7/14/05 JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

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

1. Tisha B’Av, Vegetarianism and Environmental Activism

2. Creating a "Judaism and Vegetarianism" Videotape

3. Article in the Staten Island Advance re My Induction Into the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) Hall of Fame

4. The Major Article on Rav Kook Now at the JVNA Web Site

5. Important Article in Newsweek on the Mistreatment of Animals

6. Spreading the Jewish Vegetarian Message

7. Another Article in Yosef Hakohen’s Series on "Relating to Other Creatures"

8. My letter to the Jerusalem Report

9. NASA satellites reveal quickening rise in sea level

10. Study Indicates that a Switch toward Vegetarianism Would Substantially Reduce Global Warming

11. Veggie Jews Schedule an Event in NYC

12. Are We in For a Hard Landing as Oil Starts to Become Scarcer?

Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.

[Materials in brackets like this [] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]

Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue. Also, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observance, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in.

As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,
Richard

=========================.
1. Tisha B’Av, Vegetarianism and Environmental Activism

With Tisha B’Av about a month away, I believe that we should consider connections to vegetarianism and the need for changes to avoid continued environmental threats. My article, “Tisha B’Av and Vegetarianism” is at JewishVeg.com/tishabav.html. Below is a sample letter to the editor and a sample article. Comments/suggestions welcome, as always. Also. Please consider using my material and other material on Tisha B’Av to create your own letters and articles. Thanks.

Letter to the Editor:

Dear Editor:

Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which we commemorate this year on August 15, reminds us that over 2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

Today there are many “Jeremiahs” warning us that now the entire world faces destruction from global warming and its effects, species extinction, droughts, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, and many other environmental threats. For example, in 1992, over 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including 104 Nobel Laureates, signed a "World Scientists Warning to Humanity," stating that 'human beings and the natural world are on a collision course", and that "a great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated." This year, Academies of Science in the United States and other industrialized countries warned of severe consequences if immediate steps are not taken to reduce the threats of global warming.

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

------------------------------
Op Ed Article:

RELATING TISHA B’AV TO TODAY’S ENVIRONMENTAL CRISES
Richard H. Schwartz

Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which we commemorate this year on August 15, reminds us that over 2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

Today there are many “Jeremiahs” warning us that now it is the entire world that faces destruction from global warming and its effects, species extinction, droughts, destruction of tropical rain forests and other valuable habitats, and many other environmental threats. For example, in 1992, over 1,700 of the world's leading scientists, including 104 Nobel Laureates, signed a "World Scientists Warning to Humanity," stating that 'human beings and the natural world are on a collision course", and that "a great change in our stewardship of the earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided and our global home on this planet is not to be irretrievably mutilated." This year, Academies of Science in the United States and other industrialized countries warned of severe consequences if immediate steps are not taken to reduce the threats of global warming.

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

Jewish sages connected the word "eichah" (alas! what has befallen us?) that begins Lamentations and a word that has the same root "ayekah" ("Where art thou?"), the question addressed to Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Perhaps failure to properly hear and respond to "ayekah" in terms of stating "Hineni" - here I am, ready to carry out God's commandments so that the world will be better - causes us to eventually have to say and hear "eichah".

The reading of the book of Lamentations on Tisha B’Av is meant to wake up the Jewish people to the need to return to God's ways, by showing the horrors that resulted when God’s teachings were ignored. The readings on Tisha B'Av help to sensitize us so that we will hear the cries of lament and change our ways. Rabbi Yochanan stated "Jerusalem was destroyed because the residents limited their decisions to the letter of the law of the Torah, and did not perform actions that would have gone beyond the letter of the law" ('lifnim meshurat hadin') (Baba Metzia 30b. in this time of factory farming, environmental threats, widespread hunger, and epidemics of chronic degenerative diseases, perhaps it is necessary that Jews go beyond the strict letter of the law.

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

All of us can contribute to this new stewardship, even with modest changes to our lifestyle. In 1999, the UCS wrote: "Just as we don't claim that people need to stop driving their cars completely, we don't argue that they need to stop eating meat entirely. But reductions in both areas - driving and meat consumption - will certainly benefit the environment.”

In view of the many threats to humanity today, I hope that Jews will enhance their commemoration of the solemn but spiritually meaningful holiday of Tisha B'Av by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism's highest moral values and teachings. One important way to do this is by working to shift our precious, but imperiled, planet to a more sustainable path.

Return to Top

========================
2. Creating a “Judaism and Vegetarianism” Videotape

In the last JVNA newsletter, I mentioned the possibility of the JVNA producing a videotape that could be used to promote vegetarianism in the Jewish community and beyond. I mentioned that the Christian Vegetarian association has produced a very effective video “Honoring God’s Creation,” and that the key people behind the production of the video have offered to help us in the production of our video.

I envision the video being less than 30 minutes, divided into perhaps the following sections:

1. Torah Teachings
2. Health
3. Compassion toward Animals
4. Environmental Preservation and Conservation
5. Helping the Hungry
6. Pursuing Peace and Non-violence
7. Personal Statements

In sections 2 - 6, I suggest a discussion of Jewish teachings followed by a discussion of how the realities of the production and consumption of meat violate those teachings. Examples are in the fact sheets on the various issues at JewishVeg.com.schwartz.

I also envision some of the leading Jewish vegetarians, including Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen and Rabbi David Rosen making statements re the topics mentioned above.

This, of course, would be a major project. Comments/suggestions welcome. Thanks.

Return to Top

=========================
3. Article in the Staten Island Advance re My Induction Into the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) Hall of Fame

Passionate vegetarian wins recognition from his peers
Friday, July 08, 2005
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
http://www.silive.com/living/advance/index.ssf?/base/living/112082944465750.xml

Jewish vegetarian and environmental activist Dr. Richard H. Schwartz was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the North American Vegetarian Society during its at 31st annual Summerfest at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown, Pa., on Sunday.

The induction marked the society's recognition of the Willowbrook resident's work primarily in the Jewish community.

Dr. Schwartz is the author of "Judaism and Vegetarianism," "Judaism and Global Survival" and "Mathematics and Global Survival." He also writes extensively for jewishveg.com and frequently speaks and contributes articles on environmental, health, and other current issues.

A professor emeritus of mathematics at the College of Staten Island, Dr. Schwartz is the president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, and coordinator of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians. Previous inductees include Mahatma Gandhi; Scott and Helen Nearing, pioneer American vegetarian activists and homesteaders; Howard Lyman, a fourth-generation cattle rancher and feedlot operator who became a leading vegetarian activist; Jay and Freya Dinshah, founders of the American Vegan Society, and Charles Stahler and Debra Wasserman, founders and directors of the Vegetarian Resource Group. "This wonderful honor will inspire me to work even harder toward a vegetarian world," Schwartz said. "Animal-based diets and modern intensive animal agriculture violate basic religious mandates to preserve our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people, and pursue peace and non-violence."

Schwartz believes the future of the planet is imperiled by the production and consumption of animal products. "The world is threatened today as perhaps never before," he said. "A switch toward vegetarianism is a societal imperative, essential to help shift the world to a more sustainable path, and a religious imperative necessary to show the relevance of ancient traditions to modern crises."

For information about the North American Vegetarian Society, visit its Web site at www.navs-online.org.

Return to Top

=========================
4. The Major Article on Rav Kook Now at the JVNA Web Site

This important article that was sent earlier this week as a special JVNA newsletter can now be found at JewishVeg.com/schwartz/kook-expanded.html

There was a problem with the endnotes in the article that appeared in the special JVNA newsletter. The article at the web site has all of the endnotes properly numbered.

Once again, I want to Thank Rabbi Dovid Sears for his excellent work in getting the article into its final form. His superb book “The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism” in Jewish Law and Mysticism” is now available from Micah Publications (www. Micahbooks.com).

And thanks to Noam Mohr for posting the article and for all his efforts keeping the web site in good order.

Return to Top

=========================
5. Important Article in Newsweek on the Mistreatment of Animals/Please Write

Forwarded message from: DawnWatch
The message is followed by the Newsweek article and by my letter to the editor.

Those who have been involved in animal protection for a while are familiar with the work of Matthew Scully. He was a senior speechwriter for George W. Bush and is the author of "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy." He is a driving force behind the transformation of animal protection into a bi-partisan issue. His article about factory farming: "Fear Factories: The Case for Compassionate Conservatism – for Animals" was the cover story for the May 23 edition of Pat Buchanan's magazine, "The American Conservative. Thanks to him, the magazine cover featured a close-up photo of a sow living trapped in a gestation crate, and the headline, "Torture on the Farm." You will find that article archived on the DawnWatch website at:
www.dawnwatch.com/5-05_Animal_Media_Alerts.htm#SCULLY

The July 18 issue of Newsweek has an article by George F. Will headed, "Why, Matthew Scully asks, is cruelty to a puppy appalling and cruelty to livestock by the billions a matter of social indifference?"

I will share a few wonderful lines from the article:
"The disturbing facts about industrial farming by the $125 billion-a-year livestock industry—the pain-inflicting confinements and mutilations—have economic reasons. Ameliorating them would impose production costs that consumers would pay. But to glimpse what consumers would be paying to stop, visit factoryfarming.com/gallery.htm. Or read Scully on the miseries inflicted on billions of creatures 'for our convenience and pleasure':

"'... 400- to 500-pound mammals trapped without relief inside iron crates seven feet long and 22 inches wide. They chew maniacally on bars and chains, as foraging animals will do when denied straw... The pigs know the feel only of concrete and metal. They lie covered in their own urine and excrement, with broken legs from trying to escape or just to turn...'"

I will also comment on the following lines from the article for fear that Scully's stance may be misrepresented or misunderstood. Will writes:

"He does not want to take away your BLT; he does not propose to end livestock farming. He does propose a Humane Farming Act to apply to corporate farmers the elementary standards of animal husbandry and veterinary ethics: 'We cannot just take from these creatures, we must give them something in return. We owe them a merciful death, and we owe them a merciful life.'"

True, Scully isn't trying to "take away" people's right to eat meat. He doesn't see force as the way to bring world-wide vegetarianism. But that doesn't mean he isn't gently encouraging people to stop eating meat, and leading by his own example. He was vegetarian when he wrote Dominion, and now, having learned more about the egg and dairy industries, he is vegan.

