6 with a documentary screening and vegan potluck. The Jewish community center will be showing "A Sacred Duty," a film that examines how Jewish teachings can be applied to gathering food, using natural resources and protecting wildlife.

The potluck begins at 6 and the film at 7:30 p.m., and a discussion with Rabbi Paula Marcus will follow. Members and non-members (women only)are welcome, said organizers, who are asking attendees to each bring a printed vegan recipe. E-mail kaplanks@hotmail.com or call 335-3342. Temple Beth El is at 3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos

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Thursday, January 6, 6:00 PM, 2011

Rosh Hodesh - Women's New Moon Celebration

Vegan Potluck & Film: "A Sacred Duty"

Temple Beth El /Jewish Community Center Social Hall

3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos, CA 95003

Members & Non-Members Welcome.

Free Event For Women Only / Donations Appreciated.

6 PM: Vegan Potluck: Vegan is vegetables, fruit, grains, nuts & beans. (No animal products.)

7:30 PM: A SACRED DUTY: Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal the World - (1 hour)

This documentary reminds us that it is our sacred duty to apply Jewish teachings to how we obtain food, use natural resources, protect animals and the environment. While reducing our impact on the planet, we may find moral, ethical and sustainable solutions, from Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist points of view. Award winning cinematographer, Lionel Friedberg includes interviews with Rabbis, Jewish Scientists, Israeli Environmentalists and Activists, with sacred texts read by Theodore Bikel. Some scenes contain graphic content that will hopefully inspire a thought provoking discussion with Rabbi Paula Marcus, following the film.

Art Exhibit "Women, Trees, Food & Animals" by Dominique Blanchard, Russell Brutsche, David Fleming, Jill Gibson, Donna Giubbini, Karen Kaplan, Jeanne Manss, Peggy Marketello, Judy Miller, Irina Parfenova, Bruce Telopa, Boris Tyomkin, Philip Wankier & Mary Warshaw.

Music: We will end the evening with live music and singing, led by Rabbi Paula Marcus.

Please print a favorite vegan recipe to share with the group or e-mail it to Karen Kaplan.

Please RSVP by January 3. Call: 335-3342 (11 AM - 11 PM), E-mail: kaplanks@hotmail.com

Event Organizers: Karen Kaplan, Shirley Ginzburg & Rabbi Paula Marcus

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9. Web Site Provides Valuable Veg Nutritional Information

www.thenutritionmd.com

Forwarded message from the author of the web material Jay Lavine, M.D.:

When I addressed the USDA Food Guidance System meeting six years ago, I indicated that we have failed to change the way people think about a meal. The goals of the dietary guidelines have gone unrealized. I proposed a massive educational project that would make people think about plant foods as the entree rather than meat as the entree. Of course, my recommendation went unheeded. I think that health care reform of the kind that is needed will never occur if left to the democratic process. So I have simply assumed the role of a physician exemplar, and I give people the opportunity to learn what nutritional science is saying with regard to the ideal diet.

Shalom,

Jay

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10. The Thirteen Principles of Jewish Medical Ethics

By Jay Lavine, MD

http://www.drlavine.org/

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11. Two Reviews of Judaism and Global Survival

[All the chapters can be read at JewishVeg.com/Schwartz]

Judaism and Global Survival
 Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Reviewed by Nathan Braun, December 2002



Richard Schwartz, called "the dean of Jewish vegetarians" by the Jerusalem Post in its recent review of this book, has done it again. In his revised and updated Judaism and Global Survival, a sequel and expansion to last year's groundbreaking Judaism and Vegetarianism, he has pulled off another challenging handbook on how Jewish values are relevant to present socio-ecological crises. His advice is simple and profound, echoing King Solomon’s statement, "Fear God and keep his commandments, this is the whole duty of humankind." (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

. . . In view of worsening global threats, Dr. Richard Schwartz beautifully and comprehensively illustrates how the application of basic Jewish values can help address such current problems as global climate change, water shortages, pollution of our air, water, and land, widespread hunger, potential energy shortages, and rapid population growth. This book discusses Jewish teachings related to these threats, in order to challenge Jews (and others who take religious values seriously) to be at the forefront of attempts to repair and heal the world (tikkun olam), as required by Jewish law and indeed, by G-d Himself.



Written from a very positive Jewish perspective, Dr. Schwartz's book challenges people committed to religious teachings to live up to the highest values and mandates of their religion. Using an abundance of recent statistics, he argues that applying religious values is a societal imperative because current policies are unsustainable. Jewish values are thoughtfully applied to the issues.

