1/7/05 JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

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

1. Production of Foie Gras to Soon Be Banned in Israel

2. JVNA Bumper Sticker Slogan Sought

3. Nutrition Tip For the New Year

4. Conference To Improve Your Abilities to Help Animals

6. Material on the Asian Tsunami

a. Editor's comments: One possible response:
b. 'Mangroves Can Act as Shield Against Tsunami'
c. Mangroves destroyed largely for shrimp farming/aquaculture
d. Helping the Animals
e. Did animals sense the tsunami?
f. Statement by Robert Cohen on a Lesson From the Tsunami

7. Veggie Jews Vegan Dinner in New York City

8. Restaurant and Health-food-store Guide to New York City

9. Institute for Animals and Society Update - January 4, 2005

a. LEARN ABOUT ANIMAL RIGHTS ON LINE!
b. TWENTIETH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL COMPASSIONATE LIVING FESTIVAL
c. "EMPTY CAGES" PRESENTATIONS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE IAS WEBSITE
d. THE ANIMALS' PLATFORM

10. E-mail Study Program on Jewish Values Scheduled by "Hazon - Our Universal Vision"

Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer. [I actually already have enough material for another newsletter.]

[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

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1. Production of Foie Gras to Soon Be Banned in Israel

Force-feeding of geese to be illegal from April 1
January 04, 2005 Tevet 23, 5765
By Zafrir Rinat
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/522619.html

Force-feeding geese will become illegal on April 1, the Knesset Education Committee decided yesterday.

The High Court of Justice ruled 18 months ago that fattening geese by overfeeding them was illegal, agreeing with a petition by animal rights groups that the practice violates the law against cruelty to animals. The geese are force-fed to increase the size of their livers. Israel is one of the world's largest exporters of fois gras.

However, the court gave the farmers until March 31 to either develop alternative careers or prove that force-feeding the geese does not violate the cruelty law.

Yesterday, the Knesset committee refused an Agriculture Ministry request to extend that deadline, meaning that as of April 1, it will be illegal to force-feed geese. The ministry argued that the farmers should be allowed to force-feed the birds using by uncruel methods. [The last sentence is unclear.]

© Copyright 2005 Haaretz. All rights reserved

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2. JVNA Bumper Sticker Slogan Sought

Forwarded message:

Hello ,

My name is Ms Paris Harvey and I am the moderator of Bite Back Vegan Society and I also happen to be the volunteer coordinator for the international group Christian Vegetarian Association.

Most of all I am an avid demonstrator, in the fight for animals rights. I frequently demonstrate with my Body TV and bull horn if needed speaking out against all the different issues revolving around the horrors in factory farming, vivisection, foie gras, etc. Pete Cohon here in the San Francisco Bay Area , where I live, suggested I contact you to see if you can help me with a Jewish message bumper sticker.

You see, recently I became the owner of what I call the "Raw Truth Truck".

It is a truck with a very large cube on the back that displays interchangeable posters of these cruelties that I drive through at demos and in front of large crowds.

Sitting in traffic, the drivers behind and along side of me are forced to read the verbiage, posters and bumper stickers...that also list websites for further information.

On a small strip in the back of the truck bumper I have 2 Christian bumper stickers that speak to the Christian contingency, but I would really like to also add one that speaks to the Jewish people as they ride along side me.

For ex: the Christian ones say "What would Jesus eat Today?" and "Vegetarianism honors Gods creation" both listing the website www.christianveg.com . I want to not exclude any train of thought/belief. In fact I plan to add as many religions as possible eventually

Do you have such a sticker? where could I get one? What if I made one using a term that you are comfortable with?

This would be seen by many people.

I am not a violent activist, in case you are wondering. and the truck is a very up to date and modern one. The signs were bought and paid for by PETA and IDA. They are 4' by 10'.

Please let me know if you can help in this regard.
Thank you,

Paris Harvey
Bite Back Vegan Society
925 788 8296 (PST)
bitebackvegan@yahoo.com/bumper sticker

Join bitebackvegan@yahoogroups.com for updates, calendars, articles
Now look at this...no frills "Meet your Meat" video with Alec Baldwin
http://www.meetyourmeat.com/indexvid.asp?video=mym2002

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3. Nutrition Tip For the New Year

Forwarded message from the NotMilkman Robert Cohen

New Year's Resolution: Eat More Rainbows

Your new year's resolution should be to eat one more rainbow each day than you did last year. Legend suggests that a pot of gold can be found at the end of a rainbow. That treasure can be cashed in to preserve your good health and ward off future disease.

Society considers that which is white, to be pure. Such a belief can be deceptive. By shining white light through a prism, one is instantly blessed with the hidden beauty and complex nature of our universe. A pure white beam of light reveals its inner essence.

Most people can name the seven visible colors of the rainbow's spectrum. Violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Of course, there are two other colors, often forgotten, but always present, ultraviolet and infra-red.

Animals and insects feel these colors. Plants sense them too. While we lack the same receptors and are blind to their existence, our handicap cannot negate their influence.

The ultras and infras of plants are magical substances, indeed! They include plant chemicals, or phyto chemicals, such as isoflavones and bioflavinoids. Science teaches us that plants protect themselves from attack with their own secretions and chemical messengers. Vegetables repel insects who would eat them, and blossoms attract other insects with a perfume so that their pollens can be spread and their species self-propagate. Plants protect themselves from too much heat, or cold, or wind, or too much moisture, maintaining their own good health with their specialized hormones. Plants can cure their own sicknesses and cancers by secreting and bathing themselves with these enchanted
essences.

When we eat the plants, we are similarly protected. Modern science has confirmed the centuries-old traditions and lore from cultures that refined the sacred techniques of using
foods as medicine. We have often heart that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Such wisdom!

Today's Perfect Rainbow

Eat foods of color. The perfect color can be found right in the middle of our rainbow, the color green.

Eat green for wellness.

In the 1980s, scientists first began to explore how phytochemicals prevent cancers. A great amount of emphasis was placed upon the fruits and vegetables that contain vibrant colors. The best known of these wonder drugs was recognized as beta carotene. That's what gives carrots their bright orange hue.

In the 1990s, scientists at the University of Minnesota (Steinmetz, et. al.) categorized different groups of fruits and vegetables demonstrating life giving, disease fighting qualities. In doing so, they defined some of those magic colors, and the phytochemicals so contained within those pigments.

The violet, indigo and blues of the plant kingdom include phenols and dithiolthiolnines contained in eggplant, cruciferous vegetables, grapes, plums, and grains.

Eat onions and shallots, leeks, scallions and garlic for cancer-fighting alliums. Those green leafy vegetables contain flavonoids, and inositol is found in beans. Green fruits and veggies contain phenols, and plant sterols, protease inhibitors and saponins.

Yellow limonines contained in citrus fruit and squash have also been identified as cancer fighters, as have the orange carotines in carrots, and my all-time favorite vitamin pill, the cantaloupe. Balancing out the rainbow's spectrum would be the red phenols in peppers, radishes, and tomatoes.

Tens of thousands of unique substances have been identified, and there are still plant hormones and enzymes yet to be discovered.

Remarkably, the one plant containing the greatest amount of these wonderful phytochemicals is the soybean. The tiny white soybean contains coumarins, flavonoids, inositol, isoflavones, lignans, phenols, plant sterols, protease inhibitors, saponins, and Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils.

So, on new year's eve, visit your local produce store and treat yourself and family to a rainbow. Make this your daily tradition never to be broken.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

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4. Conference To Improve Your Abilities to Help Animals

Forwarded Message:

PETA's Helping Animals 101 Conference Is Coming!

[This is for informational purposes only, and is not meant as an endorsement of all of PETA’s philosophy or actions. I hope that PETA’s very responsible behavior re the Postville slaughterhouse controversy will lead to a reconciliation that will lead to positive results for our imperiled planet and the people and animals on it.]

Here at PETA, we hear daily from people who feel saddened by animal abuse but helpless to do anything about it. I felt like that for years. And that's why we created our Helping Animals 101 conferences.

Please join us for a weekend in 2005. We want to share with you what we've learned over 25 years of activism.

HA101 takes place over two full days:

-Workshops and talks given by some of our best PETA staffers
-Information on everything from helping your neighbor's dog to writing a letter that really matters
-Videos, PETA merchandise, literature, posters, and a goodie bag stuffed with cruelty-free products
-Fabulous meals
-The chance to meet and get to know both PETA staffers, who can help you in the future, and like-minded folks from your local area.

You may want to change your local animal shelter. Or perhaps you're ready to do some demos, but you don't know how to get the media to show up. Maybe you're just sick of feeling helpless and hopeless—we've all been there. Whether you have 40 hours a week to help animals or just 40 minutes: You CAN make a difference, and you'll feel better each day because of it.

I've been hearing from you for months now, asking for more conferences in 2005. Thanks for contacting me? You got it! Here's our 2005 schedule:

San Francisco, California: February 5-6
Washington, D.C.: March 5-6
Tempe, Arizona: April 9-10
Chicago, Illinois: May 14-15
Cincinnati, Ohio: June 4-5
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: July 16-17
Miami, Florida: October 22-23
Houston, Texas: November 5-6

Last year, we had many participants regret not bringing their friends, spouses, or coworkers. To help avoid that in 2005, I've arranged for some special discounts:

San Francisco
Register online by January 3 and you can bring a friend for free.
Register online by January 17 you can bring a friend for half-price.

Washington, D.C.
Register online by January 17 and you can bring a friend for free.
Register online by January 31 and you can bring a friend for half-price.

All Other Cities in 2005
Register online up to 90 days in advance and you can bring a friend for free.
Register online up to 60 days in advance and you can bring a friend for half-price.

All Conferences in 2005
If you're a starving student, we want to help you attend! Students of any age pay only $35 at all conferences.

Please set aside two days next year to change your life. I know from experience when I attended the first HA101 back in 2003, I owned a restaurant, and while I was doing my best to help animals, I didn't feel very effective. After two days with the amazing PETA staff, I flew back home and immediately changed my daily life. I started to feel like I was really making a difference, and that's a great feeling! Now here I am, working full-time for PETA and happier than I've ever been (if you want to know what it's like to work for Ingrid Newkirk, just pull me aside during a conference break). You may not want to sell your business like I did, but I do hope you'll join us for a weekend so you can get a good dose of inspiration and motivation. You won't regret it!

