02/28/2011 JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

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

1. Happy Purim

2. Does Snowy Winter Disprove Climate Change Theory

3. Israeli Vegan Activist Rabbi Adam Frank Interviewed on Jewish Teachings on Veganism and Animal Issues

4. Review of A Sacred Duty in Vegetarians in Paradise Publication

5. Major Article on Judaism and Vegetarianism Now Available in Hebrew

6. World has a Natural Debt Crisis as Well as a Financial Debt Crisis

7. Animal Activist Argues for Support of Incremental Improvements in Conditions for Animals

8. An Orthodox Jew Explains Why He Is a Vegetarian

9. French Vegetarian Man Seeks Soul Mate

10. Marvelous Video Spoof About Meat

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 Purim

The joyous holiday of Purim begins this year on Saturday evening, March 19. This and other Jewish holidays provide opportunities to show Jewish teachings related to vegetarianism. Please see my article “Purim and Vegetarianism” at the holidays section at JewishVeg.com/Schwartz. Suggestions welcome, and please feel free to share the article with others.

Many thanks.

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2. Does Snowy Winter Disprove Climate Change Theory

If the Earth is warming up, why are we getting so much snow?

Blog entry by Breslov Hasid and JVNA advisor Rabbi Yonassan Gershom

http://rooster613.blogspot.com/2011/02/if-earth-is-warming-up-why-are-we.html

Climate change deniers have been having a field day with all the snow this winter. If global warming is real, they say, then why are we getting buried in so much snow? Sunday, February 20, 2011 was the largest snowfall in a single 24-hour period ever recorded in Minneapolis, and in Minnesota overall, this has been the second snowiest February on record -- and the month isn't over yet. So, the skeptics say, how can it be getting warmer if we are buried in blizzards? And even if it is getting warmer, how can a few degrees make any difference?

Apparently it is making a big difference. Normally, we get cold weather in January and February here, but not much snow until March-April. But this winter, it has been as if the calendar moved up a month or two, and we are getting April's weather in February. And this, the scientists say, is indeed due to global warming.

To understand how global warming can produce more snow, we need to understand a basic fact of physics: warmer air holds more moisture! More moisture can mean more precipitation, either as snow or as rain. If you look at the Jet Stream on recent weather maps, you will see that it has repeatedly dipped way down south toward the Gulf of Mexico -- where the air is very warm and moist -- then it swings back up north, dragging all that extra moisture with it. The warm damp air hits the cold arctic air and whammo! Lots of snowfall on the good ol' USA.

But hasn't the Jet Stream always done this? To some extent, yes. But I'm over 60 years old and I can't ever remember it going down way into Texas like it has done recently. In the past, the Jet Stream remained pretty much up in Canada, with an occasional dip into Minnesota. It formed a relatively stable circle of air flowing around the arctic that fenced in the really cold air up there. Now, however, the Jet Stream has become unstable and is moving up and down the northern hemisphere rather erratically, causing extreme temperature swings (here in Minnesota, we have had a range of 35 below zero (F) to 60 above in a period of a mere two weeks) and a lot more precipitation.

Why is it doing this? According to a recent study released in January 2011, the melting of ice in the arctic is allowing the Earth to absorb more heat from the sun instead of reflecting it back into space like it used to. (Second basic physics fact: dark ocean water absorbs more sunlight that light snow and ice.) And it is doing this at a much higher rate than previously thought. Now, 32-degree seawater might not seem very warm to you and I, but it is a heck of a lot warmer than the below-zero snow and ice that used to be there. And once it absorbs that sunlight, it holds the heat, melting still more ice. This warming of the arctic is destabilizing the Jet Stream, which, as I explained above, results in more snow further south.

So, although it may seem paradoxical for warmer air to produce bigger snowstorms, the phenomenon is scientifically sound. You can't just look at a few local storms; you have to take into account the whole pattern of changes globally. And while a few degrees might not seem like much, we are not really talking about the difference between a 70-degree day and a 74-degree day. We are talking about the overall warming of the entire planet. It doesn't take much to alter the ocean and wind currents. Scientists say an overall change of 6 degrees can be disastrous. Already there has been a rapid increase in volcanic activity, earthquakes, severe hurricanes and other storms -- including snow! -- Yet so many of us are still in denial about this!

How much do we humans contribute to climate change? Quite a lot, according to most climate scientists. Yes, the earth goes through natural cycles, but since the Industrial Revolution the greenhouse effect has accelerated at an unprecedented rate. The science is pretty firm now, with the vast majority of climate scientists agreeing there is a rapidly accelerating problem. Yet I am often appalled at how many of people not only don't believe the science, they think it is merely a matter of politics, a sort of left-wing hoax perpetrated by the Democrats. (If Ronald Reagan had produced An Inconvenient Truth instead of Al Gore, would the right-wingers take global warming more seriously today? I wonder.)