I am not sending out the whole article, or even a lengthy summary, because Newsweek tracks the number of hits each article gets, so it is far better that each of us visit the website to read it. Newsweek notes the "most read" story. If this one is the most read of the week, we can expect more stories on animal protection in Newsweek. [The article is below, but please consider also finding the article at the Newsweek web site.]

Also, at the bottom of the page, there is a spot where you can "Rate this story" by clicking on one of five stars. As I send this out it has been rated by 75 people, and is rated at "4." I hope to see it rated by thousands, at "5." The Newsweek site has a spot where you can "view top rated stories." It would be wonderful if this story was included there. But even if the antis join in, and the rating is low, Newsweek will know that the story was widely read, got loads of attention, and is controversial -- that will encourage more animal coverage.

So please, go to the story on line, so that Newsweek knows you have read it, and please rate it highly. Then share it with your friends either by forwarding this alert or by emailing it to them from the link (just below the rating stars) where it says "Email this." That email will send your friends a link, rather than the full story.

Finally, you can email the author from a link at the top of the web-page. Loads of positive feedback will encourage more animal protection stories from him. And you can keep the issue alive in next week's edition of Newsweek, on the widely read letters page, by sending a supportive letter to the editor at: letters@newsweek.com. Always include your full name, address, and telephone number when sending a letter to the editor.

Here is the link to the story:
msnbc.msn.com/id/8525632/site/newsweek/

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. To unsubscribe, go to www.DawnWatch.com/unsubscribe.php. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

Here is the Newsweek article:
msnbc.msn.com/id/8525632/site/newsweek/

What We Owe What We Eat

Why, Matthew Scully asks, is cruelty to a puppy appalling and cruelty to livestock by the billions a matter of social indifference?
By George F. Will
Newsweek

July 18 issue - Matthew Scully, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, is the most interesting conservative you have never heard of. He speaks barely above a whisper and must be the mildest disturber of the peace. But he is among the most disturbing.

If you value your peace of mind, not to mention your breakfast bacon, you should not read Scully's essay ''Fear Factories: The Case for Compassionate Conservatism—for Animals." It appeared in the May 23, 2005, issue of Pat Buchanan's magazine The American Conservative—not where you would expect to find an essay arguing that industrial livestock farming involves vast abuses that constitute a serious moral problem.

The disturbing facts about industrial farming by the $125 billion-a-year
livestock industry—the pain-inflicting confinements and mutilations—have economic reasons. Ameliorating them would impose production costs that consumers would pay. But to glimpse what consumers would be paying to stop, visit factoryfarming.com/gallery.htm. Or read Scully on the miseries inflicted on billions of creatures ''for our convenience and pleasure":

"... 400- to 500-pound mammals trapped without relief inside iron crates seven feet long and 22 inches wide. They chew maniacally on bars and chains, as foraging animals will do when denied straw... The pigs know the feel only of concrete and metal. They lie covered in their own urine and excrement, with broken legs from trying to escape or just to turn ..."

It is, Scully says, difficult, especially for conservatives, to examine cruelty issues on their merits, or even to acknowledge that something serious can be at stake where animals are concerned. This is partly because some animal-rights advocates are so off-putting. See, for example, the Feb. 3, 2003, letter that Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals—animals other than humans—sent to the terrorist Yasir Arafat, complaining that an explosive-laden donkey was killed when used in a Jerusalem massacre.

The rhetoric of animal "rights" is ill-conceived. The starting point, says Scully, should be with our obligations—the requirements for living with integrity. In defining them, some facts are pertinent, facts about animals' emotional capacities and their experience of pain and happiness. Such facts refute what conservatives deplore—moral relativism. They do because they demand a certain reaction and evoke it in good people, who are good because they consistently respect the objective value of fellow creatures.

It may be true that, as has been said, the Puritans banned bearbaiting not because it gave pain to the bears but because it gave pleasure to the spectators. And there are indeed degrading pleasures. But to argue for outlawing cruelty to animals because it is bad for the cruel person's soul is to accept, as Scully does not, that man is the only concern.

Statutes against cruelty to animals, often imposing felony-level penalties, codify society's belief that such cruelty is an intrinsic evil. This is a social affirmation of a strong moral sense in individuals who are not vicious. It is the sense that even though the law can regard an individual's animal as the individual's property, there nevertheless are certain things the individual cannot do to that property. Which means it is property with a difference.

The difference is the capacity for enjoyment and suffering. So why, Scully asks, is cruelty to a puppy appalling and cruelty to livestock by the billions a matter of social indifference? There cannot be any intrinsic difference of worth between a puppy and a pig.

Animal suffering on a vast scale should, he says, be a serious issue of public policy. He does not want to take away your BLT; he does not propose to end livestock farming. He does propose a Humane Farming Act to apply to corporate farmers the elementary standards of animal husbandry and veterinary ethics: "We cannot just take from these creatures, we must give them something in return. We owe them a merciful death, and we owe them a merciful life."

Says who? Well, Scully replies, those who understand "Judeo-Christian morality, whose whole logic is one of gracious condescension, or the proud learning to be humble, the higher serving the lower, and the strong protecting the weak."

Yes, of course: You don't want to think about this. Who does? But do your duty: read his book ''Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy." Scully, a conservative and hence a realist, knows that man is not only a rational creature but a rationalizing creature, putting his intellectual nimbleness in the service of his desires. But refraining from cruelty is an objective obligation. And as Scully says, ''If reason and morality are what set humans apart from animals, then reason and morality must always guide us in how we treat them."

You were warned not to read this. Have a nice day.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
-----------------------------------
My letter in response:

Letters@newsweek.com

Dear Editor:

Kudos to George Will for discussing conservative Matthew Scully’s challenging writings on current massive abuses of animals on modern “factory farms” (“What We Owe What We Eat,” July 18 issue). What makes the situation far more scandalous is that this widespread mistreatment is to create a product that is contributing to an epidemic of disease, and its production contributes significantly to many current environmental threats. Hence a switch toward plant based diets is not only an individual choice today; it is also a societal imperative, necessary to help shift our imperiled planet to a more sustainable course, and a religious imperative, because the production and consumption of meat contradict basic religious mandates to preserve our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help hungry people.

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

Return to Top

==============================
6. Spreading the Jewish Vegetarian Message

Message from JVNA advisor and web site coordinator Noam Mohr

I think it would be good to know about Jewish events that could be the target of leafletting or some other outreach activity. I don't mean just synagogue meetings, I mean large festivals and conferences. Ones for rabbis would be particularly good. I don't know of any, but they must exist. Some of our members might know of some, and we can see it there's anything we can organize at these events.

--------------------------------
If you know of Jewish, vegetarian, and/or other events where Jewish vegetarian leaflets and booklets can be distributed, please let us know. Thanks.

Thanks Noam, for this valuable idea.

Return to Top

=========================
7. Another Article in Yosef Hakohen’s Series on "Relating to Other Creatures"

[We plan to establish a link from the JVNA web site to all of these insightful and informative articles when the series of articles is completed.]

The Journey to Unity - 123c

Emulating the Divine Nurturing:

"The Holy One, Blessed be He, sustains all creatures" (Talmud: Shabbos 107b)

Dear Friends,

The Talmud records that Rabbi Yehudah said in the name of Rav: "In all creation there is nothing that lacks a divinely-appointed purpose" (Shabbos 77b). All forms of life serve the unifying Divine purpose, and the Divine plan entitles each creature to receive what it needs in order to fulfill its purpose within creation. As Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch writes in his commentary on the Torah (Genesis 15:8), this Divine plan is called "tzedek" - one of the biblical terms for justice; moreover, the benevolent deeds which fulfill this plan are called "tzedakah." Our sages therefore describe the Creator's nurturing of all life in the following manner:

"He does tzedekah and nourishes, supports, and sustains all who come into the world and all that He created." (Tanna Devei Eliyahu 17:8)

A person who strives to live according to the Torah's principle of tzedek in all areas of his existence is called a "tzadik." In this spirit, King Solomon wrote, "A tzadik knows the needs of his animal's soul" (Proverbs 12:10). The Malbim, a noted 19th century biblical commentator, explains that the tzadik understands the nature of his animal, and he gives the animal its food in its proper time and according to the amount it needs. He also makes sure to fulfill the mitzvah to feed one's animal before one feeds oneself. For the tzadik, writes the Malbim, lives according to the following code: "The tzadik acts according to the laws of tzedek; not only does he act according to these laws with human beings, but also with his own animal."

The Malbim mentioned the mitzvah to feed our animals before we feed ourselves. In the following passage, the Talmud states that a source for this mitzvah can be found in the Divine statement which mentions the feeding of animals "before" the feeding of human beings:

"Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rav: A person is forbidden to eat before he gives food to his animal, as it states (Deut. 11:15): 'I will give grass in your fields for your cattle,' and it then concludes, 'and you shall eat and be satisfied.' " (Brochos 40b)

Based on the above teaching, the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, an abridged code of Torah law, states: "One who owns animals or fowl that depend upon him for their sustenance is forbidden to eat anything until he feeds them (42:1). (Some possible exceptions are discussed in the notes which appear at the end of this letter.)

What is the reason or reasons for the mitzvah of feeding our animals before we feed ourselves? Before we begin to discuss this question, we need to be aware that our finite minds cannot fully understand the infinite wisdom of the Compassionate Creator Who gave us the Torah and its path of mitzvos. For example, we may not be aware of all the various ethical, spiritual, and metaphysical benefits which a mitzvah brings to ourselves and the world. As a result, when we begin to discuss a reason for a mitzvah, we do so with the humble awareness that the Torah is a deep sea of spiritual wisdom and we have only begun to explore the surface of this sea.