See you next year,
Alex Bury
Helping Animals 101 Coordinator
AlexB@peta.org

P.S. Be sure and forward this message to all your friends!

To register online:
www.HelpingAnimals101.com

This email was sent by:PETA
501 Front St Norfolk, VA, 23510, United States

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6. Material on the Asian Tsunami

a. Editor’s comments: One possible response:

Along with many others, I have been shocked and saddened by the widespread loss of life and devastation left in the wake of the Asian tsunami. I certainly do not have any answers to the many questions raisd by this tragic event.

However, perhaps some good may result if a recognition that if projections by the leading climatologists occur, we may look back at the tsunami as a relative picnic, and this leads to positive actions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group composed of the world's leading climate scientists is predicting an average temperature increase of 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 100 years. Since there already is melting of glaciers and polar icecaps, this temperature increase could result in many serious threats to humanity, including massive flooding. Even the conservative group Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP America; http://www.blogger.com/app/) is urging that major steps be taken to reduce global climate change.

As I have indicated before, I believe that Jewish groups could do a tremendous kiddush Hashem by, along with others, showing how the application of basic Jewish values can reduce global warming and other current threats to our imperiled planet.

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b. 'Mangroves Can Act as Shield Against Tsunami'
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/12/28/stories/2004122805191300.htm
By G. Venkataramani
Dec. 28, 2004
© Copyright 2000 - 2004 The Hindu

CHENNAI, DEC. 27. "Tsunami is a rare phenomenon. Though we cannot prevent the occurrence of such natural calamities, we should certainly prepare ourselves to mitigate the impact of the natural fury on the population inhabiting the coastal ecosystems. Our anticipatory research work to preserve mangrove ecosystems as the first line of defense against devastating tidal waves on the eastern coastline has proved very relevant today.

The dense mangrove forests stood like a wall to save coastal communities living behind them," said M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai.

The mangroves in Pitchavaram and Muthupet region acted like a shield and bore the brunt of the tsunami.

The impact was mitigated and lives and property of the communities inhabiting the region were saved.

"When we started the foundation 14 years ago, we initiated the anticipatory research programme - a two-pronged strategy - to meet the eventualities of sea level rise due to global warming. One is to conserve and regenerate coastal mangroves along the eastern coast of the country, and the second is transfer of salt-tolerant genes from the mangroves to selected crops grown in the coastal regions.

It is now found that wherever the mangroves have been regenerated, especially in the Orissa coast, the damage due to tsunami is minimal," he said.

Livelihood options

The MSSRF will soon be publishing a scientific document `Tsunami and mangroves' highlighting the need to conserve and rehabilitate mangroves as the frontline defense against tidal forces.

snip

c. Mangroves distroyed largely for shrimp farming/aquaculture

[EXCERPT: In 1991, thousands of people were killed when a tsunami (large wave caused by an underwater earthquake) hit the coast in an area of Bangladesh where shrimp farms had destroyed all the mangrove swamps. (complete article follows)]

http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/shrimps.htm

Tropical Shrimp Farms

Those who eat shrimp in the world, they are eating the blood, sweat and livelihood of the poor people of the Third World. -- Banka Behary Das, India

For many farmers one acre of land means the difference between life and death. -- Jacob Raj

We've lost our rice lands, our incomes and our buffaloes, what do we have left? -- Kantamma, elder and community leader, Nellore, India

What is tragic is that we are the victims and were arrested for defending our rights. Each shrimp is a teardrop that belongs to one of us. That is how much we suffered. -- Azmi Jalil

It is a brutal process by which the protein is extracted from the poor people and the land which is owned by the poor people and this extraction is to feed the bloated stomachs of the rich. This is certainly a violation of the right to life. -- Jacob Raj

If there are no mangrove forests, then the sea will have no meaning. It is like having a tree with no roots, for the mangroves are the roots of the sea. -- Fisherman on the coast of the Andaman Sea, Trang Province, Southern Thailand

When Yadfon first told me about the importance of seagrasses, I thought they were crazy. Now I'm telling others that seagrass, coral, mangroves, crabs and turtles are all very important. You can't have corals without the mangrove forest. You can't have crabs and fish without seagrass. -- Bung Hed Hawa, village leader, Ban Chao Mai, Thailand

There were cyclones, but not like there are now - the waves were usually stopped by the forest. After the 1960s, the deforestation increased, and so did the intensity of the cyclones. -- Mohamed Ibrahim, village elder, Bangladesh

Tropical shrimp farming is the latest get-rich-quick scam to hit the Third World. There are two easy ways to riches in Ecuador - cocaine and shrimps. People suffer, communities are devastated, ecosystems destroyed.

Shallow coastal waters are important ecosystems, especially mangrove swamps. Mangrove swamps are some of the world's most important ecosystems, only exceeded by tropical rain forests and coral reefs. Mangrove swamps are inhabited by migratory birds, sea turtles, manatees, and dolphins. 75% of the tropic's commercial fish species spend part of their life cycles in mangrove swamps. Loss of the mangroves has ironically led to a drop in the wild population of shrimp as their nurseries are lost. Mangrove swamps act as a buffer for large waves, the impact of cyclones on the coastal regions of Bangladesh has been devastating following the large-scale destruction of mangrove swamps.

In 1991, thousands of people were killed when a tsunami (large wave caused by an underwater earthquake) hit the coast in an area of Bangladesh where shrimp farms had destroyed all the mangrove swamps. In 1960, when a tsunami of similar magnitude hit the same area, there was not a single fatality.

snip
------------------------------------------------
Web Resources
see: http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/shrimps.htm
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References

Robert Allen, How to Save the World: Strategy for World Conservation, Kogan Page, 1980

Ashash Ambasta, Wetlands: The Endangered Ecological Bridge, Changemakers.net Journal, October 1998

Jonathan Atkinson, The blue revolution, Ethical Consumer, June/July 1999

Marcus Colchester & Larry Lohmann (eds), The Struggle for Land and the Fate of the Forests, World Rainforest Movement/The Ecologist/Zed Books, 1993

snip


d. Helping the Animals

Forwarded message:

Dear friends,

Really shocking and frightening to say the truth.

The domestic animals are worst hit mostly the cattle and dogs but not the street ones. This is my immediate conclusion. Many of them left their pets behind while in some areas dead cows and goats can be seen tied to poles and trees. How helpless these beings were, not even given a chance to try and flee the sea's fury!

I am trying to assess and grapple with the situation in my locality and move on to other areas. As I can see it is huge task and needs all your support morally and physically first. Immediately the animals that escaped or abandoned should be helped first, the dead buried while others rescued.

Even after three days is over I am still not in a position where to start from really , it is immense. I would love to associate and do my bit though I am pressed with many difficult cases. And any help would be much appreciated and will promise to give to the needy animals. I will keep you abreast of the situation and our field work.

With love to you all.
Pradeep Kumar Nath,
Hon.President,
Visakha SPCA,
26.15.200,
Main Road, Visakhapatnam - 530 001,
Andra Pradesh, India
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Dear friends: I know some of you would like to also help the animals suffering from this tragedy and it is next to impossible to find out how. Please note the following extremely compassionate organizations (my friends!). They are getting little press (send directly by check to India, its perfectly safe, or contact me for sending U.S. tax deductible donation here in the states). Please take care and feel free to forward, thanks! Eileen

In India

These are registered tax deductible organizations (in India) and they can deposit the checks directly into their bank accounts as they have the necessary government registrations or contact me (eileenweintraub@comcast.net) for details about donating to them by sending a tax deductible check here in the states.

Visakha SPCA
www.ahimsatx.org/vspca
c/o Mr. Pradeep Nath
26-15-200 Main Road
Visakhapatnam
530001, India
Phone: 91-891-564759
vspcadeep@yahoo.co.in

Blue Cross of India
www.bluecross.org.in
c/o Dr. Chinny Krishna
1-A Eldams Rd.
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600018, India;
91-44-234-1399;
fax 91-44-234-9801;
drkrishna@aspick.com
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Dear friends: I know some of you would like to also help the animals suffering from this tragedy and it is next to impossible to find out how. Please note the following 3 extremely compassionate organizations. The easiest way would be to donate euros through Paypal as we did (one euro = 1.35 dollars) for the Phuket dogs www.soidogfoundation.org but please note the needs of the shelters in India (my friends!) that are getting little press (send directly by check to India, its perfectly safe, or contact me for sending U.S. tax deductible donation here in the states). Please take care and feel free to forward, thanks! Eileen


e. Did animals sense the tsunami?

By GEMUNU AMARASINGHE

YALA NATIONAL PARK, Sri Lanka (AP) - Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka expressed surprise Wednesday that they found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the weekend's massive tsunami - indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground.

An Associated Press photographer who flew over Sri Lanka's Yala National Park in an air force helicopter saw abundant wildlife, including elephants, buffalo, deer, and not a single animal corpse.

Floodwaters from the tsunami swept into the park, uprooting trees and toppling cars onto their roofs - one red car even ended up on top of a huge tree - but the animals apparently were not harmed and may have sought out high ground, said Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, whose Jetwing Eco Holidays ran a hotel in the park.

"This is very interesting. I am finding bodies of humans, but I have yet to see a dead animal,'' said Wijeyeratne, whose hotel in the park was totally destroyed in Sunday's tidal surge.

"Maybe what we think is true, that animals have a sixth sense,'' Wijeyeratne said.

snip


f. Statement by Robert Cohen on a Lesson From the Tsunami

Man-made Tsunamis Begin as Ripples

When a tsunami is born, it gently rocks boats out at sea. In its youth, a tsunami rushes towards shore seeking shallow harbor water. As the tsunami matures, its power grows so that a tsunami can alter landscapes. Natural disasters of this sort are painful lessons to be
learned by one generation, and are often forgotten by the next. Such cataclysmic events exist to repeat themselves, for that is the nature of our living planet.

Last night, I made the resolution to work harder this year. Each time we go the extra yard in helping others, we create tiny ripples in an enormous ocean. Please observe closely the next time you throw a rock into a lake or large body of water. It's always a bulls-eye! Ripples continue long after the primary event.

Create enough ripples, and one makes waves. Resolve to make waves. Wavemakers are often unpopular, but a man who has never made a wave has turn his own back on human potential, obligation, and destiny. In a sense, he has died before he has been born. Together we can erode ignorance, and change our landscape for the better.