James Hoggan, in his book Climate Cover-Up, presents a well-researched argument that from the 1980s onward, there has been an organized campaign on the part of Big Oil and Big Coal to convince us that global warming is a hoax. (Remember that notorious ad trying to convince us that excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was good?) I'm not normally into conspiracy theories, but this one is pretty convincing. Unfortunately, a lot of people have bought that argument, which delayed us doing anything about changing our lifestyles or lowering our carbon footprints. But I think it is becoming pretty evident that global warming is real -- even if is does produce more snow sometimes. Next time you are shoveling the stuff, blame it on that melting arctic ice.

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3. Israeli Vegan Activist Rabbi Adam Frank Interviewed on Jewish Teachings on Veganism and Animal Issues

http://www.abolitionist-online.com/_06frank.html

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4. Review of A Sacred Duty in Vegetarians in Paradise Publication

A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World

Written, Produced, Directed, Photographed, and Narrated by Lionel Friedberg
Co-Produced by Richard Schwartz

Presented by Jewish Vegetarians of North America

Available free at http://www.jewishveg.com

Don't look behind you, Al Gore. You may have that Nobel Prize, but there's one area you haven't dared to broach: livestock production and the havoc it creates in the environment and with human health. If you do look behind you, you'll find Professor Richard Schwartz who has been delivering the message for many years in books like Judaism and Vegetarianism and Judaism and Global Survival.

But reading the message is not like seeing it on the screen as Gore learned with An Inconvenient Truth. Now Schwartz has found the person who can transfer to film the thoughts he and others have been trumpeting for years. The filmmaker is Lionel Friedberg, an award-winning documentary cinematographer and director.

In making the film, Friedberg interviewed prominent rabbis, environmentalists, and activists, but the emphasis was on A Sacred Duty of Jews to apply Jewish teachings in obtaining food, conserving natural resources, and protecting non-human creatures.

Although the film emphasizes Judaism and Jewish teachings, the information and call to action are universal. Among the rabbinical leaders participating are Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Haifa, and Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland.

A Sacred Duty begins and ends with a biblical statement from Deuteronomy 30:19 read by Theodore Bikel"

"I call heaven and earth today to bear witness against you today. I have placed before you life and death, blessing and curse, and you shall choose life so that you may live, you and your offspring."

As Rabbi Yonassan Gershom tells viewers, this choice is represented symbolically. Life is seeing our planet from outer space as one globe with no national boundaries. Death is revealed in the mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb explosion. Both choices affect the entire planet. What happens in one part of the world affects everyone on earth.

The filmmaker chooses to focus on Israel because that tiny country is a microcosm of the earth itself. In this relatively small nation are many of the natural features found on the entire earth. A burgeoning population has led to pollution as revealed in scenes showing litter in the countryside as well as despoiled rivers, none safe for swimming or drinking water, and a Dead Sea that is rapidly dying, starved by a trickle of water from the Jordan River.

Like so many countries of the world, Israel has serious environmental problems, most noticeably air pollution. Quite startling is to learn that 17% of children have asthma. One in seven women in Haifa are plagued by breast cancer.

The heart of the film presents information that many vegetarians are cognizant of, the toll of animal agriculture on the health of the planet and the people inhabiting it. Referenced is the statement by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization that 18% of the greenhouse gases are from animal livestock production. The film also emphasizes the cruelty involved in factory farm food production in footage that makes necessary the cautionary note at the opening that there are graphic scenes that may be disturbing for some viewers.

Truly remarkable is the amount of information and ideas presented in this documentary that is slightly less than one hour in viewing time. Friedberg has assembled colorful footage that is highlighted by a stirring musical score composed and conducted by Andrew Keresztes

Combining his writing, photographic, and narrative skills, Friedberg has created a visual message that convincingly reveals that vegetarianism plays a vital role in alleviating global warming and pollution. A Sacred Duty emphasizes the need to apply Jewish values and teachings in the production of food and the utilization of natural resources. This film dares to tread where so many environmentalists fear to go--recognizing that using animals for food is wasteful and cruel and is responsible for the destruction of the planet and human health at the same time.

A Sacred Duty is a tribute to Professor Richard Schwartz who is a living incarnation of Jewish values. He has worked tirelessly and diligently for many years to bring the information in this film into public consciousness.

[Thanks to author, philosopher, and JVNA advisor Rabbi Yonassan Gershom for forwarding the link to this review to us.]

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5. Major Article on Judaism and Vegetarianism Now Available in Hebrew

Message from Israeli Rabbi and JVNA advisor Simcha Roth:

I have completed editing my article in Hebrew, and it is now available here: http://www.bmv.org.il/v/h-vegan.html. I would be grateful if you would pass this news on to anyone and everyone whom you think should know - and also asking them, in turn, to bring it to the attention of others.