One possible reason for this mitzvah is because human beings were assigned the task of being the caretakers of the earth and its creatures (Genesis 2:15). This mitzvah therefore serves as a reminder of our Divine mandate. In addition, this mitzvah may be a branch of another mitzvah which we will discuss in future letters: the prohibition against causing needless pain to living creatures. As we shall later discuss, this prohibition also obligates us to alleviate the pain of a suffering animal; thus, if animals in our care are hungry, we certainly have an obligation to feed them! The book, "The Vision of Eden" by Rabbi David Sears (pages 203, 204), cites other reasons offered by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. For example, Rabbi Kook writes:

"Aside from enjoining us to recognize our obligation of active concern for the welfare of all creatures, according to the lofty station of this holy directive, it is required as an act of justice, since by means of the animal, the human being forth bread from the earth, and 'abundant produce from the power of the ox' (Proverbs 14:4)." (Ein Ayah, Vol. II, Berachos, chap. 6, par. 26)

Rabbi Kook adds: "This precept not only expresses compassion, but also reflects the justice of showing gratitude; for if not for the animal, the human being would not gain the necessities of life."

We refer to the obligations of a mitzvah as "halacha" – Torah law. The word "halacha" is derived from the Hebrew word "holech" – to walk. For a halacha reveals the way we are to walk in this world. And the halacha to feed our animals before ourselves remind us to walk in this world in a way which is both compassionate and just to other living creatures.

Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen (See below)

Related Teachings and Comments:

1. Rabbi Kook offers another reason why we feed our animals before ourselves. He states: "It also must be pointed out that a human being who lacks food temporarily can quiet the distress of his soul by pursuing various forms of spiritual gratification, due to his higher soul and intellect. However, the animal that suffers pangs of hunger has nothing with which to distract her soul."

2. According to halacha, we are allowed to drink before giving water to our animals. We learn this insight from a story about our righteous mother, Rebecca: After a long journey, Abraham's servant, Eliezer, arrived at the well of her village, and the young Rebecca, who was at the well, first gave drink to the weary and thirsty Eliezer, before giving drink to his animals (Genesis 24:11-21). Another source for this teaching is the following Divine statement to Moses: "Give drink to the congregation and to their animals" (Numbers 20:8). Moses was told to give water to the people "before" the animals. The reason for this halacha may be because a human being initially experiences more suffering from thirst than from hunger; thus, a human being will find it harder to postpone drinking than to postpone eating. (See the commentary of the Torah Temimah to Genesis 24:14.) In fact, the Ohr Ha-Chayim writes that a human being is even permitted to eat before his animals when there is danger to human life or when a delay in eating would cause human suffering (commentary to Genesis 24:19). For example, someone who was feeling weak would be allowed to eat before giving food to his animals.

After writing the above, I was informed by Rabbi David Sears that there is a new Torah work which discusses the above laws called "Nefesh Kol Chai" – The Soul of All Living Beings" by Rabbi Yitzchak Eliyahu Stern. This work was published in Jerusalem two years ago by Mosad le-Idud Limud ha-Torah. Rabbi Stern states that the law of feeding one's domestic animals first only applies to the case of a meal, not a snack (citing the Taz and a number of other halachic authorities.) He also states that human suffering takes precedence over feeding one's animals -- although he should feed them as soon as possible afterward. He brings this in the name of the Yad Ephraim, Orach Chaim, 167 on the Magen Avraham, s'if katan 18, in the name of the Ohr Ha-Chayim on Geneisis 24:19.

Rabbi Stern also cites the law that with regard to drinking a human being takes precedence, and he cites Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank who states that the reason is because a human being initially will have more suffering from postponing drinking than from postponing eating (Har Zvi on Orach Chayim 1, no. 90).

3. The above information is for study purposes and is not meant to serve as a final source of halachic decisions. If you have practical halachic questions, please ask a qualified halachic authority. Some sources which discuss the above information are: Sefer Chassidim 531, and Magen Avraham to Orach Chayim 167:6 – Section 18 of Magen Avraham.

Hazon - Our Universal Vision: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/

Return to Top

=========================
8. My letter to the Jerusalem Report

July 10, 2005
Editor, the Jerusalem Report
jrep@jreport.co.il

Dear Editor:

In arguing against vegetarianism, Gabriel Martingale makes at least three incorrect assertions (letter: "The Meat of Judaism," July 25, 2005 issue.) He asserts that "vegetarianism is not a doctrine consistent with the Bible," ignoring that God's first dietary regimen was strictly vegetarian (Genesis 1:29); that manna, a vegetarian food "like corriander seed" kept the Israelis in good health for 40 years in the wilderness and when the people cried out for flesh, many died at "the Graves of Lust," while eating the quails that God reluctantly provided: and that the Messianic Period will be vegetarian according to Rav Kook, first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, based on Isaiah's prophecy of the wolf dwelling with the lamb and the lion eating straw like the ox.

He states that vegetarianism has nothing to do with Torah Judaism, ignoring that animal-based diets and modern intensive animal agriculture violate Torah mandates that we guard our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help hungry people. Finally, he furthers the myth that the Nazis were militant vegetarians ignoring that, contrary to Nazi propoganda, Hitler was not a vegetarian for most of his life as documented in "Hitler: Neither Vegetarian Nor Animal Lover," by Rynn Berry (Pytagorean Publishers, 2004).

Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz

Return to Top

==============================
9. NASA satellites reveal quickening rise in sea level

Thanks to JVNA advisor and NASA employee John Diamond for forwarding the following article to us:

NASA's network of Earth-observing satellites has revealed that global ocean levels have risen at a more rapid pace over the past 12 years than in previous decades.

Over the past 50-100 years, Earth-based tide gauges have shown ocean levels rising at a rate of 1.8 millimeters (.07 inches) a year, according to NASA. By contrast, satellite data gathered since 1992 has shown that the rate has risen to 3 millimeters (.12 inches) a year.

Half of that annual rise is due to ocean warming, which causes the water itself to expand. Most of the rest is due to ice sheet and glacier melting in Greenland and Antarctica, according to Steve Nerem, associate director at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research in Boulder, Colo.

In drawing these conclusions, NASA has relied on data from the joint U.S./French Ocean TOPography Experiment (TOPEX/Poseidon) and Jason spacecraft, which measure ocean height; the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat), which studies the mass of polar ice; and the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE), which maps the movement of water mass over the Earth's surface.

Although sea level changes have occurred throughout history, "what is different today is that many, many people today are living in low-lying, vulnerable coastal regions," according to Waleed Abdalati, head of the crysopheric sciences branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

A 3-foot rise in sea level would affect 100 million people worldwide, Abdalati said. The estimated cost of such a rise for the U.S. alone runs in the hundreds of billions of dollars, he said.

Jefferson Morris (jeff_morris@AviationNow.com)

Return to Top

==============================
10. Study Indicates that a Switch toward Vegetarianism Would Substantially Reduce Global Warming

Vegetarianism 'could help climate'
06/07/05 - News section

Climate change could be reduced if mankind swapped their pork chops for tofu sausages, according to new research.

A scientist claims ditching meaty meals in favour of nut roasts could do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions than burning less oil and gas.

The radical new theory argues livestock animals bred to be eaten produce 21% of the carbon dioxide attributed to humans. So by trading the traditional Sunday roast for an environmentally-friendly mung bean casserole, damaging emissions can be slashed.

The innovative new theory would mean the mass slaughter of all livestock.

Author of the new anti-climate-change strategy Alan Calverd outlined his plan in this month's issue of Physics World.

He argued vegetarianism had no adverse health effects and his proposal required no new technology. It would free up huge swathes of farmland which could be used to produce biofuels to further cut C02 emissions.

He said: "I am not a vegetarian or an animal-rights advocate nor am I even convinced that carbon dioxide is a significant contributor to climate change.

"But a worldwide reduction of meat production in the pursuit of the targets set in the Kyoto treaty seems to carry fewer political unknowns than cutting our consumption of fossil fuels.

"It also appears to offer genuine benefits. Moreover, it is a simple reversible experiment that can be initiated by redirecting agricultural policies and subsidies, monitored in real time, and abandoned at any stage.

"It takes about 60% less land to produce a given quantity of fat and protein from plants than from animals. If we cultivated the same fields, the world would be in food surplus rather than shortage."

©2005 Associated Newspapers Ltd •

Return to Top

===========================
11. Veggie Jews Schedule an Event in NYC

Forwarded message from JVNA advisor Manny Goldman:

Could you pls post this to yr email groups? Can u suggest anyone else I could contact on this short notice?

(Please cross-post to Jewish and veggie groups and calendars)

Please join Veggie Jews and volunteer host Jean Thaler for dinner on Tuesday, July 26, 2005, at 6:30 p.m. when we will meet at Candle 79 restaurant, 154 East 79th Street (near Lexington) in New York City.

Candle 79 is an upscale, east-side, vegan eatery that many folks claim is among the best vegan restaurants in New York. The restaurant is within easy walking distance of the 6-train 77th Street station. To check out the menu go to http://www.menupages.com/ and look-up Candle 79.

If you will attend, please reply to veggiejews@cyberonic.com no later than Monday evening, July 25, at 5 p.m. (Eastern Time.) To avoid being forced into a fixed price menu, we're reserving space for no more than 12 people so walk-ins without reservations will only be accommodated on a space-available basis. For that reason, reservations are strongly recommended.

For information on Candle 79, call (212) 537-7179. For New York public transportation information, please go to http://www.ny.com/transportation.
----------
"G-d said, 'See, I give you every seed-bearing plant that is upon all the
earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours forfood. And to all the animals on land, to all the birds of the sky, and to everything that creeps on earth, in which there is the breath of life, [I give] all the green plants for food.' And it was so. And G-d saw all that He had made, and found it very good." [Genesis, 1:29-31]

Veggie Jews is an on-line and real world organization with events in local communities dedicated to supporting Jewish vegans and vegetarians of all ages and spreading vegan, vegetarian and animal rights values into the Jewish community. Our non-Jewish friends are always welcome. Please tell a friend about us. We're on the web at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/veggiejews.

And remember: It's only kosher if it's cruelty-free.

Visit your group "VeggieJews"
on the web.

Return to Top

=========================
12. Are We in For a Hard Landing as Oil Starts to Become Scarcer?

Thanks to JVNA member Terry Davis for forwarding the following article:
------------------------------
PlanPutnam@yahoogroups.com

Published on 1 Jul 2005 by Ecology Center. Archived on 9 Jul 2005.