There will forever be ripples and tsunamis. Learn to channel their power for the good of all. Have a very happy and healthy new year.

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com

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7. Veggie Jews Vegan Dinner in New York City

Announcing Veggie Jews' 1/11/05 Dinner in New York City

[PLEASE FORWARD TO RELEVANT GROUPS AND CALENDARS]

We are pleased to announce that, thanks once again to volunteer host Lynn, Veggie Jews will present it's next vegan dinner in New York City on Tuesday evening, January 11, 2005, when we will gather at Vegetarian Paradise 2, 144 West 4th Street, at 7 p.m.

Vegetarian Paradise 2 is a reasonably priced, vegan, Chinese restaurant with a huge selection of veggie meats, glutens and tofu dishes as well as excellent tasting, high quality food in general, located on West 4th Street between MacDougal and 6th Avenue. We will be ordering from the menu.

If you will attend, please reply to veggiejews@cyberonic.com no later than 7 p.m. (Eastern Time) on Monday evening, January 10, 2005. Walk-ins will only be accommodated on a space-available basis. So, to insure yourself a seat, reservations are strongly recommended.

For information about Vegetarian Paradise 2, call (212) 260-7130. (Please note that, although this restaurant is vegan, it is not certified kosher.) For information on Veggie Jews, please go to www.groups.yahoo.com/group/veggiejews .

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8. Restaurant and Health-food-store Guide to New York City

Forwarded message from the VivaVegie Society:

VivaVegie has just completed an extensive updating of its restaurant and health-food-store guide to New York City.

It is now posted as a pdf file at: http://www.vivavegie.org/vvs/nycguide/index.html

We ask everyone on this list, if they have a moment, to download the file and give us feedback.

As always, we are grateful to receive corrections to what we've posted. Stores and restaurants are constantly going in business and out of business and changing hours of operation and even phone numbers.

We welcome everyone's two cents - really !

Thank you, volunteer Jessica Chavez for calling nearly all of the businesses listed in the guide to confirm contact (and open hours) information. That was quite a task!

Thanks,
Pamela Rice

**************
This E-mail newsletter is a service of the VivaVegie Society, an all-volunteer-run nonprofit, 501(c)3, educational organization. http://www.vivavegie.org/terms/

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9. Institute for Animals and Society Update - January 4, 2005

a. LEARN ABOUT ANIMAL RIGHTS ON LINE!

Sign up now to learn more about an on-line class in animal rights taught by Kim W. Stallwood, executive director, of the Institute for Animals and Society. The IAS, in conjunction with the Community College of Baltimore County (MD), will offer the three-credit class, " public www.animalsandsociety.org and click on the left hand side button, "Learn About Animal Rights Online."

b. SAVE THE DATE FOR THE TWENTIETH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL COMPASSIONATE LIVING FESTIVAL OCTOBER 7-9, 2005!

Make a note today for October 7-9, 2005 for the Twentieth Annual International Compassionate Living Festival! This unique conference, which will be produced again by the IAS and the Culture and Animals Foundation (CAF), takes as its theme "The Power of One. The Strength of the Many." The conference will be again at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center, which is close to the Raleigh Durham Airport (NC). Please watch for further announcements.

c. "EMPTY CAGES" PRESENTATIONS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE IAS WEBSITE

Visit www.animalsandsociety.org to access 14 presentations made at "Empty Cages: The Nineteenth Annual International Compassionate Living Festival." At this conference, which was organized by the IAS and CAF, activists, experts, and scholars developed "The Animals' Platform" - a manifesto of animal issues to advance in the public policy arena.

d. THE ANIMALS' PLATFORM

In addition to the discussion at the "Empty Cages" conference, the IAS also received more than 50 detailed comments on the draft "Animals' Platform" from individuals and organizations. Presently, this feedback is under careful review for possible inclusion in a future platform draft. We will publish this revised draft as soon as possible and open a second period of public comment. Finally, "The Animals' Platform (2005-2006)" will be produced and a campaign launched to secure individual and organizational endorsement. With movement-wide support, animal advocates will mobilize citizens to question candidates for public office and elected representatives about their positions on the issues addressed through to the November 2006 election.

Thereafter, the IAS will produce updated and revised editions on a two-year cycle timed to coincide with the US presidential and off-year elections.

Although nonprofit organizations are prohibited by law from supporting individual candidates, we can and should encourage the increasing number of voters who care about animals to keep the animals' interests in mind when deciding which candidate to support.

Kim W. Stallwood
Executive Director
Institute for Animals and Society
3500 Boston Street, Suite 325
Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
(410) 675-4566
E-mail: kim.stallwood@animalsandsociety.org
http://www.animalsandsociety.org/

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10. E-mail Study Program on Jewish Values Scheduled by "
Vision"

Forwarded message from Yosef hakohen, author and JVNA advisor:

This is a one-time mailing to introduce you to: "Hazon - Our Universal Vision." Hazon is an e-mail study-program based in Jerusalem which explores the universal vision of the Torah for the Jewish people, humankind, and all creation. Within the Torah is not only a vision, but a path of mitzvos - ethical and sacred deeds. In this spirit, Hazon also explores the mitzvos of the Torah and how they help us to fulfill our vision.

We have just completed a series of letters on the mitzvah of tzedekah - the Divine mandate to share our resources with those in need. In this series, we also cited Torah sources which indicate that all peoples are obligated in the mitzvah of tzedekah. An archive of our letters on tzedekah appears on our website: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/

For information on how to join the mailing list of Hazon -- Our Universal Vision, please visit our website. When you contact us, please include your name along with your e-mail address.

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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.

1/5/05 Special JVNA Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

This Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter is devoted to a debate on "Judaism and Vegetarianism," in terms of two articles by rabbis that just appeared in the Canadian Jewish News (CJN). It includes my comments on the articles and how we can build upon the dialogue that the two articles represent in terms of promoting vegetarianism and related issues in the Jewish community and beyond.

It has the following items:

1. Article #1: Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat

2. Article #2: Food for Thought on Judaism and Vegetarianism

3. My Comments on the Articles

4. Letter To The Editor by Syd Baumel

5. My Letter To The Editor

6. Suggestions on Building on the Two Articles for Jewish Vegetarian Outreach

[Materials in brackets, preceded by RS, like this [RS ] 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.

As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,
Richard

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1. Article #1: Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=5223
By RABBI DAVID BAUMAN

With only four days until the fast of Tisha b'Av, my family received an invitation for Shabbat lunch at a friend's house. Our friend posed the question in the following way: "We would love to have you over for Shabbat lunch this week, but you should know that our custom is to eat fleishig [meat] on the Shabbat during the nine days [before Tisha b'Av]. Are you comfortable with this?"

The conversation was a commentary on the Jewish consumption of meat. During the nine-day period that opens the month of Menachem Av, Jews refrain from consuming meat products as a mourning ritual recalling the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem. The Mishnah tractate Ta'anit teaches us that "when Av comes in, gladness must be diminished" (4:6). We diminish our gladness during this period of national mourning by not eating meat or drinking wine, except on Shabbat and a festive meal (Shulchan Aruch O.H. 651:9). This Mishnah conveys an overriding principle of Judaism: holiness is obtained by restricting our behaviour.

This lesson is highlighted on the festival of Shavuot, when we again refrain from eating meat. The Mishnah Berurah (a 19th-century commentary on the Shulchan Aruch by Rabbi Israel Meir Ha-Kohen, the Chofetz Chaim) offers an explanation, by way of a midrash, that the dietary laws were established at the time of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. When the Israelites came home from Mount Sinai, they could not eat meat because they had none that was prepared in the appropriate kosher manner. To prepare new meat properly would take too long. They had no choice but to eat dairy foods (Shulchan Aruch O.H. 494:2, Mishnah Berurah 12). Having experienced God's revelation at Mount Sinai, the Israelites yearned to continue that experience after God revealed his instructions. Therefore, they restricted their behaviour until they could act in the appropriate fashion. Rabbi Ismar Schorsch supports this understanding by teaching an enduring lesson of Halachah (Jewish Law): "the culinary practice of refraining from meat products is that dairy products are less self-indulgent. We restrain ourselves from the moment we receive the Torah, for the essence of the Torah is self-restraint" (Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, Parashat Hashavuah Shavuot 5763).

The giving of the Torah sets the stage for later practice, in which Judaism ritualizes the ebb and flow of the Jewish year by degrees of self-indulgence. The Torah is a blueprint for the ideal society and sets forth the paradigm for human living. God said, "See I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the earth. [I give you] all the green plants for food." (Genesis 1:29-30, NJPS translation). The ideal way for humans to obtain their nourishment is through a vegetarian lifestyle.

But God realizes that the world is not ideal and is in need of repair. This is evident from the fact that God gives permission for humans to eat meat after he has destroyed the world with a great flood. The Torah records, "Every creature that lives shall be yours to eat. You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it" (Genesis 9:3-4). Ideally, the world we live in should be a replica of the Garden of Eden, in which a vegetarian lifestyle represented the purity and wholeness of the Heavenly Kingdom. However, after the flood, God permits us to consume meat in the realization that the world is not the Garden of Eden. The goal to re-inhabit the Garden of Eden and return to a vegetarian lifestyle remains, and thus the permission to eat meat is laden with restrictions.

In his book Halakhic Man, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik talks about the ideal religious person, and the reasoning mirrors God's thinking behind the permissibility to eat meat. "The ideal of halakhic man is the redemption of the world not via a higher world but via the world itself. If a Jew lives in accordance with the Halakhah, then he shall find redemption" (Halakhic Man, pp. 37-38). Halachah is a way for us to live our lives in this world. It infuses our existence with meaning, alleviating mourning with meaning and elevating our celebrations to a level of holiness.

Halachah enables us to celebrate life and God through Jewish living. The Mishnah Berurah discusses the consumption of meat products as a practical way to honour Shabbat: "One should make it delightful by eating large fish, heads of garlic and a dish of a beet-like plant. These foods were distinguished in their time; by the same token, people should make the day delightful by the food and drink they consider delicious. Since most people find their main delight in meat, wine and sweets, one should lavish with meat, wine and sweets according to one's means" (Shulchan Aruch O.H. 242:1; M.B. 1-2). These comments direct us to make Shabbat special. Eating meat and drinking wine are not the only ways to do so, but they are the most common.