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6. World has a Natural Debt Crisis as Well as a Financial Debt Crisis

GOING GREEN

The Natural Debt Crisis: Learning to Live Within Our Planet's Means

Time magazine 2/22/11

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2052930,00.html

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7. Animal Activist Argues for Support of Incremental Improvements in Conditions for Animals

Bruce Friedrich: Getting from A to Z: Why Animal Activists Should Support Incremental Reforms to Help Animals

[Bruce is a long-time Bruce Friedrich, peace, justice and animal rights advocate and author of The Animal Activist's Handbook]

Excerpt:

The Golden Rule: Considering the Animals' Point of View

Social justice advocates working for others' rights (as opposed to their own rights) must put themselves in the shoes of those on whose behalf they're working. And when we put ourselves in the animals' place, it is easy to see the importance of welfare reforms: If you were destined to be killed, wouldn't you still have a strong preference to spend your life in a large barn, rather than a tiny wire cage where you couldn't spread one wing for your entire life? Given the choice to have your throat slit open while you were completely conscious, or to be put to sleep first, wouldn't you strongly prefer the latter option? None of us would say, "Well, I'm just going to die anyway. Please only fight for my complete release!" And of course, if these were human beings, not one of us would say -- let them suffer; we want complete liberation! (...)

Second, meat eating continues in part because people are divorced from meat as living, breathing animals. On Oprah recently, Michael Pollan commented on the how Oprah's audience cringed to have to watch farmed animals at all, and he pointed out 1) that the scene that upset them was far from the worst they were supporting as meat eaters; and 2) that if they couldn't watch animals being slaughtered, they shouldn't eat meat. Basically, anything that draws attention to the fact that meat is animal corpses, and that these animals have interests, will be good for the animal rights movement.

Recent science backs up these intuitive observations, including a Kansas State study, which found that media attention on animal issues in the U.S. has had "significant, negative effects" on meat demand. Vegetarian author and researcher Norm Phelps elaborated on this point in an article for the European Vegetarian and Animal News Alliance: http://www.evana.org/index.php?id=63506

The Slave Analogy: Why Welfare Reformers are Abolitionists

Of course advocating for better conditions and for the end of an abusive system altogether are not mutually exclusive. In the case of slavery, it was reasonable to argue, "While we ought to abolish slavery altogether, until that happens, we shouldn't allow slave-owners to whip and rape slaves." Any abolitionist who seriously suggested at the time "the worst slave owners were those who were kind to their slaves" would have been laughed at (derisively)....

The full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-friedrich/getting-from-a-to-z-why-p_b_825612.html

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8. An Orthodox Jew Explains Why He Is a Vegetarian

Dear Richard,

I can sum up "my" views regarding the relationship of Human Beings to non-Human life, nature and the environment simply.

[Of course, there are other valid paths to becoming a vegetarian.]

It is simple for me because I accept the following (Torah) axioms:

1) Ha'Shem (G-D) is the eternal, infinite, almighty. omniscient, all-merciful (compassionate/loving) Source of ALL there is.

2) HIS attribute of love motivates HIM to create a Being (Human by virtue of the DIVINE gift of free moral choice) less than HIM (necessarily) to choose to (lovingly) seek HIM. Any student of psychology will affirm that "love" is a benevolent emotional relationship chosen between two FREE participants.

3) Nature and the animal world are created to be Man's assistants in this quest. The non-Human creatures are (like Man) BEINGS not THINGS. They (like Man) belong ONLY to G-D. Each (like Man) has a unique soul and mission, which will be fulfilled. ALL (like Man) are rewarded by G-D for this service.

4) Humans are commanded to emulate G-D's attributes of loving kindness. mercy and compassion.

5) Man's survival has the highest priority in G-D's plan.

From the above, one may conclude that Man's behavior towards the animal world is explicitly/stringently dictated and regulated by the commandments just as it is towards his fellow men. Man may not act in a whimsical self-centered fashion towards non-Humans. Man must protect and conserve the world created for his benefit.

Man may take non-Human life ONLY IF it is necessary to ensure his survival. Humane methods are demanded by G-D. Failure to recognize these principles with the frivolous use of G-D's creatures as objects/commodities is cruel abuse. This is expressly forbidden and condemned by G-D. We do so at our peril.

Thank you Richard,

Jerry Terdiman

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9. French Vegetarian Man Seeks Soul Mate

Shalom Richard,

Here is a paragraph about me and the type of woman I'm looking for:

31-year-old French Jew, lives in Nice (south-east French city

by the sea near the Italian border), has been vegetarian for

fifteen years now, shomer Shabbat, is looking for 25-30 year-old Jewish woman in order to found a healthy,

vegetarian Jewish family.

Kol touv,

Guershom Le Boëtté

[If interested, please contact me, and I will pass your message on to Guershom.. Thanks.]

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10. Marvelous Video Spoof About Meat

http://vegan.com/blog/2011/02/26/youtube-ask-your-doctor-about-meat

Thanks to JVNA web coordinator Moida Genser for forwarding this link to me.

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