Among the many intriguing approaches suggested in the book are: how Jewish values point to CARE ("Conservation And Renewable Energy") as a response to potential energy shortages; how a shift to plant-based diets can reduce hunger, environmental threats, global climate change, and resource scarcities; how Jewish teachings based on bal tashchit, the Torah mandate not to waste resources, can be used as a basis of a ZPIG (zero Population Impact Growth Movement) in response to zero population growth (ZPG) advocates.

This is a passionate, carefully argued book, based on a great love and respect for Jewish teachings.

At a time when environmental threats often seem overwhelming, Judaism and Global Survival, like its practical predecessor Judaism and Vegetarianism, deserves a wide readership. Its messages should be on the agenda of every synagogue and of every religious group.

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Judaism and Global Survival 
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Reviewed by Julie Rosenfield, December 2002

Readers familiar with the classic volume Judaism and Vegetarianism by JVS patron Professor Richard H. Schwartz will be delighted to hear that its sequel, Judaism and Global Survival, has recently been revised and updated.

The publication of this new edition could hardly be more timely, seeking as it does to explore the vital issue of protecting the earth from the many threats it faces. The solution, according to Professor Schwartz, is not necessarily to be found in current technology, but rather by going back to explore Jewish values which already provide us with the mandates we need on how to protect our fragile planet. He reminds us that as Jews, not only are we obligated to carry out the mandate of Tikkun Olam (to repair the world), but also that we should strive for peace and justice, feed the hungry, avoid waste and love our neighbours as ourselves.

The book's message however is not just for Jews but for people of all faiths, discussing as it does what practical measures can be taken to reduce global warming, world hunger and over-population.

The book is divided up into sections addressing many important themes, such as energy, social justice, and human rights. Each section is illustrated with appropriate Biblical quotations and examples of Jewish teachings. As Professor Schwartz points out, however, it is not enough simply to know about these Jewish values. In order to achieve a beneficial and necessary change, we must apply them. To this end, he provides us with an appendix listing some effective and practical ways that we can help the environment: for example, by writing letters, displaying bumper stickers or organizing events on the theme of global protection.

One of the most important sections is the one which deals with vegetarianism, the adoption of which is a key factor in helping the environment. Indeed Professor Schwartz points out that both vegetarians and environmentalists have similar goals: "The aims of vegetarians and environmental activists are similar: simplify our lifestyles, have regard for the earth and all forms of life, and apply the knowledge that the earth is not ours to do with as we wish. In view of the many negative effects of animal-based agriculture on the earth's environment, resources, and climate, it is becoming increasingly clear that a shift toward vegetarian diets is a planetary imperative."


Judaism and Global Survival is an important book for anyone who cares about the environment and who would like to learn the appropriate Jewish values which could make all the difference to the future of our planet.

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12. Weekend for Sermons on Climate Change Scheduled

National Preach-In on Global Warming - February 11-13, 2011

· Access Event Materials & Notes

· Host a Sermon or Discussion

· Watch a Film

· Send ‘Love the Earth’ Valentines to Congress

Nationwide, Interfaith Power and Light is inviting faith leaders to give sermons and reflections on global warming the weekend of February 11-13, 2011.

As the date approaches, we will be offering a variety of resources, including sample sermons, reflections devotionals, and discussion activity ideas for diverse faith traditions to those who have registered, including youth activities.

For more information, go to http://interfaithpowerandlight.org/2010/10/national-preach-in-on-global-warming-2011/

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13. Excellent Discussions about “Greening” of Synagogues

http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/rules-of-engagement-greening-jewish-institutions/

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Below is my posting after the article online:

Kol hakavod (Kudos) to all involved in presenting this very valuable material. A a time when the world is rapidly approaching an unprecedented climate catastrophe and facing many other environmental threats, this information is very important and I hope it will be widely read and acted upon.

As president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), I would like to add that serving all or mostly vegan foods is another very valuable way to green synagogues and other aspects of Jewish life. Animal-based agriculture is a major contributor to climate change, deforestation, desertification, water pollution, soil erosion and depletion, rapid species extinctions and many other environmental problems.

For more information on Jewish teachings on vegetarianism and related issues, please visit JewishVeg.com/schwartz and see JVNA's documentary "A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World" at ASacredDuty.com.
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