Our tradition's reason for indulging in these delicacies is religious and spiritual. Our rabbis referred to the time period between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av as "Bein HaMitzarim," between the straits. The world events of the last four years remind us, the Jewish community, that we are still bein hamitzarim. Meat products are the ultimate of indulgence, both in taste and in cost. Therefore, they remind us of our need to celebrate life and the goodness of God's world. This is why my wife enthusiastically accepted our friend's invitation for a fleishig lunch on Shabbat during the nine days preceding Tisha b'Av.

Rabbi David Bauman is assistant rabbi at Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda Synagogue.

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2. Article #2: Food for Thought on Judaism and Vegetarianism
http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=5207
By RABBI MICHAEL SKOBAC

The Jewish Vegetarians of North America recently published their "Top 10 Reasons for Being a Kosher Vegetarian." First on the list: "Two words - buttered challah!" I welcomed this moment of levity about an issue that often generates a tremendous amount of passion on both sides of the table. When the plates are cleared, though, it seems to me that there are some compelling Jewish reasons for shifting our diets toward vegetarianism.

Understanding the Torah's portrayal of both the beginning and climax of history is helpful in formulating a Jewish perspective on the issue of vegetarianism. Man's original diet in the Garden of Eden did not include the flesh of animals. "And God said: 'Behold I have given you every herb-yielding seed which is upon the face of 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)

When God led the Jewish people out of Egypt in their journey toward the Promised Land, He sustained them for 40 years without meat on a diet of manna from heaven. Based on these two passages, Rabbi Isaac Arama asserted in his Akedat Yitzchak (15th century) that the ideal human diet would be vegetarian.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the chief rabbi of pre-state Israel, wrote about vegetarianism ultimately emerging as the human standard in the idyllic Messianic future. His tract A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace views the permission given to mankind to consume meat as a concession that would be transcended in the future. To support this, he cites the passage: "I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; I will also banish the bow and sword, and war from the land." (Hosea 2:20)
Rav Kook's successor, Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, wrote that "Jews will move increasingly to vegetarianism out of their deepening knowledge of what their tradition commands." The ethical treatment of animals in Judaism is primarily an issue of human responsibility rather than one of animal rights. The Bible prohibits "tzaar baalei chaim" - causing any needless pain to animals. The Torah also contains numerous injunctions that govern how we treat our animals, including the prohibition against plowing with two different sized species (Deuteronomy 22:10), the requirement to feed our animals before we eat (Deuteronomy 11:15) and the prohibition of muzzling animals employed to thresh our fields (Deuteronomy 25:4).

According to Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed, Rabbi Moshe Cordovero's Tomer Devorah and numerous other sources, the Torah's method of ritual slaughter was designed to kill animals as humanely and painlessly as possible. Unfortunately, the conditions under which animals are raised commercially for food production today (crowding, lack of fresh air, and painful shackling and hoisting prior to slaughter) routinely violates the prohibition of "tzaar baalei chaim." It is hardly consistent to abuse animals from birth and then only be concerned about minimizing their pain when we end their lives. Until these objectionable practices are cleaned up, the consumption of mistreated animals should be questioned.

Even more basic to Jewish values than compassion for animals is the primacy of human life. The ultimate value that Torah places on human life leads to the principle of pikuach nefesh - with three notable exceptions, we [may] violate every Jewish law whenever there is the possibility of saving a life. [That is, no Jewish law should stand in the way of trying to save a life, other than the laws forbidding murder, sexual immorality, and idol worship.] The biblical directive to "carefully guard your souls" (Deuteronomy 4:15) is understood as an urging to do everything possible to maintain our health.

The Talmud (Chulin 10a) even teaches us to be more concerned about the potential health risks of a food than whether it is kosher. Many people go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the kashrut of their food, but pay little attention to whether it may be unhealthy. Today, the critical role diet plays in health is well-known. Animal products high in saturated fats and cholesterol have been linked to heart disease, stroke and various cancers. The widespread use of growth hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals in the meat production industry pose additional health concerns. Research has shown the positive relationship between vegetarian diets and longevity. This should certainly affect our responsibility to carefully weigh the costs and health benefits of everything that we consume.

Humans are also charged to care for and maintain the earth's environment (Kohelet Rabbah 7:28) and Jewish law strictly prohibits needlessly wasting or destroying anything that has potential value (baal tashchit). Ecologists have demonstrated the inefficiency of using so much of the earth's resources to support meat-centred diets, not to mention the huge amounts of waste and pollution that are by-products of modern meat production. And lest we forget, there are still countless people in the world today who suffer from malnutrition and starvation. Might the limited amounts of land and water available feed more people if they were used for growing grains and other crops rather than raising beef cattle?

I don't know if these issues necessitate the total elimination of meat from our diets. But it seems clear to me that Jews who seek to order their lives according to the teachings of our religion need to at least give some serious thought to these questions.

Rabbi Michael Skobac is education director with Jews for Judaism in Toronto.

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3. My Comments on the Articles

As someone who has long been trying to get a respectful dialogue on vegetarianism onto the Jewish agenda, I am very pleased that the Canadian Jewish News had these two very nice articles, and I hope that it leads to much additional discussion. Please help by writing letters to the editor of the CJN and by discussing the ideas in the articles. Thanks.

Comments on Rabbi Bauman's article

While I disagree with his conclusions, I think that Rabbi Bauman has written a very thoughtful, sensitive article. It is nice that he concedes that Judaism's ideal diet is vegetarian.

Rabbi Bauman argues that "Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat." However, he does not consider that there is little "celebration of life" for:

* The 50 billion land animals and the additional billions of fish and other sea creatures who are slaughtered annually worldwide for human consumption; most of the land animals and farmed fish suffer greatly during their lives;

* The millions of people who are afflicted and sometimes killed by heart disease, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases that have been linked to typical animal-based diets;

* The nearly a billion people who are chronically malnourished and undernourished and the estimated 20 million people who die annually due to hunger and its effects, while 70% of the grain produced in the United States and nearly 40% worldwide is fed to animals destined for slaughter; (of course, the production and consumption of animal products is not the sole cause of hunger, disease, pollution, and other societal problems, but it has a significant effect.)

* The many people who are adversely affected by the many negative environmental and social effects of animal-based agriculture.

In Talmudic times, many vegetarians were ascetics and many people considered it as a rejection of life. Today, vegetarianism is very life-affirming, There are many great tasting vegetarian foods today, and there are a wide variety of vegetarian recipe books. So, vegetarians need not feel that they are missing out on the enjoyments of life. Also, good health is a prerequisite for the fullest enjoyment of life, and vegetarian and vegan diets have great potential advantages for sustaining good health.

Rabbi Bauman indicates that "holiness is obtained by restricting our behavior," and he quotes Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, "the essence of Torah is self restraint." Well, vegetarianism, and even more so veganism, are certainly consistent with these important teachings.

Rabbi Bauman is of course correct in stating: "Halachah is a way for us to live our lives in this world. It infuses our existence with meaning, alleviating mourning with meaning and elevating our celebrations to a level of holiness." However, he does not consider how animal-based diets and modern intensive "livestock" agriculture often violate basic Halachic mandates to preserve our health, treat animals compassionately, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help needy people.

Rabbi Bauman state, "Meat products are the ultimate of indulgence, both in taste and in cost." He fails, however, to note the true cost of this indulgence, in terms of an epidemic of disease, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, rapid loss of biodiversity, widening water scarcities, global climate change, and many more societal threats.

Comments on Rabbi Skobac's article:

I do not think anyone will be surprised to read that I found Rabbi Skobac's article to be far more on target than Rabbi Bauman's article, although, as indicated above, I think Rabbi Bauman wrote a very nice article, considering that, in my opinion, he has a weak case. I think that Rabbi Skobac did an excellent, thorough, but succinct, job of summarizing the case for vegetarianism, based on Jewish values. I encourage you to please carefully read his article and forward it or your summary of it to others. Thanks.

For full disclosure, I should mention that I met Rabbi Skobac a few times, mainly on my visits to conferences in Toronto, and we have had some nice chats.

Since much of what is in Rabbi Skobac's article has been discussed in previous JVNA newsletters and in my articles, I want to just comment on three article segments below.

1) "It is hardly consistent to abuse animals from birth and then only be concerned about minimizing their pain when we end their lives. Until these objectionable practices are cleaned up, the consumption of mistreated animals should be questioned." Please consider this in terms of the tremendous attention being devoted to the Postville slaughterhouse, while the daily abuses of billions of animals on factory farms are being ignored.

2) "The Talmud (Chulin 10a) even teaches us to be more concerned about the potential health risks of a food than whether it is kosher. Many people go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the kashrut of their food, but pay little attention to whether it may be unhealthy." I think this is a tremendously important point. Once again, please consider this in terms of the Postville slaughterhouse issue, in which there is much discussion of the kashrut (kosher status) of the product, but no concern at all about its potentially very negative health effects.

3) "Humans are also charged to care for and maintain the earth's environment (Kohelet Rabbah 7:28) and Jewish law strictly prohibits needlessly wasting or destroying anything that has potential value (baal tashchit). Ecologists have demonstrated the inefficiency of using so much of the earth's resources to support meat-centred diets, not to mention the huge amounts of waste and pollution that are by-products of modern meat production. And lest we forget, there are still countless people in the world today who suffer from malnutrition and starvation. Might the limited amounts of land and water available feed more people if they were used for growing grains and other crops rather than raising beef cattle?"

Unfortunately, these issues are seldom considered, even by most environmentalists, so I think that it is great that Rabbi Skobac emphasized them, and I think that it is important that we help make others aware of the many negative effects of the production of meat and other animal products.

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4. Letter To The Editor by Syd Baumel

info@cjnews.com
Dear Editor:

When you combine the needless harm caused by animal farming (especially today's prevalent factory-style system) and the ease nowadays of following a healthful, kosher plant-based diet with the compelling Jewish teachings discussed by Rabbi Michael Skobac ("Food for thought on Judaism and vegetarianism"), surely the question must not be "why vegetarian or vegan?" but "why not?" To those who fear this would be biting off more than they can chew, a "flexitarian" diet, which allows for some cheating to appease the inner lox or chicken soup addict, is a great way to do a world of good for other creatures and the environment while discovering that a diet with few or no animal products can be completely satisfying for the body and elevating for the spirit.