Preparing for a Hard Landing: Mendocino gets ready for the end of oil
by Linnea Due

A stir runs through the crowded, darkened room; at least 80 people from the small northern Mendocino town of Laytonville have turned out to watch a sobering documentary, The End of Suburbia. On-screen, Matthew Simmons, energy adviser to the Bush Administration, warns that we're already at or past the peak in global oil production and that the long haul down the other side is likely to be grim. Simmons is joined by geologists, writers, and policymakers, including author Richard Heinberg and British oil expert Colin Campbell.

Their thesis—that the age of the automobile, and thus the 50- or 60-year-long blip of suburban living will soon join the dinosaurs—is convincing. And don't, they warn, expect to be saved by flying cars or light rail: even if nuclear reactors, wind power, and solar are combined, the energy produced comes nowhere near the abundance we've enjoyed from petroleum products and natural gas—which is also running out.

As the projector goes dark, the audience, made up of people of all ages, shifts forward on butt-chilling metal chairs. "This is nothing less than the collapse of the American Dream," posits moderator Alison Pernell. Smart and savvy, with long blond hair and an athletic build, Pernell would be recognizably American anywhere. "We're going to be impacted really hard in a rural area," she continues, and several people chime in, predicting runaway inflation—nearly everything in town is brought in by truck.

Meetings such as these—called economic localization gatherings—began last October in the larger town of Willits, 25 miles south of Laytonville. Biologist-turned-activist Jason Bradford showed The End of Suburbia at the Willits City Hall, to an audience of 20. A few weeks later, he screened it again, and 60 people came. The next showing drew 90, all wanting to talk and plan. Bradford realized he had a movement on his hands.

A steering committee formed, and soon smaller committees, divided into topics such as food, shelter, water, and health, began to research and plan how Willits citizens could survive in the absence of oil and its cheaply transported goods. Acreage-per-person needed to provide food was estimated, and those figures generated the amount of farmland that needs to be put into production annually—starting now. Warns Bradford, "You have to create a sense of urgency without also creating panic or paralysis."

Other towns have similar programs, such as Santa Barbara, Toronto, and Astoria, Oregon with its Titanic Lifeboat Academy. The Willits group has created a valuable online resource that includes a history of the group and a plan for a 1,000-square-foot biointensive garden, among other things. Willits is taking notice: the city council uses the town's group for information-gathering, and the town's new hospital will be powered by alternative energy, a change brought about by the surge of future-thinking.

Several people from Laytonville brought the movement north this April. Two more meetings have been held since, and the ideas are coming fast and furious: start a community stable, join together to buy arable land, take up the pavement for community gardens. Questions can be challenging: should high school kids concentrate on computer literacy or farming? If we convert to solar, how can we maintain batteries past their ten-year lifespan?

At a June meeting, participants placed Post-Its—yellow for what you'd like to learn, green for what you can teach to others—under broad categories like Food, Transportation, Health, and Organization. Energy garnered the most yellow and fewest green stickers, signaling that outside education probably will be needed in this area.

But most agree the town of 1,500 has advantages. It is ber-community-based, and a large percentage of the populace make their living in agricultural pursuits—never mind what kind; the skill sets transfer. Besides, quips Pernell, "Some of you have been waiting for
this since the '70s."

Return to Top

=========================
Quotations
--------------------------------
"God is good to all, and His mercy is upon all of His works" (Psalms 145:9).

"The righteous person understands the needs of his animal" (Proverbs 12:10).

"Just has God has compassion for humans, so He has compassion for animals" (Midrash: Devarim Rabbah 6:1).

"We should regard all creatures as our friends in the universe, for we are all created beings whose abilities are God-given" (Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov ["Master of the Good Name"] 1698-1760)

Just as [God] is merciful, so shall you be merciful. (Talmud: Sota 14a).

God watches over and shows mercy to all. Similarly, a person should be benevolent to everyone, and no creature should seem despicable to him. Even the smallest living thing should be exceedingly worthy in his eyes. (Rabbi Moses Cordovero).

The Maker of All, the Wise One Who transcends everything, is associated with His creatures in having made them. To disparage them, God forbid, would reflect upon the honor of their Maker. (Rabbi Moses Cordovero)

Love of all creatures is also love of God, for whoever loves God, loves all the works that He has made. (Maharal of Prague).

The rabbis regarded the human body as a sanctuary (Ta'anit 11a-b).
Since maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of God – for one cannot understand or have any knowledge of the Creator if one is ill - therefore one must avoid that which harms the body and accustom oneself to that which is helpful and helps the body become stronger.
- Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot

Jews comprise only a small percentage of the world’s people. We are responsible for only a small portion of the problems resulting from modern intensive livestock agriculture. However, it is essential that we Jews strive to fulfil our challenge to be a light unto the nations and to work for tikkun olam – the healing and repair of our imperfect and unjust world. This mission must include the lightening of the immense burden of our diets on animals, the environment and the world’s poor and hungry. To do so is to demonstrate the relevance of Judaism’s eternal teachings to the problems of the world today.

=========================
** Fair Use Notice**
This document may contain copyrighted material, use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. I believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

7/10/05 Special JVNA Newsletter - Rav Kook

Shalom everyone,

This special Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter is devoted to a major article about Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook’s Vegetarian writings. As indicated in the article, some opponents of vegetarianism are trying to use some of Rav Kook’s writings to oppose vegetarianism. So, I think that it is very important to have such an article.

I want to express much appreciation to Rabbi Dovid Sears for his major contribution to this article. His dedication and scholarship are reflected in virtually every section of the article.

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

===================
The Vegetarian Teachings of Rav Kook
Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.
with the editorial assistance of Rabbi David Sears

Some of the strongest support for vegetarianism as a positive ideal in Torah literature may be found in the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook (1865-1935). An outstanding student of the Netziv of Volozhin and other Lithuanian Gedolim, Rav Kook was first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel and a revolutionary Orthodox Jewish thinker in the early 20th century. He was a profound mystic, innovative halakhist, prolific writer and poet, and one of the foremost Torah scholars of modern times.

Rav Kook saw himself as a bridge between two worlds: the old world of the European shtetl and the new world in which once-rigid religious, intellectual, and cultural boundaries were rapidly dissolving. Thus, he addressed the diverse questions of Jewish intellectuals torn between tradition and modernism, and inspired many people to pursue spiritual, rather than materialistic goals. He also urged the religious community to become more involved in social questions and efforts to improve the world. And he championed the return of the Jewish people to Israel, not only to escape persecution, like the proponents of secular Zionism, but to fulfill our religious destiny as individuals and a nation. His boldly stated teachings on ethical vegetarianism are found primarily in Chazon ha-Tzimchonut vi-ha-Shalom ("A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace"), edited by his saintly disciple Rabbi David Cohen (1887-1973), "The Nazir of Jerusalem."

Based on careful scriptural analysis, Rav Kook contended that the Torah's permission to eat meat was only a temporary concession; it was patently unthinkable to him that a Merciful God would forever impose a natural order by which animals would be killed for food. He stated:

It is impossible to imagine that the Master of all that transpires, Who has mercy upon all His creatures, would establish an eternal decree such as this in the creation that He pronounced "exceedingly good," that it should be impossible for the human race to exist without violating its own moral instincts by shedding blood, be it even the blood of animals.

Rav Kook inferred that the Torah's phraseology -- "after all the desire of your soul you may eat meat" -- contained a concealed reproach. He predicted that a day would come when people will detest eating the flesh of animals because of a moral loathing -- "and then it shall be said that 'because your soul does not long to eat meat, you will not eat meat.' "

Along with permission to eat meat, Judaism mandates many laws and restrictions concerning the slaughter of animals and preparation of meat, which make up the bulk of the kosher laws. Rabbi Kook explained that the reprimand implied by these elaborate regulations is meant to raise the consciousness of the Jewish people, to get us to think about what we are eating and how we are eating, with the aim of eventually leading us back to God’s initial vegetarian regimen (Genesis 1:29).

This echoes the words of the illustrious Torah commentator Rabbi Solomon Ephraim Lunchitz of Prague (d. 1619), author of K'li Yakar ("A Precious Vessel"):

What was the necessity for the entire procedure of ritual slaughter? For the sake of self-discipline. It is far more appropriate for man not to eat meat. Only if he has a strong desire for meat does the Torah permit it, and even this only after the trouble and inconvenience necessary to satisfy his desire. Perhaps because of the bother and annoyance of the whole procedure, he will be restrained from such a strong and uncontrollable desire for meat.

Rav Kook saw the craving for meat as a manifestation of spiritual decline, rather than an inherent need. Like medieval authorities Rabbi Isaac Arama, author of Akeidat Yitzchak ("Binding of Isaac"), and Rabbi Joseph Albo (1380-1444), author of Sefer ha-Ikkarim ("Book of Fundamentals"), he believed that in the days of the Messiah, all humanity would return to a vegetarian diet. Rav Kook stated that in the Messianic Epoch, "higher knowledge (da'at) will spread even to animals." This echoes Isaiah's prophecy: "And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox . . . They shall neither hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain (Isaiah 11:6-9).

According to the preeminent kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), this may be taken literally: animals, too, will attain levels of wisdom and understanding that are now exclusively associated with humans, and they will return to the Edenic vegetarian diet. Rabbi Kook believed that the vegetarianism of the generations before Noah represented a high moral level, and that a virtue so precious could not be lost forever. Therefore, in the Messianic Age, as in the beginning of creation, humans and animals will no longer eat flesh. Just as men will cease exploiting one another, the predatory instinct will be removed from the animal kingdom, and creatures will no longer kill one another to live.

Indeed, in another of his philosophical works, Rav Kook asserted that during the Messianic Age, the sacrificial offerings in the Third Holy Temple in Jerusalem will consist of vegetation alone.

Rav Kook’s Critique of Vegetarianism

Yet despite Rav Kook’s sympathy toward vegetarianism, he did not take an unequivocal position. He understood vegetarianism as representing a higher level of piety for those inclined toward it on ascetic grounds, and because it is associated with the peace and harmony of the Messianic Age. However, he regarded the widespread adoption of vegetarianism with caution. Rav Kook's vegetarian ideal is primarily associated with the "End of Days." Therefore, recent critics of vegetarianism have used some of Rav Kook’s other teachings and personal practices to oppose this diet. Below are some examples, with responses from a pro-vegetarian point of view following in each case.