Syd Baumel
Founder, Eatkind.net
Winnipeg
[Syd is a very valuable JVNA advisor whose editorial skills and very thoughtful analyses are much appreciated.]

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5. My Letter To The Editor

Editor, Canadian Jewish News
info@cjnews.com

Dear Editor:

As president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and author of the book "Judaism and Vegetarianism," I have been trying to get a respectful dialogue on vegetarianism onto the Jewish agenda for a long time. Hence, I want to commend you and Rabbis Bauman and Skobac for their recent very thoughtful discussions on Jewish teachings related to animal-based diets.

Rabbi Skobac provided an excellent summary of the Jewish case for vegetarianism. Rabbi Bauman makes many good points, but in arguing that "Judaism Celebrates Life By Eating Meat," he ignores those whose celebration of life is seriously reduced by the production and consumption of animal products: the millions of people who are afflicted by diseases linked to animal-based diets; the nearly a billion people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition, as 70 percent of US grain is fed to farmed animals to fatten them for slaughter; and the billions of animals who are cruelly treated on factory farms.

While he correctly asserts that Halachah "infuses our existence with meaning," Rabbi Bauman ignores that the production and consumption of animal products violate basic Halachic mandates to preserve our health, treat animals compassionately, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help needy people.

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6. Suggestions on Building on the Two Articles for Jewish Vegetarian Outreach

* Write to the Canadian Jewish News at info@cjnews.com;

* Encourage other Jewish weeklies to have similar debates;

* Forward the articles to others along with my comments or, better, your own comments;

* Use the materials in the articles, the letters above and my comments to write letters to editors

* Try to get the issues stressed in Rabbi Skobac's article, but overlooked in Rabbi Bauman's article onto discussions in your community, synagogue, and wherever else you have a potential impact.

* Send me additional suggestions.

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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.

Special JVNA Newsletter - Tu B'Shvat

Shalom everyone,

This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter is devoted to the upcoming Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat (starting at sundown on January 24 this year) and focuses largely on turning Tu B’Shvat into a Jewish Earth Day.

The newsletter has the following items:

1. ARTICLE: Turning Tu B'Shvat into a Jewish Earth Day

2. CELEBRATING TU B’SHVAT THIS YEAR [5765/ 2005]: Trees, Blessings, and Israel's Ecology

3. ARTICLE: Relating the Postville Slaughterhouse Controversy, Vegetarianism, and Tu B’Shvat

4. ARTICLE: Tu B'Shvat and Vegetarianism

5. Summary of Material for Articles and Letters on Turning Tu B’Shvat into a Jewish Earth Day

6. Resources on Tu B'Shvat and Environmental Issues

7. Sample Letter to the Editor Re Tu B’Shvat

8. Sample Letter to Rabbis Encouraging Them To Have Tu B’Shvat Events

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

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1. TURNING TU B’SHVAT INTO A JEWISH EARTH DAY
Richard H. Schwartz

Many contemporary Jews are increasingly looking at Tu B'Shvat (starting on the evening of January 24 this year) as a Jewish “Earth Day,” and using Tu B'Shvat seders as occasions to discuss how Jewish values can be applied to reduce many of today's ecological threats. This is more important than ever today in view of the many environmental problems currently facing the U.S., Israel and our planet.

Tu B’Shvat can be a great opportunity for education about environmental crises locally, nationally, and internationally, with perhaps a special emphasis in some congregations on environmental problems in Israel. It also could help energize our congregations and bring many Jews back to Jewish involvement.

When God created the world, he was able to say, "It is very good". Everything was in harmony as God had planned, the waters were clean, the air was pure. But what must God think about the world today?

What must He think when the rain He sends to nourish our crops is often acid rain due to the many chemicals poured into the air by our industries? when the ozone layer He provided to separate the heavens from the earth is being depleted at such a rapid rate? when the abundance of species of plants and animals He created are becoming extinct in tropical rain forests and other threatened habitats, before we have even cataloged them? when the fertile soil that He provided is rapidly being depleted and eroded? when the climatic conditions that He designed to meet our needs are threatened by global climate change? When there are already many indications of global climate change, such as melting glaciers and polar ice caps, severe storms, droughts, flooding, and insect migrations, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control, a group composed of many of the world’s leading climate scientists, is predicting an increase of 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years, a change that would have devastating consequences for the planet; when it is projected that the majority of the world’s people will live in areas with insufficient clean water in 30 years. When, along with Israel’s remarkable progress in many areas, it faces a severe water shortage, very badly polluted rivers, air pollution that causes thousands of deaths per year and 17 percent of its children to have asthma, rapidly declining open space, congested roads, and an inadequate mass transit system.

In 1993, over 1,670 scientists, including 104 Nobel laureates signed a "World Scientists' Warning To Humanity." Their introduction stated: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about."

These environmental problems are largely due to the fact that the ways of the world are completely contrary to Jewish values:

1. Judaism teaches that “The Earth is the Lord’s” (Psalms 24:1), and that we are to be partners with God in protecting the environment. But today's philosophy is that the earth is to be exploited for maximum profit, regardless of the long-range ecological consequences.

2. Judaism stresses bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value. By contrast, wastefulness in the United States is so great that, with less than 5% of the world's people we use about a third of the world's resources, and this has a major impact on pollution and resource scarcities.

It is urgent that Torah values be applied toward the solution of current environmental problems. This means, for example: an energy policy based not on dangerous energy sources, but on CARE (conservation and renewable energy), consistent with Jewish teachings on preserving the environment, conserving resources, creating jobs, protecting human lives, and considering future generations.

Tu B'Shvat is the New Year for Trees, the date on which the fate of trees is decided for the coming year. Hence, it is an ideal time to consider the rapid destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats. It is interesting that the prohibition bal tashchit ("thou shalt not destroy") is based on concern for fruit-bearing trees, since the Torah indicates that even in war time fruit trees may not be destroyed in order to build battering rams to attack an enemy fortification (deuteronomy 20:19.20). This prohibition was extended by the Jewish sages. It it forbidden to cut down even a barren tree or to waste anything if no useful purpose is accomplished (Sefer Ha-Chinuch 530). The sages of the Talmud made a general prohibition against waste: "Whoever breaks vessels or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs up a fountain, or destroys food violates the prohibition of bal tashchit" (Kiddushin 32a). In summary, bal tashchit prohibits the destruction, complete or incomplete, direct or indirect, of all objects of potential benefit to people. Imagine the impact if this prohibition was put into practice by society today!

It is customary to recite Psalm 104, as well as other psalms, on Tu B'Shvat. Psalm 104 indicates how God's concern and care extends to all creatures, and illustrates that God created the entire earth as a unity, in ecological balance. Since Jews are to imitate God’s positive attributes, and we are to be a “light unto the nations,” we could have a great impact by being a positive example by imitating God’s concern for all of creation.

Some possibilities for an "Environmental Earth Day" include

1. A Tu B'Shvat seder, with a discussion or guest speaker on an environmental topic;

2. A sermon on Jewish environmental teachings on the Shabbat morning before Tu B’Shvat;

3. an environmentally-conscious kiddush or lunch, with a minimum of waste and an environmental d’var Torah or guest speaker on the Shabbat before Tu B’Shvat;

It would be wonderful if Jews used Tu B’Shvat and activities related to this increasingly important holiday, as occasions to start to make tikkun olam, the repair and healing of the planet, a central focus in Jewish life today. This is essential to help move our precious, but imperiled, planet to a more sustainable path.

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There is much valuable background material on Jewish teachings on environmental issues and Tu B‘Shvat observances at the web site of COEJL (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life) (www.coejl.org).

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2. CELEBRATING TU B’SHVAT THIS YEAR [5765/ 2005]:
TREES, BLESSINGS, AND ISRAEL’S ECOLOGY
By Jonathan Wolf
[Jonathan is one of the leading authorities on Tu B’Shvat. For many years he organized and conducted innovative Tu B’Shvat seders in his Manhattan apartment.]

The holiday of Tu B’Shvat is a minor one on the Jewish calendar. It appears nowhere in the Bible, and when it first appears in Jewish literature, in the Mishna, its very date is the subject of dispute. Yet today it is an occasion rich with symbolism and significance, because of what it represents: nature and the environment, and the bounty of the Land of Israel.

Tu B’Shvat originated as one of the four New Years prescribed in Jewish law [Mishna Rosh Hashana 1:1]. It was established as the New Year of Trees, a kind of dividing line of the fiscal year for prescribing tithes, orlah (the first 3 years of a tree’s life), and according to some authorities the shmitta (sabbatical) year. Hillel and Shammai disagreed on the date; the school of Hillel (as almost always) was victorious in setting it on the fifteenth of the month of Shvat, when the earth in the Holy Land begins to warm up, the water starts to flow through the ground and the sap to course through the trees, and early-blossoming trees like the Almond (shaked) burst into bloom.

After the destruction of the Temple, the tithe offerings ended and the Jews were dispersed: thus the agricultural laws of the Land of Israel did not apply in most Jewish communities. Tu B’Shvat became a time of celebration and commemoration, recollecting the days when the Jewish people lived on its own land, working to bring forth the fruit of that earth. Numerous customs evolved (such as the colorful “Hamishusar” in some Sephardic communities) and Jews recited blessings and ate fruits, if possible those grown in Israel.

Development of the Seder for Tu B’Shvat: In the 1500’s in the Galilee city of Safed (also called S’fat or Tzfat), identified in the Talmud as one of the Holy Cities in the Land, the circle of Kabbalists who were followers of Rabbi Isaac Luria (the “Ari”) developed a special liturgy for Tu B’Shvat [as they were also inventing the kabbalat shabat service for Friday evenings and the all-night Tikun for Shavuot and Hoshana Rabba]: the Seder Leil Tu B’Shvat. The Kabbalists would stay up all night on Tu B’Shvat reciting their Seder, based loosely on the Passover Seder, which focused on fruits, trees, brachot, and kavvanot: invocations of attention and blessing on the fate of the trees and their fruit during the coming year, similar to the prayers for human life and welfare recited on Rosh Hashana.

The text of the Kabbalists’ Seder included four cups of wine -- evolving in color from entirely white to red-with-a-drop-of-white; the tasting of 21 different fruits, beginning with the Seven Species which according to Deuteronomy 8:8 epitomize the produce of Land of Israel (wheat, barley, olives, dates, grapes, figs, and pomegranates), followed by fruits mentioned in the Bible, particularly in the Song of Songs (etrog, apple, walnut, almond), and the carob (long associated with Tu B’Shvat), pear (discussed in the Mishna), and other fruits and nuts. The order of the Seder was first published in the 1700’s in the volume Pri Etz Hadar, attributed to Rabbi Haim Vital, which details the wines, the fruits, and the passages from Bible, Midrash, Mishna, Talmud, and especially Zohar -- since the Kabbalists found mystical meaning in each reading and tasting. Their Seder also provided for eating from three types of fruits corresponding to three of the four Lurianic “worlds”: wholly edible fruits such as figs for olam habriya (the world of creation), fruits edible on the outside but with pits, such as cherries, representing the world of yetzira (formation), and fruits with outside shells but edible insides such as pistachios, symbolizing the world of asiyah (action). [The fourth kabbalistic world, atzilut (emanation) is considered to be beyond physical representation].

In the last century the Jewish pioneers coming to Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine adopted Tu B’Shvat as an occasion for planting trees as part of the mass Jewish return to the Land and its rebuilding and renewal. The Tu B’Shvat Seder, a ritual which had been little remembered or practiced in most communities, has been revived and reinvented in recent decades. Today, Tu B’Shvat has become an occasion for directing our thoughts and energies to the natural world, to God’s Creation and our assignment to “labor over and preserve” it [l’ovdah ul’shomrah – Genesis 2:15], and to the Land of Israel and its particular sanctity, importance, and fragility.

Create an Eco-Tu B’Shvat! Tu B’Shvat provides an opportunity to dedicate time to enjoying and recognizing the natural world, Israel, and our task of stewardship. Meals, lectures, nature hikes, children’s activities, services, study groups can address and direct our thinking to the Torah’s teachings about our obligations to preserve our world for future generations, the delights and varieties of healthful foods which spring from the earth, and our ties to the historic Jewish homeland in Israel and its rivers and hillsides.

Every synagogue, campus Hillel, havurah, JCC, religious school, senior center, community, and family can invent and adapt its own expression of an Environmental Tu B’Shvat—whether Seder, party, speaker, festive meal, text learning, games, songs, stories, or all-night gathering. This holliday is a propitious and auspicious time for focusing on the earth and its wonders and the ways it supports us and we protect it.

The state of Israel’s environment today: The Land of Israel, central to the genesis of Tu B’Shvat, is not just the place where Jews and Judaism originated, or our future Messianic home: it is also a real country of soil and winds and a remarkable variety of different eco-systems. And that terrain is in terrible trouble. Israel’s air, water, and land are contaminated by ever-increasing pollution. In most of its rivers, fish can only live for a few minutes. The air quality in Jerusalem is projected to become worse than that of Mexico City by 2010. The severe shortage of water supplies is rapidly worsening, as is the problem of garbage and solid waste. The number of automobiles increased one hundredfold in recent decades, while in a small country ideally suited to railways, the entire system of public transportation is inadequate and underfunded. Israel’s toxic waste dumps are overflowing and improperly contained.

As part of an environmentally-related Tu B’Shvat, materials, speakers, and discussions on the many imminent threats to Israel’s environment can be arranged and programmed into the day.

Tzedaka and the Tree of Life: Central to the purpose of celebrating Tu B’Shvat, and of conducting the Tu B’Shvat Seder, are the concepts of gratitude, b’rakhot, and tzedaka. We pray on the New Year of Trees that it should be a healthy, bountiful year for the trees which feed us (particularly those in the Land of Israel for whose produce the legal holiday was created), and the Kabbalists’ Seder multiplies the opportunities for reciting blessings recognizing and thanking our Creator for the cornucopia of flavors and aromas which we ‘taste and see’. Jewish tradition establishes as the most fitting response to our own good fortune and satisfactions the sharing of our joy with others who are in greater need. The Zohar calls the process of giving tzedaka ‘Ilana d’Hayyey’-- Tree of Life – for we magnify and certify our happiness and thankfulness by providing for fellow human beings and for needful causes. Communal festivities can and should include provisions to inform everyone of places and ways to give or send donations which mark and spread our festivity.

Tu B’Shvat provides Jewish groups and communities with a perfect time to talk, study, celebrate, sing and deliberate together about the blessings for which we are grateful, the world we need to rescue, the Holy Land and its riches and dangers, and the harmony of nature.

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3. Relating the Postville Slaughterhouse Controversy, Vegetarianism, and Tu B’Shvat

Should Jews still eat meat?
By Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.
http://www.sdjewishjournal.com/stories/jan05_wb.html

[This article appeared in the January, 2005 issue of the San Diego Jewish Journal and was also forwarded to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)]

With Tu B’Shevat on the horizon and the furor over People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ video of animal abuse at a kosher slaughterhouse in the recent past, it is worth asking the question: Should Jews still eat meat?

For those unaware, in late November, the animals’ activist group PETA came public with video showing the cruel abuse of animals at AgriProcessors’ kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. The plant is one of the largest in the country and processes meat for the Aaron’s Best/Rabushkin label.

PETA filed a complaint with the United States Department of Agriculture against the plant as well as the Orthodox Union, the New York-based agency responsible for certifying the slaughterhouse as kosher. After initially defending the plant’s practices, the OU switched tracks and took initial steps toward ending the abuses of animals at the Postville slaughterhouse. The OU should be commended for that. But the horrors recorded in Postville are part of a much wider pattern of animal abuse in today’s meat industry.

Many Torah verses stress compassion to animals and Judaism forbids tza’ar ba’alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain on animals. However, most farm animals – including most animals raised for kosher consumers – are raised for slaughter on “factory farms” where they are confined in cramped spaces, often drugged and mutilated and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise and any opportunity to satisfy their natural instincts. Can we continue to ignore the suffering and abuse that many farmed animals experience for their entire lives on factory farms?

Hence, the current controversy involving the Postville facility should be a wake-up call to end not only the mistreatment of animals at slaughterhouses, but also the widespread abuse of animals on factory farms. The Postville exposé would have an even greater value if it also resulted in a reduction or elimination of other violations of Jewish teachings associated with the production and consumption of animal products:

• 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.

• While Judaism teaches that “the earth is the Lord’s” (Psalm 24:1) and that we are 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 climate change and other environmental damages.

• While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, not to waste or to unnecessarily destroy anything of value or to use more than is needed, animal agriculture requires the wasteful use of land, water, fuel, grain and other resources.

• While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and share our bread with hungry people, an estimated 20 million people die each year because of hunger and its effects, while more than 70 percent of the grain grown in the U.S. is fed to animals destined for slaughter. It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of feedlot-raised beef.

• Judaism stresses that we must seek and pursue peace and that violence results from unjust conditions. But, by wasting valuable resources, animal-centered diets perpetuate the widespread hunger and poverty that often lead to instability and war.

Tu B’Shevat is an excellent time to consider shifting towards a plant-centered diet. Consider:

• For the Tu B’Shevat Seder, we eat nuts and fruits and sing songs and recite Biblical verses related to trees and fruits. It is the only sacred meal where we eat only vegetarian, actually vegan, foods. This is consistent with the diet in the Garden of Eden, as indicated by God’s first, completely vegetarian, dietary law:

“And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit – to you it shall be for food.’” (Gen.1:29)

• The Talmud refers to Tu B’Shevat as the New Year for Trees. It is considered to be the date on which the fate of trees is decided for the coming year. In recent years, one of the prime ways of celebrating Tu B’Shevat, especially in Israel, is the planting of trees.

One of the prime reasons for the destruction of tropical rain forests today is to create pastureland and areas to grow feed crops for cattle. To save an estimated 5 cents on each imported fast food hamburger, we are destroying forest areas in countries such as Brazil and Costa Rica – where at least half of the world’s species of plants and animals live – and threatening the stability of the world’s climate. It has been estimated that every vegetarian saves an acre of forest per year

• Both Tu B’Shevat and vegetarianism are connected to today’s environmental concerns. Many contemporary Jews look on Tu B’Shevat as a Jewish earth day and use Tu B’Shevat seders as occasions to discuss how Jewish values can be applied to reduce many of today’s ecological threats.

Clearly, Jewish values and meat consumption are in serious conflict. Considering the horrors of Postville and the ecological lessons of Tu B’Shevat, Jews should seriously consider shifting toward plant-based diets and promoting a switch toward vegetarianism as moral and ecological imperatives. Besides having great benefits for animals, such actions would greatly benefit the health of the Jewish people and others, move our precious but imperiled planet to a more sustainable path and show the relevance of Jewish teachings to the problems confronting the world today.

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., is author of “Judaism and Vegetarianism,” “Judaism and Global Survival” and “Mathematics and Global Survival” and president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America.

For feedback, contact editor@sdjewishjournal.com

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4. Tu B'Shvat and Vegetarianism
by Richard Schwartz

Tu B'Shvat is arguably the most vegetarian of Jewish holidays, because of its many connections to vegetarian themes and concepts:

1. The Tu B'Shvat Seder in which fruits and nuts are eaten, along with the singing of songs and the recitation of Biblical verses related to trees and fruits, is the only sacred meal where only vegetarian, actually vegan, foods, are eaten as part of the ritual. This is consistent with the diet in the Garden of Eden, as indicated by God's first, completely vegetarian, dietary law:

And God said: "Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit--to you it shall be for food." (Gen.1:29)

2. The Talmud refers to Tu B'Shvat as the New Year for Trees. It is considered to be the date on which the fate of trees is decided for the coming year. In recent years, one of the prime ways of celebrating Tu B'Shvat, especially in Israel, is through the planting of trees. Vegetarianism also reflects a concern for trees. One of the prime reasons for the destruction of tropical rain forests today is to create pasture land and areas to grow feed crops for cattle. To save an estimated 5 cents on each imported fast food hamburger, we are destroying forest areas in countries such as Brazil and Costa Rica, where at least half of the world's species of plants and animals live, and threatening the stability of the world's climate. It has been estimated that every vegetarian saves an acre of forest per year.