1. Rav Kook was not a vegetarian.

Response: While Rav Kook ate a small amount of chicken on Shabbat as a symbolic reminder that the Messianic Age had not yet arrived, his diet was primarily vegetarian, and he felt that vegetarianism represented a Jewish ideal. Moreover, his leading disciple Rabbi David Cohen, the "Nazir," was a devout vegetarian, with his master's blessing. (As mentioned above, the Nazir compiled and edited Rav Kook's "Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace," based on two earlier essays.) According to all authorities, we are now much closer to the Messianic Age; what the world is going through is only the "darkness before the dawn." Therefore, if personal practice were the only problem with enlisting Rav Kook in the vegetarian camp, this would not constitute an insurmountable problem. Given all that has happened in the last one hundred years, we cannot state with certainty that Rav Kook would still hesitate to fully embrace vegetarianism if he were alive today.

2. Rav Kook did not allow his son Rabbi Zvi Yehudah Kook to become a vegetarian, and even encouraged him to study ritual slaughter.

A leading authority on Rav Kook's thought, Rabbi Bezalel Naor, has recently mustered evidence that Rav Kook did not approve of his son's youthful desire to become a vegetarian, objecting that just such "poetic souls" are obliged to eat at least a modicum of meat in these times. This appears to be consistent with Rav Kook's personal custom (although one letter indicates that he also was concerned for his son's health). The reason for this attitude apparently reflects the kabbalistic doctrine of the "elevation of the holy sparks" present in such foods. Their ascent is only accomplished when those of high spiritual attainments consume them and then use the energy derived from the food to study the Torah and perform the mitzvot.

Being central to Jewish mysticism, the argument of "elevating the holy sparks" is an unassailable one. However, its "flip side" is that most of us lack the qualifications to bring about this tikkun (spiritual rectification). The kabbalists warn that the entire enterprise of eating is a risky business. If one fails to elevate the transmigrated souls and holy sparks trapped in food, one may be harmed by them. This is especially true of meat. Therefore, many great Jewish mystics minimized or entirely avoided eating meat, as Rabbi Chaim Chizkiyahu Medini (1833-1903) states in his masterwork, S'dei Chemed ("A Desirable Field"). This caution would seem to apply particularly to an ordinary person, lacking the requisite attainments to elevate the holy sparks in meat.

What complicates things is that Rav Kook seems to have taken contradictory positions. On the one hand, he understood vegetarianism as befitting those more highly evolved individuals who are closer to the Messianic ideal. (This view is reflected in the works of the medieval sages Rabbi Isaac Arama and Rabbi Joseph Albo, mentioned above.) An example that immediately comes to mind is his disciple, the Nazir. Just to double-check, we recently called the Nazir's son, Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, Chief Rabbi of Haifa and president of Ariel Institute. He informed us that Rav Kook was entirely approving of his father's vegetarianism, since he knew the Nazir to be a spiritually refined person and an accomplished Torah scholar. At the same time, though, Rav Kook apparently considered eating meat to be the spiritual responsibility of individuals of this caliber  for example, his son, Rabbi Zvi Yehudah. (This view represents many kabbalists and Chassidim, the school of Chabad in particular.)

Rav Kook's self-contradiction is not lost on Rabbi Naor, although he does not attempt to resolve it. The sources Rabbi Naor presents overtly address the issue of shechitah, but they go hand in hand with Rav Kook's views on the spiritual and ethical aspects of eating meat. In a letter dated Jaffa, 1909, Rav Kook writes to his disciple, Benjamin Menashe Levin:

It goes against the clear emotions of the heart that a talmid chakham (Torah scholar), a spiritual man, should be permanently engaged in the taking of animals' lives. Though shechitah (ritual slaughter)—and in general the consumption of animals—remains a necessity in this world, nevertheless, it would be fitting that this work be done by men who have not yet evolved to the level of refinement of feeling. Educated ethicists, on the other hand, should be supervisors (pekidim) to insure that the killing of the animals be not barbaric, and that there enter into this entire area of meat consumption an ethereal light which might one day illumine the world. This [light] is truly contained in the laws of shechitah and tereifot (unfit animals), as is well known to us. (Igrot Rayah, vol. I, p. 230)

This clearly indicates that the shechitah inevitably goes against the grain of a spiritually evolved person's sensibilities. However, in a series of letters written between 1916-1917 to his son studying in Switzerland, he states:

"I am pleased that you agree to study shechitah. I accept that you delay the study until after the holidays of Tishrei. These days do not afford the tranquility necessary for one starting this expertise, especially if he be a poetic soul…" (Ibid. p. 53)

"It is several letters now that I have forgotten to inquire whether you are practicing shechitah. How does the matter appear to you? How do you relate to this holy work? For sensitive, thinking people, it requires will power, strength of character blessed with patience." (Ibid. p. 79)

One might speculate that Rav Kook may have felt that to become an "educated ethicist," his son needed to gain hands-on knowledge of shechitah. Or perhaps he was being disingenuous. The elder Kook may have felt that for religious or emotional reasons, his son needed to engage in such tasks. In addition, he may have felt that the young man could not be relied upon to practice vegetarianism responsibly, especially while living away from home.

Whatever the case, it must be acknowledged that despite these ambiguous remarks about shechitah, Rav Kook clearly sees animal slaughter and the consumption of meat as moral concessions. Consider his concluding words in "A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace" (italics added):

At that time [i.e. the Messianic Age] human beings will recognize their companions in creation: all the animals. They will understand how it is fitting from the standpoint of the purest ethical standard not to resort to moral concessions, to compromise the divine attribute of justice with that of mercy [by permitting mankind's exploitation of animals]  for they will no longer need extenuating concessions, as in those matters of which the Talmud states: "The Torah speaks only of the evil inclination" (TB Kiddushin 21b). Rather they will walk the path of absolute good. As the prophet declares: "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 also will banish the bow and sword, and war from the land" (Hosea 2:20).

3. Rav Kook considered vegetarianism as an ideal for the Messianic Age when people will have a heightened spiritual awareness, but he argued that vegetarianism should not be widely adopted as a norm of human conduct before that time.

Response: A pragmatic reply would be that as we become increasingly aware of the devastating effects of animal-based diets and animal agriculture on human health and environmental sustainability, waiting for the Messianic Age to shift toward vegetarianism appears to be something that the world can no longer afford to do.

Many of the problems related to modern intensive livestock agriculture have become far worse since Rav Kook died in 1935. One can only wonder what his views would be today if he were aware of the diseases, soaring medical costs, increasing environmental threats, widespread hunger, cruel treatment of animals, and other negative effects of animal-centered diets and agriculture. Rav Kook did not address these practical issues, which no doubt seemed less urgent one hundred years ago.

There is a spiritual reply, as well. In a booklet that summarizes many of Rav Kook's teachings, the late Joe Green, a Jewish vegetarian writer, concluded that by adopting the vegetarian diet that will be practiced during the Messianic Age, Jewish religious vegetarians are "pioneers" of that long-awaited time. They are leading lives that reflect some of our loftiest religious ideals, and thus hasten the coming of the Messiah.

More decisively, in recent times there have been a number of vegetarian Chief Rabbis, all of whom have ties to Rav Kook's school of thought -- including the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel; Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa; Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of England; and Rabbi David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland. None of them have advised "ordinary" Jews not to be vegetarians. On the contrary, by their word and example they have shown that vegetarianism is a legitimate Jewish option, even today.

4. Rav Kook asserted that at present, other societal issues such as the enmity between nations and racial discrimination should be of greater moral concern to humanity than the well being of animals. Hence, he advocated that people first work on such societal issues rather than on improving the lives of animals.

Response: Vegetarian diets are not beneficial only to animals. They also improve human health, help the hungry through better sharing of food and other resources, put less stress on endangered ecosystems, conserve valuable resources, and in so doing reduce the potential for war and violence. As Chassidic master Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810) wryly observes, "The fighting doesn't begin until the food runs out!" In view of the many global threats related to today’s livestock agriculture, involving the raising of 50 billion farmed animals worldwide annually, working to promote vegetarianism may be one of the most important actions one could take for the benefit of humanity and our imperiled planet.

Without a doubt, Rav Kook is correct is stating that there is a hierarchy of moral concern. Judaism clearly rejects the moral equivalence of animals and humans. However, it could be argued on firm rabbinic grounds that the two spheres of concern are not mutually exclusive. Compassion is "contagious." Showing kindness and sympathy toward anyone or anything tends to increase similar sentiments toward other living things.

This concept is implied by Maimonides in Moreh Nevuchim ("Guide of the Perplexed"), where he discusses the Noachide Commandment of eiver min ha-chai, the prohibition of eating the limb of a living animal. He says this is prohibited "because such an act would produce cruelty and develop it." The same idea is reiterated by the author of Sefer ha-Chinnuch ("Book of Instruction"). This reflects the interpretation of the Midrash Tanchuma that Israel was given the laws of shechitah (ritual slaughter) in order to refine their moral sensitivities. Some authorities also understand this to be among the reasons for the scriptural prohibition of tzaar baalei chaim (cruelty to animals). This assumption is supported by scientific studies showing that those who abuse animals as children often go on to commit violent crimes as adults. The converse is also true: compassion toward animals leads to compassion toward other humans. This is stated by the Sefer ha-Chinnuch concerning the law of not muzzling an ox while it is treading grain and elsewhere.

Often one hears comments that the Nazis were kind to their animals, yet were cruel to humans. The implication is that for some reason, those who are kind to animals lose all compassion for humans. This is the antithesis of the principle espoused by Maimonides and other authorities above. However, even if there were cases in which a Nazi was nice to his dog or cow, this would not invalidate compassion to animals as a moral virtue. Rav Kook himself said that even in the worst of people one could find some admirable traits. The claim that Hitler was a vegetarian happens to be spurious: his biographers have pointed out that he enjoyed Bavarian sausages, and ate pork, liver, and the flesh of animals taken in hunting. Hitler was the antithesis of an ethical vegetarian. But even if we should find that certain cruel and deluded people nevertheless have felt sympathy toward animals, what would this prove?

If critics of vegetarianism must resort to "character assassination," no doubt it is possible to find some immoral or wrong-headed people who are also vegetarians. Let us say it openly: vegetarianism does not validate all of the opinions and habits of its adherents -- nor is it the solution to all of the world's problems! However, when judged on its own merits, vegetarianism may rightfully be perceived as an important part of that solution.

5. Rav Kook criticized people who promote vegetarianism these days, in our imperfect world, fearing they might use vegetarianism as an excuse not to be involved in other important societal issues.

Response: Certainly Rav Kook was right in criticizing anyone so deluded as to think such a thing. However, in fact, many famous vegetarians have also been great humanitarians, concerned about improving conditions for people as well as animals. Some examples are Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, Mahatma Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, Plutarch, Franz Kafka, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and S. Y. Agnon. One would assume that without exception this includes Orthodox Jewish vegetarians, who are dedicated to upholding all of the Torah's commandments, whether they apply to our relationship with God, our fellow men, or animals and nature.

Vegetarianism need not be a retreat from our responsibilities toward humanity. Rather, it is an important way to improve the lot of the world's population. Moreover, what ethical vegetarian claims that issues affecting the well being of people should be ignored so that greater attention can be given to improving conditions for animals? If such individuals exist, they are few and far between. Indeed, their main claim to fame would be in providing an "easy target" for those who seek to delegitimize ethical vegetarianism.

In reality, animal activists tend to be deeply concerned about the problems of their fellow humans. One example immediately comes to mind: for most of history there has been a prevailing attitude that children do not have "rights," just as many people feel that way today about animals. Yet, it was the animal welfare people who spearheaded the drive to institute child labor laws and avoid the shameful exploitation of poor children in the United States, all this at a time when others saw nothing wrong with the way children were being treated. If we look at the human plight in the world today, no reasonable person, vegetarian or otherwise, could possibly think that all of the problems affecting us have been solved.

6. Despite his strongly pro-vegetarian stance, Rav Kook considered this diet to represent a spiritual rung that is presently too difficult for most human beings to attain.

Response: As we have mentioned, there is a time-honored tradition of ascetic vegetarianism in Judaism, particularly among the kabbalists. Certainly this type of vegetarianism is appropriate only to a spiritual elite. However, the vegetarian of today is not so restricted as his forebears (at least not in modern western societies). Virtually every supermarket offers an increasingly varied selection of vegetarian foods, some with the texture and taste of animal products. Most of these products have a hechsher (kosher supervisory symbol). Therefore, it does not require such a great sacrifice for a person to switch to a vegetarian diet today.

Yet even if a person felt that a completely vegetarian regime would be too restrictive, it would be beneficial to reduce the amount of meat in one's diet, perhaps limiting it to the Shabbat, Yom Tov, and special festive occasions. The health benefits alone of such "semi-vegetarianism" would still be significant. Moreover, this is consistent with the practice of many devout Jews even today, who consider indulgence in meat during ordinary weekdays to be a form of gluttony.

Several authorities, including Don Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1509), Rabbi Ovadia Sforno (1470-1550), and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888), point out that the Torah's concession for humans to slaughter animals for food is dictated by need. Since the biblical Flood, the world's climate has been radically altered, as well as man's physical constitution. Therefore, indigenous populations of places like the Himalayas or the Andes that have short growing seasons may have no recourse but to raise animals for food. Let us concede this. Yet what percentage of the world's population lives under such extreme conditions? According to the Worldwatch Institute:

Global meat consumption is highly concentrated, dominated by only a few nations. The United States and China, which contain 25% of the world's population, combine to consume 35% of the world's beef, over half of the world's poultry, and 65% of the world's pork. If Brazil and the European Union are included, this group consumes over 60% of the world's beef, over 70% of the world's poultry, and over 80% of the world's pork.

Most of us eat meat not because we must, but because we desire it, we're used to it, and despite the annual warnings of the American Dietetic Association, we don't know better.

7. Rav Kook believed that when people take on austerities for which they are insufficiently prepared, their uncorrected evil traits inevitably will manifest themselves in other, possibly more harmful ways. He also observed that a common psychological strategy for a corrupt person is to whitewash his self-image by finding an extremely idealistic cause to champion. He felt that these dangers apply to ethical vegetarianism. If the premature embrace of this lofty expression of compassion for animals should fail, Rav Kook warned, it could lead to moral regression -- even to cannibalism.

Response: One would be hard pressed to find any religious Jewish vegetarians who advocate that the consumption of animal products be banned, based on halachah (Torah law). The law is clear that animals may be slaughtered to serve any legitimate human need, that of food in particular. Jewish vegetarians fully acknowledge that we have a choice -- but this choice should not be made on the basis of desire alone, but only after considering modern-day realities of the production and consumption of meat, and how such procedures too often impinge on basic Jewish teachings. Ethical vegetarianism belongs to the category of lifnim meshurat ha-din -- going beyond the "letter of the law" in order to emulate the divine attribute of mercy and compassion. However, should a person feel unable to remain on a vegetarian diet, he or she certainly has the option of returning to the former meat-based diet.

As for the assertion that people deprived of the ability to eat meat might become cannibals, it has not been demonstrated that there have ever been cannibals who were formerly vegetarians. If anything, the opposite is true: carnivores deprived of meat have been known to become cannibalistic.

In fact, as Rav Kook acknowledges, humans have a deeply ingrained ambivalence toward eating meat. We try to suppress our awareness of everything that went into the production of that meat -- suffering on factory farms and during transport, pain of slaughtering, etc. This is one of the reasons why meat products are packaged and served the way they are. When one stops eating meat, such thoughts no longer have to be suppressed.

Yet there is something to Rav Kook's equivocation. It must be admitted that vegetarianism may be used for self-serving psychological ends. Some may even use vegetarianism an outlet for their anger at social convention, or even the human condition as a whole. However, here, too, one must acknowledge that this can be true of any worthy cause -- and often is. It is unfair to single out vegetarianism for such criticism.

8. According to Rav Kook, because people had fallen to an extremely low spiritual level, it was necessary that they be given an elevated image of themselves as compared to animals. He feared that vegetarians might forget their human superiority and come to think of themselves as beasts.

Response: This argument was previously made by 14th century Jewish philosopher, Rabbi Joseph Albo. Yet he acknowledges that once a person has come to realize and embrace the higher spiritual calling of human beings, the need to consume meat as a reminder of that higher calling falls away.

The reason why we should concern ourselves with the plight of animals is precisely because we are human. If Jewish teachings regarding both people and animals were more widely known and put into practice, people would become aware of both the sanctity of every person, created in the image of God, and the fact that our mandate to imitate God’s attributes of compassion and justice dictates that we improve conditions for animals. A vegetarian diet should only reinforce our humanness, and thus elevate our moral sensitivities and standards.

Moreover, if we look at the behavior of most animals and compare it with the behavior of mankind, animals might not fare so badly. Many years ago (and perhaps today), the Bronx Zoo had a cage labeled "the world's most dangerous animal." Looking between the bars, all you could see was your reflection in a mirror! Animals kill for food and for reasons of survival, whereas humans also kill for power and even pleasure. Humans have the faculty of speech, but it is often used for evil, be it slander, lashon hara (badmouthing), profanity, or just plain humiliation. This echoes the words of our sages in the Talmudic discussion of the laws of damages: "A human being is always considered dangerous (mu'ad, literally "forewarned"), whether inadvertently or intentionally, whether asleep or awake."

Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat, Israel, infers the human potential for great good or great evil in the biblical command that human beings have "dominion" over other creatures (Genesis 1:26). He points out that vi'yirdu, the Hebrew word for "have dominion," can also mean "to descend." Thus, he observes, "The very ability to rise above our animal instincts can also cause us to sink to levels of depravity far below an animal's capacity." It may be argued that one of the ways we may affirm our human moral superiority is by showing greater compassion toward animals, rather than by yielding to our own base instincts in wantonly and heartlessly exploiting the animal kingdom.

In conclusion, the present state of animal agriculture and the excessive consumption of meat in our society lead to the violation of basic Jewish values, and have disastrous consequences for human health and environmental sustainability. Rav Kook believed that vegetarianism is the diet most consistent with Jewish teachings, and none of his secondary concerns -- expressed before the widespread expansion of factory farming with all its attendant problems, as well as animal slaughter by mass production -- should prevent Jews from electing to follow vegetarian diets, in anticipation of that time when "none shall hurt nor destroy in all of God’s holy mountain" (Isaiah 11:9).

7/7/05 JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

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

1. I Was Inducted into the North American Vegetarian Society’s Hall of Fame

2. Producing a Jewish Vegetarian Video

3. Noam Mohr Article in the Jewish Journal

4. Responding to Recent News About Mad Cow Disease

5. Another Article in Yosef Hakohen’s Series on "Relating to Other Creatures"

6. Some Items From the COEJL Community E-bulletin #26

7. More On the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Lawsuit Against the Dairy Industry

8. Lantern Books - Publishers of Books on Animal Advocacy,
Vegetarianism, and Environmentalism - Announces Essay Contest

9. Two Challenging Analyses of Animal Welfare Issues in "War of the Worlds"

10. American Vegan Society Conference Scheduled

Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.

[Materials in brackets like this [] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]

Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue. Also, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observance, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in.

As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,
Richard

=========================
1. I Was Inducted into the North American Vegetarian Society’s Hall of Fame

Below is a news release announcing my induction into the NAVS Hall of Fame. Many thanks to JVNA advisor and editor Syd Baumel for his many valuable suggestions that greatly improved my initial draft. Suggestions welcome as I plan to send the release to the Jewish media and others soon. I believe that this shows how religious groups and individuals can work together cooperatively. Suggestions re building on this event to further the vegetarian cause are also very welcome.

I heard some wonderful talks at the NAVS Summerfest conference by many vegetarian experts, including Dr, John McDougall, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, and Howard Lyman, that reinforced my belief that a major shift toward vegetarianism is essential for human health and environmental sustainability.