3. Both Tu B'Shvat and vegetarianism are connected to today's environmental concerns. Many contemporary Jews look on Tu B'Shvat as a Jewish earth day, and use Tu B'Shvat seders as occasions to discuss how Jewish values can be applied to reduce many of today's ecological threats. When God created the world, he was able to say, "It is very good" (Genesis 1:31). Everything was in harmony as God had planned, the waters were clean, the air was pure. However, what must God think about the world today? What must God think when the rain he sends to nourish our crops is often acid rain due to the many chemicals poured into the air by our industries? when the ozone layer that He provided to separate the heavens from the earth is being depleted at such a rapid rate? when the abundance of species of plants and animals that He created are becoming extinct in tropical rain forests and other threatened habitats, before we are even been able to catalog them? when the fertile soil that He provided is rapidly being depleted and eroded? when the climatic conditions that He designed to meet our needs are threatened by global warming? An ancient midrash has become all too relevant today:

In the hour when the Holy one, blessed be He, created the first person, He showed him the trees in the Garden of Eden, and said to him: "See My works, how fine they are; Now all that I have created, I created for your benefit. Think upon this and do not corrupt and destroy My world, For if you destroy it, there is no one to restore it after you." Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:28

Today's environmental threats can be compared in many ways to the Biblical ten plagues, which are in the Torah portions in the weeks immediately preceding Tu B'Shvat: When we consider the threats to our land, water, and air, pesticides and other chemical pollutants, resource scarcities, threats to our climate, etc., we can easily enumerate ten modern "plagues". The Egyptians were subjected to one plague at a time, while the modern plagues are threatening us simultaneously. The Jews in Goshen were spared the Biblical plagues, while every person on earth is imperiled by the modern plagues. Instead of an ancient Pharoah's heart being hardened, our hearts today have been hardened by the greed, materialism, and waste that are at the root of current environmental threats. God provided the Biblical plagues to free the Israelites, while today we must apply God's teachings in order to save ourselves and our precious but endangered planet. The Talmudic sages assert that people's role is to enhance the world as "co-partners of God in the work of creation" (Shabbat 10a). They indicated great concern about preserving the environment and preventing pollution. They state: "It is forbidden to live in a town which has no garden or greenery" (Kiddushin 4:12; 66d). Threshing floors had to be placed far enough from a town so that it would not be dirtied by chaff carried by winds (Baba Batra 2:8). Tanneries had to be kept at least 50 cubits from a town and could be placed only on the east side of a town, so that odors would not be carried by the prevailing winds from the west (Baba Batra 2:8,9). The rabbis express a sense of sanctity toward the environment: "the atmosphere (air) of the land of Israel makes one wise" (Baba Batra 158b). Again, vegetarianism is consistent with this important Jewish environmental concern, since modern intensive livestock agriculture contributes to many current environmental problems, including soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, the destruction of habitats, and potential global warming.

4. Both Tu B'Shvat and vegetarianism embody the important teaching that "The earth is the Lord's" (Psalm. 24:1) and that people are to be stewards of the earth, to see that its produce is available for all God's children. Property is a sacred trust given by God; it must be used to fulfill God's purposes. No person has absolute or exclusive control over his or her possessions. The concept that people have custodial care of the earth, as opposed to ownership, is illustrated by this ancient story:

Two men were fighting over a piece of land. Each claimed ownership and bolstered his claim with apparent proof. To resolve their differences, they agreed to put the case before the rabbi. The rabbi listened but could come to no decision because both seemed to be right. Finally he said, "Since I cannot decide to whom this land belongs, let us ask the land." He put his ear to the ground and, after a moment, straightened up. "Gentlemen, the land says it belongs to neither of you but that you belong to it."

With their concern about the preservation and expansion of forests and their focus on plant-based foods, both Tu B'Shvat and vegetarianism, reflect this important Jewish teaching.

5. Tu B'Shvat and vegetarianism both reflect the Torah mandate that we are not to waste or destroy unnecessarily anything of value. It is interesting that this prohibition, called bal tashchit ("thou shalt not destroy") is based on concern for fruit-bearing trees, as indicated in the following Torah statement: When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shall not destroy (lo tashchit) the trees thereof by wielding an ax against them; for thou mayest eat of them but thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee? Only the trees of which thou knoweth that they are not trees for food, them thou mayest destroy and cut down, that thou mayest build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall. (Deut. 20:19-20)

This prohibition against destroying fruit-bearing trees in time of warfare was extended by the Jewish sages. It it forbidden to cut down even a barren tree or to waste anything if no useful purpose is accomplished (Sefer Ha-Chinuch 530). The sages of the Talmud made a general prohibition against waste: "Whoever breaks vessels or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs up a fountain, or destroys food violates the prohibition of bal tashchit" (Kiddushin 32a). In summary, bal tashchit prohibits the destruction, complete or incomplete, direct or indirect, of all objects of potential benefit to people. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch states that bal tashchit is the first and most general call of God: We are to "regard things as God's property and use them with a sense of responsibility for wise human purposes. Destroy nothing! Waste nothing!" (Horeb; Chapter 56, #401) He indicates that destruction includes using more things (or things of greater value) than is necessary to obtain one's aim. (Horeb; Chapter 56, #399) The important Torah mandate of bal tashchit is consistent with vegetarianism, since, compared to plant-based diets, animal -centered diets require far more land, water, energy, and other agricultural resources.

6. Tu B'Shvat reflects a concern about future generations. In ancient times it was a custom to plant a cedar sapling on the birth of a boy and a cypress sapling on the birth of a girl. The cedar symbolized strength and stature of a man, while the cypress signified the fragrance and gentleness of a woman. When the children were old enough, it was their task to care for the trees that were planted in their honor. It was hoped that branches from both types of trees would form part of the chupah (bridal canopy) when the children married. Another example of the Jewish concern for the future that is expressed through the planting of trees is in the following story: Choni (the rainmaker) was walking along a road when he saw an old man planting a carob tree. Choni asked him: "How many years will it take for this tree to yield fruit?" The man answered that it would take seventy years. Choni then asked: "Are you so healthy a man that you expect to live that length of time and eat of its fruit?" The man answered: "I found a fruitful world because my ancestors planned for me. So I will do the same for my children." Vegetarianism also reflects concern about the future since this diet puts a minimum of strain on the earth and its ecosystems and requires far less water, land, energy, and other scarce agricultural resources than animal-centered diets.

7. It is customary to recite Psalm 104, as well as other psalms, on Tu B'Shvat. Psalm 104 indicates how God's concern and care extends to all creatures, and illustrates that God created the entire earth as a unity, in ecological balance:...Thou [God] art the One Who sends forth springs into brooks, that they may run between mountains,To give drink to every beast of the fields; the creatures of the forest quench their thirst.Beside them dwell the fowl of the heavens;...Thou art He Who waters the mountains from His upper chambers;...Thou art He Who causes the grass to spring up for the cattle and herb, for the service of man, to bring forth bread from the earth....How manifold art Thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy property....

Vegetarianism also reflects concern for animals and all of God's creation, since for many people it is a refusal to take part in a system that involves the cruel treatment and slaughter of 9 billion farm animals in the United States alone annually, and, as indicated above, that puts so much stress on the earth and its resources.

8. Both Tu B'Shvat and vegetarianism are becoming increasingly popular today; Tu B'Shvat because of an increasing interest in and concern about nature and environmental issues, and vegetarianism because of increasing concern about health, the treatment of animals, and also the environment and the proper use of natural resources.

9. On Tu B'Shvat , the sap begins to fill the trees and their lives are renewed for another year of blossom and fruit. A shift toward vegetarianism means, in a sense, that there is an increased feeling of concern for the earth and all its inhabitants, and there is a renewal of the world's people's concerns about more life-sustaining approaches.

In 1993, over 1,670 scientists, including 104 Nobel laureates - a majority of the living recipients of the prize in the sciences - signed a "World Scientists' Warning To Humanity." Their introduction stated: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about." The scientists' analysis discussed threats to the atmosphere, water resources, oceans, soil, living species, and forests. Their warning: "we the undersigned, senior members of the world's scientific community, hereby warn all humanity of what lies ahead. A great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided.”

With the world's ecosystems threatened as never before, it is important that Jews increasingly discover the important ecological messages of Tu B'Shvat. Similarly, it is also urgent that Jews and others recognize that a shift toward vegetarianism, the diet most consistent with Tu B'Shvat, is not only an important individual choice today, but increasingly it is a Jewish imperative since the realities of modern intensive livestock agriculture and the consumption of animal products are inconsistent with many basic Jewish values, as well as a societal imperative, necessary for economic and ecological stability.

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5. Summary of Material for Articles and Letters on Turning Tu B’Shvat into a Jewish Earth Day
Richard H. Schwartz

When God created the world, He was able to say, "It is very good". Everything was in harmony as God had planned, the waters were clean, the air was pure. But what must God think about the world today?

What must He think when the rain He sends to nourish our crops is often acid rain due to the many chemicals poured into the air by our industries? when the ozone layer He provided to separate the heavens from the earth is being depleted? when the abundance of species of plants and animals He created are becoming extinct in tropical rain forests and other threatened habitats? when the fertile soil that He provided is rapidly being depleted and eroded? when the climatic conditions that He designed to meet our needs are threatened by global warming?

Today's environmental threats can be compared in many ways to the Biblical ten plagues, which appear in the Torah portions read on the Shabbats immediately preceding Tu B'Shvat. When we consider the threats to our land, water, and air, pesticides and other chemical pollutants, resource scarcities, threats to our climate, etc., we can easily enumerate ten modern "plagues." Like the ancient Pharaoh, our hearts have been hardened by the greed, materialism, and waste that are at the root of current environmental threats. While the Egyptians were subjected to one plague at a time, the modern plagues are occurring simultaneously. While the Jews in Goshen were spared most of the Biblical plagues, every person on earth is imperiled by the modern plagues.

An ancient midrash (rabbinical teaching on a Torah concept) has become all too relevant today:

In the hour when the Holy one, blessed be He, created the first person, God showed him the trees in the Garden of Eden, and said to him: "See My works, how fine they are; Now all that I have created, I created for your benefit. Think upon this and do not corrupt and destroy My world, For if you destroy it, there is no one to restore it after you."

Current Environmental Threats

Here are just a few facts to indicate the urgency of the situation:

* While there are already many indications of global climate change, such as melting glaciers and polar ice caps, severe storms, droughts, flooding, and insect migrations, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control, a group composed of many of the world’s leading climate scientists, is predicting an increase of 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years, a change that would have devastating consequences for the planet.

* The world’s biodiversity significantly reduced as species of plants and animals are becoming extinct at perhaps the fastest rate in history.