News Release

For Immediate Release:
July 7, 2005

CONTACT:
Professor Richard Schwartz, 718-761-5876 (rschw12345@aol.com)

MAJOR VEGETARIAN SOCIETY HONORS TIRELESS ADVOCATE OF JEWISH VEGETARIANISM

Longtime Jewish vegetarian and environmental activist Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS). The event at the NAVS 31st annual Summerfest on July 3 at the University of Pittsburgh marked the recognition by North America’s largest secular vegetarian organization of an activist who has worked tirelessly since 1978 to advocate ethical vegetarianism in the Jewish community and other communities. "This wonderful honor will inspire me to work even harder toward a vegetarian world,” said Dr. Schwartz, author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, Judaism and Global Survival, and Mathematics and Global Survival and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the College of Staten Island. Dr. Schwartz also spoke at this year's Summerfest on "Judaism and Vegetarianism" and "Ten Approaches to Obtain aVegetarian-Conscious U.S. by 2010."

Founded in 1974, The North American Vegetarian Society (www.navs-online.org) is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting the vegetarian way of life. Previous Hall of Fame inductees include Mahatma Gandhi, Howard Lyman (the cattle rancher who persuaded Oprah Winfrey to swear off hamburger) and the founders of the American Vegan Society (AVS) and the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG).

“Animal-based diets and modern intensive animal agriculture violate basic religious mandates to preserve our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people, and pursue peace and nonviolence,” said Dr. Schwartz, adding that “animal-based diets and the production and consumption of animal products are having devastating effects on human health and the world’s ecosystems.”

Dr. Schwartz, the 71-year-old father of 3 children and grandfather of 9 grandchildren, all of whom live in Israel, is a resident of Staten Island, New York. He is the author of over 130 articles on Judaism and vegetarianism which can be read on the website of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America at www.jewishveg.com/schwartz. He is a frequent speaker in the United States and Israel and has published articles in numerous magazines and newspapers.

Dr. Schwartz is President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and Coordinator of the Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV).

“The world is threatened today as perhaps never before,” said Dr. Schwartz, “and a switch toward vegetarianism is a societal imperative, essential to help shift the world to a more sustainable path, and a religious imperative, necessary to show the relevance of ancient traditions to modern crises.”

Return to Top

=========================
2. Producing a Jewish Vegetarian Video

While at the NAVS Summerfest, I saw “Honoring God’s Creation,” a wonderful 26 minute video produced by the Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA). This is a great tool for their outreach to churches. I think it would be marvelous if we produced a video based on Jewish teachings and statements by some of our leading Jewish vegetarian activists. The key people behind the production of “Honoring God’s Creation” were at the Summerfest and they all very generously offered to help if we decided to go ahead in producing a JVNA video.

If you have any suggestions re this possibility, please let me know. Thanks.

Return to Top

=======================
3. Noam Mohr Article in the Jewish Journal

2005-06-24
A Holocaust-Inspired Vegetarian
by Noam Mohr
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/searchview.php?id=14259

Recently, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) issued an apology for its Holocaust on Your Plate campaign and exhibit, which showed concentration camp images next to photos of animal abuse on factory farms. The comparison was extraordinarily tasteless, and widely condemned. PETA expressed surprise at the negative reaction, and while they should have known better, their campaign has thankfully ended.

However, we should not go as far as some who disavow any consideration of the Holocaust in reacting to cruelty to farm animals. PETA’s display was vulgar and offensive, but it taps into a deep call for justice that should speak to anyone who still feels the utter horror of the Final Solution, which continues to cast its dark shadow over the Jewish collective memory.

I remember as a child listening to survivors’ stories of utter inhumanity, trying to imagine the incomprehensible magnitude of suffering. I once started counting to 6 million, calculating that it would take months to do so even without stopping to eat or sleep.

Long after the war, my grandfather, an Auschwitz survivor, would cover his mouth in panic attacks, believing he smelled the gas. On Holocaust Memorial Day, I always confronted the unfathomable question of how so many people could act with a complete lack of compassion or basic moral decency. While such monstrous evil flourished, people went about their lives averting their eyes.

For me, these stories were defining elements of my moral character. The ethnic cleansings in Bosnia, the genocide in Rwanda — these were different from the Holocaust in important ways. And yet, the specter of concentration camps and gas chambers hangs over my head when I read about these atrocities, while the world does nothing.

I still remember when I first learned about factory farms. Animals crammed in crates and cages so tightly they could not turn around, lie down or stretch a limb; living in their own filth, beaten with iron bars and electric prods. Body parts torn off with pliers or mutilated with hot knives. Animals’ bodies hormonally and genetically manipulated to grow so fast that their legs deform and break under their own weight. Animals never allowed to breathe fresh air, feel sunlight, experience any mental stimulation or feel any affection. And then meeting their final fate, often skinned alive or drowned in tanks of scalding water.

Raised with storybook pictures of pigs rolling in the mud and chickens pecking in the barnyard, the reality of modern agriculture shocked me. The enormity of it — literally billions of animals each year suffering this miserable fate in our country alone — was incomprehensible. I’d never heard about it before — why was nobody talking about it? Could I justify these horrific abuses just for the momentary pleasure of flesh on my tongue? After all, these cruelties were not driven by ideology, but by economics: they were doing it because I was paying them to.

Had I not been raised under the shadow of the Holocaust, I might very well have chosen simply not to think about it. How easy it would have been to avert my eyes and enjoy my chicken wings. But the memory of 6 million murdered Jews spoke to me. Not because of some offensive equating of concentration camp victims with animals, or of the Holocaust with farming, but because I could not let myself be like the Germans who allowed themselves to be complicit in a massive crime. One does not have to offensively compare Jews with cows, or an ideology of hate with profit-driven cruelty, to see the application of what for me was a central lesson of the Holocaust: When the strong abuse the weak, we should not remain silent.

This was how the Holocaust inspired me to stop eating animal products. And I am hardly alone. Just as Holocaust memories have inspired so many Jews to fight for civil rights, religious freedom and other forms of social justice, they have also inspired many of us to fight against the horrors of factory farming. Doubtlessly, PETA was hoping for this kind of thinking with their wildly inappropriate exhibit, expecting that the injustice of the Holocaust would wake our consciences about another, albeit completely different, injustice. Unfortunately, in spite of their repeated assertions that they were not equating humans and animals, their exhibit appeared to do just that. People were rightly outraged.

Nevertheless, I worry that many Jews will remember the Holocaust but forget its lessons. We should never avert our eyes to cruelty, and say, “I don’t want to think about it.” Critics of the PETA exhibit universally concede that the factory farm cruelties are wrong, but have let PETA’s exhibit distract them from speaking out against these cruelties. With the exhibit over, we no longer have any excuse.

Right now animals are being squeezed into trucks so tightly that their innards prolapse. Animals with broken legs are being dragged to the slaughterhouse by chains behind trucks. Animals are being branded with hot irons and castrated without painkillers. Sick or injured animals are left without medical care to die slow, painful deaths. The abuses go on and on. While we shouldn’t need to remember the Holocaust to know this cannot be justified merely to please our palates, that memory serves for me as a stark reminder that I want no part in mercilessness.

Noam Mohr is coordinator of Jewish Vegetarians of North America. The views expressed here, however, are his own.

© 2005 The Jewish Journal, All Rights Reserved

Return to Top

=========================
4. Responding to Recent News About Mad Cow Disease

Now that "mad cow disease" has been in the news again with the discovery of a cow in the U.S. with the disease, we should consider how to use news articles to further the vegetarian cause. As the sample letter and op ed article (written during the first mad cow scare in the US) below indicate, I have been trying to promote the idea that the recent publicity about mad cow disease should make us aware of an even greater problem is what I have dubbed "mad people disease." I have been receiving a general favorable response so far to this approach and would like to consider ways of expanding its use. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Many thanks,
-------------------------
Letter
Dear editor,

Its incredible. Just one cow in the United States is found to have "mad cow disease" and there seems to be tremendous concern throughout the United States, and at least twelve countries have stopped importing beef from the United States. However, I believe that far greater threats are associated with what, with some writer’s license, I call "Mad People’s Disease" (MPD).

MPD enables many intelligent people to be greatly concerned about eating meat after one "mad cow" is found in the US, while they ignore the many scientific studies that link heart disease, stroke, many types of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases, as well as various digestive problems to animal-based diets

MPD enables otherwise compassionate people to ignore the fact that ten billion animals in the U.S. alone are raised for food annually under cruel conditions, in crowded, confined spaces, where they are denied fresh air, exercise, and any natural existence.

MPD enables people normally concerned about the well being of their fellow human beings to disregard the fact that 70 percent of the grain grown in the United States and over one-third of the grain grown worldwide is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as an estimated twenty million of the world’s people die annually because of hunger and its effects.

MPD enables people who are concerned with the sustainability of the planet to ignore the significant contributions of animal-based agriculture to air, water, and land pollution, species extinction, destruction of tropical rain forests and other precious habitats, shortages of water and other resources, global climate change, and many other threats.

I urge the Advance to do a tremendous public service by using your excellent reporters and editors to help make Staten Islanders aware of the urgency of a switch toward plant-based diets for our personal health and that of our imperiled planet, and thereby to help reduce "Mad People Disease."
-------------------------
Op-ed Article

WORSE THAN MAD COW DISEASE – "MAD PEOPLE DISEASE"
Richard H. Schwartz

In the Torah’s story about Joseph, Pharaoh has a dream in which seven sickly cows consume seven healthy cows. Joseph interprets this, and Pharaoh’s other dream of seven withered ears of corn consuming seven full ears of corn, to indicate that there will be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by seven years of severe famine. Today, we do not have a Pharaoh’s dreams to warn us of impending dangers, but we have a somewhat comparable situation in which cows with "mad cow disease" in England, Canada, the United States, and other countries are having devastating effects on cattle industries in these countries. Just as Pharaoh’s advisors were unable to interpret his dream, today’s "experts" assure us that people have little to fear from mad cow disease and that everything is under control. Kosher meat industry representatives assure us that the risk from eating kosher beef is especially small because the laws and practices of kosher slaughter, such as not stunning animals prior to slaughter and not slaughtering sick animals, reduce the risk of Jews who eat kosher beef getting the human form of mad cow disease.

As Joseph recognized Pharaoh’s dreams as a wake-up call to take steps to save people from a future severe famine, perhaps we need a modern day Joseph to recognize that recent instances of mad cow disease should lead us to recognize the many ways that the widespread production and consumption of meat and animal products threatens humanity.