* It is projected that 3 billion of the world’s people will live in areas with insufficient clean water in 30 years.

* While Israel has made remarkable progress in many areas, it faces a severe water shortage, very badly polluted rivers, air pollution that causes an estimated thousand deaths per year and 17 percent of its children to have asthma, rapidly declining open space, congested roads, and an inadequate mass transit system.

In 1993, over 1,670 scientists, including 104 Nobel laureates signed a "World Scientists' Warning To Humanity." Their introduction stated: "Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course. Human activities inflict harsh and often irreversible damage on the environment and on critical resources. If not checked, many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know. Fundamental changes are urgent if we are to avoid the collision our present course will bring about."

Jewish Environmental Teachings

Today’s environmental problems are largely due to the fact that the ways of the world are completely contrary to Jewish values:

* Judaism teaches that "The Earth is the Lord’s" (Psalms 24:1), and that we are to be partners with God in protecting the environment. But today's philosophy is that the earth is to be exploited for maximum profit, regardless of the long-range ecological consequences.

* Judaism stresses bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value. By contrast, wastefulness in the United States is so great that, with less than 5% of the world's people we use about a third of the world's resources, and this has a major impact on pollution and resource scarcities.

* Judaism asserts that a wise person considers the long-range consequences of his/her actions and that we must plan for future generations; but the way of the world today is often to consider only immediate gains.

It is urgent that Torah values be applied toward the solution of current environmental problems. This means, for example: an energy policy based not on dangerous energy sources, but on CARE (conservation and renewable energy), consistent with Jewish teachings on preserving the environment, conserving resources, creating jobs, protecting human lives, and considering future generations.

Tu B’Shvat’s Environmental Connections

Tu B’Shvat, the fifteenth day of the month of Shvat, is known as the "New Year for Trees" (In Hebrew:Rosh Hashanah la'Ilanot ). This date determines the end of the "fiscal year" for trees for tithing purposes; in the time of the Temple, fruit that ripened before the fifteenth of Shvat was taxed for the previous year, fruit that ripened later, for the following year. The Mishnah mentions four different new years during the Jewish cylical year, the new year for the trees (for purposes of tithes and similar laws) being one.

Tu B’shvat marks the early beginnings of the spring season in Israel, at the time of the almond tree blossom. Today, it is a day when thousands of Israeli school children flock to forests to dig holes and pack dirt around tender seedlings and saplings.

Tu B'Shvat, symbolizes our appreciation not only for the utility and beauty of trees, but also, for what they symbolize - renewal and growth. It is a day dedicated to the praises of the Land of Israel, as this is the season when the land begins to overflow with a new harvest and many fruits. It is also a time when we focus on our ecological responsibilities. the very first task assigned to humans by G-d, was (and is) to care for the environment. "…G-d took man and put him into the garden [Garden of Eden] to work it and guard it." (Genesis, 1:15). Jewish texts stress the importance of planting and taking care of trees, for the benefit of both present and future generations.

In the seventeenth century the kabbalists in Safed, Israel created a Tu B’Shvat seder, patterned on elements of the Passover seder, a special festive meal of fruits and nuts, four cups of wine, accompanied by many berakhot (blessings) and scriptural readings on the fruits of Israel, which they invested with mystical and symbolic meanings. The kabbalists looked on the eating of fruits with the proper blessings and spiritual intentions as a way to have a tikkun (repair) for the sin of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

In recent years, Jewish communities around the world have begun to celebrate Tu B'Shvat as a "Jewish Earth Day"--organizing seders, tree-plantings, ecological restoration activities, and educational events, all of which provide an opportunity to express a Jewish commitment to protecting the earth. Many contemporary Jews are increasingly using the day to discuss and focus on ecological threats — destruction of tropical rain forests; global climate change; acid rain poured into the air by our industries; a rapidly depleted ozone layer; plants and animals quickly becoming extinct; depleted soil. This is more important than ever today in view of the many environmental problems currently facing Israel and our planet.

Tu B’Shvat can be a great opportunity for education about environmental crises locally, nationally, and internationally, with perhaps a special emphasis in some congregations on environmental problems in Israel. It also could help energize our congregations and bring many Jews back to Jewish involvement.

Since Tu B'Shvat is the New Year for Trees, the date on which the fate of trees is decided for the coming year, it is an ideal time to consider the rapid destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats. It is interesting that the prohibition bal tashchit ("thou shalt not destroy") is based on concern for fruit-bearing trees, since the Torah indicates that even in war time fruit trees may not be destroyed in order to build battering rams to attack an enemy fortification (Deuteronomy 20:19.20). This prohibition was extended by the Jewish sages. It is forbidden to cut down even a barren tree or to waste anything if no useful purpose is accomplished (Sefer Ha-Chinuch 530). The sages of the Talmud made a general prohibition against waste: "Whoever breaks vessels or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs up a fountain, or destroys food violates the prohibition of bal tashchit" (Kiddushin 32a). In summary, bal tashchit prohibits the destruction, complete or incomplete, direct or indirect, of all objects of potential benefit to people. Imagine the impact if this prohibition was put into practice by society today!

Fortunately, there has already been some movement in the Jewish community toward applying Jewish values to today’s environmental crises. Integrating environmental concern into Jewish life is the full-time mission of COEJL, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life. Founded in 1993, it embraces 29 national Jewish organizations across the religious and communal spectrum and 13 regional affliates and serves as the voice of the Jewish community on environmental issues in Washington, DC. The group also works closely with other faith communities through the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. COEJL's recent work has focused on energy conservation and global climate change. They are organizing Jewish individuals and institutions across the U.S. to advocate increases in fuel economy standards to reduce our reliance on oil.

"Protecting creation is a central part of what it must mean to be a Jew today," said Mark X. Jacobs, COEJL's executive director. "The integrity of our global environment, of God's creation, is threatened by human action. It is our responsibility as Jews to do something about it. Tu B'Shvat is a natural time to learn about environmental issues and what we can do to help."

In view of the many environmental threats today, it is essential that Jews use Tu B’Shvat and activities related to this increasingly important holiday, as occasions to make tikkun olam, the repair and healing of the planet, a central focus in Jewish life today. This is essential to help move our planet to a more sustainable path.

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Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island, is author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, Judaism and Global Survival, and Mathematics and Global Survival., and over 100 articles at jewishveg.com/schwartz.

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6. RESOURCES ON TU B’SHVAT AND ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
[Resources compiled by Jonathan Wolf, a long-time environmental, vegetarian, and social justice activist.]

a. WEBSITES

Adam Teva V'Din: The Israel Union for Environmental Defense
http://www.iued.org/il/eng/

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)
http://www.coejl.org/

Ministry of Environment (Israel)
http://www.environment.gov.il
http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/gov/environ.html

Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
www.teva.org.il/e

Richard Schwartz’s articles
http://jewishveg.com/schwartz

Shalom Center
http://www.shalomctr.org/

Sierra Club
http://www.sierraclub.org/

Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS)
http://www.ucsusa.org/

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
http://www.epa.gov

Many Links to Tu B’Shvat (including Tu B’Shvat Haggadahs)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Tu+B%27Shvat&btnG=Google+Search


b. BOOKS

Buxbaum, Yitzhak. A Person Is Like a Tree: A Sourcebook for Tu B’Shvat. Northvale, NJ; Jerusalem: Jason Aronson, 2000.

Schwartz, Richard H. Judaism and Global Survival. New York: Lantern Books, 2002. (A free copy of this book will be sent to each person who contacts the author at rschw12345@aol.com and indicates that it will be used as background for a Tu B’Shvat environmental program.)

Waskow, Arthur, editor. Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought. Volumes 1 and 2. Woodstock, Vermont: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2000.

Waskow, Arthur, et al. Trees, Earth, and Torah: A Tu B’Shvat Anthology. Philadelphia: Jewish Publishing Society, 1999.

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7. Sample Letter to the Editor Re Tu B’Shvat

Dear Editor:

Many contemporary Jews look on Tu B'Shvat (January 24-25 this year) as a Jewish ‘Earth Day,’ and use Tu B'Shvat seders as occasions to discuss how Jewish values can be applied to reduce many of today's ecological threats. This is more important than ever in view of the many environmental threats currently facing our planet.

While Judaism teaches that “The Earth is the Lord’s” (Psalms 24:1), and that we are to be partners with God in preserving the environment, there are daily news reports about water shortages, air and water pollution, the effects of global climate change, and soil erosion and depletion. Tu B'Shvat is the New Year for Trees, the date on which the fate of trees is decided for the coming year. Hence, it is an ideal time to consider the rapid destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats. While Israel has made remarkable progress in many areas, it faces recurrent droughts, very badly polluted rivers, severe air pollution in its major cities and industrial areas, rapidly declining open space, congested roads, and an inadequate mass transit system.

In view of the above and much more, I urge Jews to use Tu B’Shvat and activities related to this increasingly important holiday, as occasions to start to make tikkun olam, the repair and healing of the planet, a central focus in Jewish life today.

Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

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8. Sample Letter to Rabbis Encouraging Them To Have Tu B’Shvat Events

Dear Rabbi,

Many contemporary Jews look on Tu B'Shvat (January 24-25 this year) as a Jewish ‘Earth Day,’ and use Tu B'Shvat seders as occasions to discuss how Jewish values can be applied to reduce many of today's ecological threats. This is more important than ever in view of the many environmental threats currently facing our planet.

While Judaism teaches that “The Earth is the Lord’s” (Psalms 24:1), and that we are to be partners with God in preserving the environment, there are daily news reports about water shortages, air and water pollution, the effects of global climate change, and soil erosion and depletion. Tu B'Shvat is the New Year for Trees, the date on which the fate of trees is decided for the coming year. Hence, it is an ideal time to consider the rapid destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats. While Israel has made remarkable progress in many areas, it faces recurrent droughts, very badly polluted rivers, severe air pollution in its major cities and industrial areas, rapidly declining open space, congested roads, and an inadequate mass transit system.

In view of the above and much more, I urge you to use Tu B’Shvat and activities related to this increasingly important holiday, to start to make tikkun olam, the repair and healing of the planet, a central focus in Jewish life today. It can also help to revitalize Judaism by showing that our eternal teachings have relevance in responding to current environmental threats.

I hope that the articles and lists of resources below will be helpful in planning Tu B’Shvat events. Please let me know if I can help in any other way.

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