I believe, respectfully, that a major reason that we are not able to foresee the potentially devastating effects of modern intensive livestock agriculture and the widespread consumption of animal products is that many people today, including many Jews, are afflicted with what I call, with some writer’s license, "Mad People Disease" (MPD).

MPD enables many intelligent people to be greatly concerned about eating meat after one "mad cow" is found in the US, while they ignore the many scientific studies that link heart disease, stroke, many types of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases, as well as various digestive problems, to animal-based diets

MPD enables otherwise compassionate people to ignore the fact that ten billion animals in the U.S. alone are raised for food annually under cruel conditions, in crowded, confined spaces, where they are denied fresh air, exercise, and any natural existence.

MPD enables people normally concerned about the well being of their fellow human beings to disregard the fact that 70 percent of the grain grown in the United States and over one-third of the grain grown worldwide is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as an estimated twenty million of the world’s people die annually because of hunger and its effects.

MPD enables people who are concerned with the sustainability of the planet to ignore the significant contributions of animal-based agriculture to air, water, and land pollution, species extinction, destruction of tropical rain forests and other precious habitats, shortages of water and other resources, global climate change, and many other threats.

MPD enables Jews, many of whom are very knowledgeable about Judaism, to ignore the inconsistencies between animal-based diets and agriculture and important Jewish mandates to preserve human health, treat animals compassionately, protect the environment, conserve resources, help feed hungry people, and pursue peace

Consistent with our charge to be a "light unto the nations," "a holy people," and "rachmanim b’nei rachmanim" (compassionate children of compassionate ancestors), and with the wise advice of the biblical Joseph, I hope that the current mad cow disease publicity will awaken the Jewish community to the need to shift from current dietary and agricultural practices. This challenge to "mad people disease" would be a tremendous kiddush Hashem (sanctification of G-d’s Name) and would greatly improve the health of Jewish and other people and our imperiled planet.

Return to Top

=========================
5. Another Article in Yosef Hakohen’s Series on "Relating to Other Creatures"

Previous letters in this series - "Relating to Other Creatures" – now appear in the lower section of the archive on Hazon’s website.

Hazon - Our Universal Vision: www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/
-----------------------------------
The Journey to Unity – 121

The Song of the Date Palm:

"A righteous person will flourish like a date palm, like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall." (Psalm 92:13)

Dear Friends,

The date palm is a tree which gives forth sweet and nutritious fruits, and as the classical commentator, Rashi, explains, the palm tree flourishes when it gives forth its life-giving fruits. Through its song, the date palm is conveying to us the following message: When you see my special strength, you are seeing the special strength of the "tzadik" - righteous person. For just as I give forth sweet fruits which nurture and prolong life, so too, the words and deeds of the righteous person are sweet and nutritious "fruits" which nurture and prolong life.

The song of the date palm is taken from Psalm 92, and this song does not speak about the righteous person in the present tense; it does not state, "A righteous person flourishes like a date palm, like a cedar in Lebanon, he is tall." Instead, it speaks in the future tense by saying that the righteous person "will flourish" and "will grow tall." This alludes to the idea that righteous people are in a process of growth, and they are always striving to produce new "fruits"; thus, in its description of the righteous, Psalm 92 adds, "They will still be fruitful in old age; they will be full of sap and freshness" (verse 15).

I have a Jewish friend who is in his late 50's, and during the last decade, he has been seriously exploring his spiritual roots. The more he studied Torah, the more aware he became of the spiritual potential of the Jewish people. He then realized that the best way for us to contribute to the world is through developing this potential. He decided that he wanted to devote the future to teaching others about our spiritual heritage, and he therefore enrolled in a special program that will give him a degree in Jewish education. Not long after he told me about his decision, I heard a story about an African-American women, age 56, who has begun to study Judaism in order to convert. There are also stories of people who "retired" at the age of 65, and who began a new life of spiritual growth through study and/or community service. All these stories serve as a reminder that we can develop the strength of the date palm and continue to produce spiritual fruits throughout our lives. During our older years, we can be, in the spiritual sense, "full of sap and freshness," perhaps even more than when we were younger! As Bob Dylan used to sing, "But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."

Within the song of the date palm, we can find a special message of hope for people who are unable to have children and thereby fulfill the mitzvah to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). Such individuals may often feel that they are like a barren tree which produces no fruits. Many centuries ago, the Prophet Isaiah addressed this concern when he proclaimed the following Divine message to those without children: "Let not the barren one say, 'Behold I am a shriveled tree' " (Isaiah 56:3). After conveying this Divine message, the Prophet adds:

"For thus said the Compassionate One to the barren ones who observe My Sabbaths and choose what I desire, and tightly grasp My covenant. In My house and within My walls, I will give them a place of honor and renown, which is better than sons and daughters; eternal renown will I give them, which will never be terminated." (ibid 56:4,5)

People who are unable to have children are not to consider themselves to be "shriveled trees." If they do what the Compassionate One desires, then they can be compared to fruitful trees, such as the date palm. Their "fruits" are the good and holy deeds which they perform through fulfilling the teachings of the Torah – our Covenant with the Compassionate One. These fruits are "better than sons and daughters," and the Midrash elaborates on this idea:

Rabbi Judah Ben Shalom, the Levite, said that when a person departs from the world without children, he is troubled and weeps. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, says to him: "Why do you weep? Is it because you did not leave fruits in this world? You have left fruits which are more valuable than children!" The person then asks: "Master of the Universe, what fruits have I left?" And the Holy One, Blessed Be He, answers: "The fruits of Torah - the Tree of Life, as it is written (Proverbs 11:30): 'The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.' " (Midrash Tanchuma, Noah 2)

In his commentary on this verse from Proverbs, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch explains: "For the righteous person, everything he does is a tree of life. Out of his every deed grows something beneficial and life-giving to his surroundings" (From the Wisdom of Mishle, page 69). In the deepest sense, a righteous person is never barren, for such a person "will flourish like a date palm."

Shalom,
Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen

Related Teachings and Comments:

1. It is interesting that in the song of the date palm, we also find praise of the cedar tree: "like a cedar in the Lebanon, he will grow tall." The ArtScroll commentary writes: "Just as the palm tree includes the cedar in its praise, so the righteous are generous in praising others." ("The Lebanon" is a biblical term for a region of mountains in the north of the Land of Israel.)

2. According to the Talmud, the reason why the date palm and the cedar of the Lebanon are mentioned in the same song is because each has a quality which the other lacks (Ta'anis 25a &b). The date palm produces fruits, while the cedar does not. But when the date palm is cut down, its trunk dries in the ground. When the cedar of the Lebanon is felled, however, its roots and stumps remain alive and a new cedar shoot will sprout in its place. According to the Etz Yosef commentary on the Talmud, this power of renewal within the cedar of the Lebanon represents the power of renewal in the "tzadik" – righteous person. As it is written, "For though the tzadik may fall seven times, he will arise, but the wicked will stumble through evil" (Proverbs 24:16).
There is a beautiful explanation of this verse by the rebbe of my rebbe, Rav Yitzchak Hutner, a leading sage who headed the Chaim Berlin Yeshiva. Rav Hutner explains that the real meaning of this verse is not that the tzadik manages to rise again after falling seven times, but that the essence of the tzadik's rising is through his seven falls. Through these falls, he gains new insights and strengths which enable him to rise higher. (Pachad Yitzchak – Letters and Writings, p. 217)

Return to Top

=========================
6. Some Items From the COEJL Community E-bulletin #26

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
June 29, 2005

IN THIS ISSUE: (not all items are included in this newsletter)

TAKE ACTION: Action Updates on Pesticides; Climate Change
CELEBRATE: Something Old, Something Pristine; Something Borrowed,
Something Green
LEARN: What's Jewish About Community Supported Agriculture?
GO GREEN: Green Mitzvot
ISRAEL'S ENVIRONMENT: Threats to the River Jordan
SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIELD: Jewish Community Briefing on Energy Policy
and Climate Change
NEWS AND MORE...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
TAKE ACTION
Action Updates on Pesticides; Climate Change

Washington, D.C. (June 29, 2005) - Earlier today, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) offered an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would prohibit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from accepting, considering, or relying on the results of human pesticide tests. The amendment would also prohibit the EPA from funding such tests during the next fiscal year. Without this provision, the Federal government could have relied on data from pesticide experiments conducted on pregnant women, infants, and even fetuses in utero.

Thankfully, the U.S. Senate passed the amendment today by a vote of 60-37. The support of the religious community was crucial to its passage and COEJL played a lead role in organizing this effort. Please contact your Senators and thank them for their support (yea) of the Boxer amendment, or, if necessary, let them know that you are disappointed with their vote (nay). To see votes, go to: www.coejl.org/action/alert/20050629.php

Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution in favor of mandatory greenhouse gas controls. To read COEJL's statement on the Senate climate change debate and votes, go to: http://www.coejl.org/news/20050623_climate.php

LEARN
What's Jewish About Community Supported Agriculture?

Summer is officially here and naturally our minds and taste buds turn to sustainably farmed fruits and vegetables. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are a way to support farmers while helping people in urban and suburban communities connect with the land, understand how their food is grown, and relate to the farmers who grow it. And, if the farm is organic, you can greatly reduce your exposure to unnecessary chemicals. CSA farmers often diversify their seed selection and offer many crop varieties including heirloom produce such as Purple Calabash and Green Zebra tomatoes - both flavorful and colorful. Enjoying the array of available fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers gives new meaning to these biblical words:

Mah rabu ma'asecha Adonai! Kulam b'hochmah asita, malah ha'aretz kinyaneha -- (How many are your works, God! All of them You created in wisdom; the world is filled with your possessions.)

To learn more about CSAs, visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_supported_agriculture
To read about Tuv Ha'Aretz, the first ever Jewish CSA project piloted
by the Jewish environmental organization, Hazon, see:
http://hazon.org/go.php?q=/projects/CSA/05-whatIsTuvHaAretz.html -
COEJL plans to integrate the Tuv Ha'Aretz program into our Greening
Synagogues initiative in New Jersey.

ISRAEL'S ENVIRONMENT
Threats to the River Jordan

With the River Jordan in danger of disappearing, high-ranking Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian officials met in March under the auspices of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). The three parties urged their governments to move quickly to save the river before the damage becomes irreversible. The biblical river -- a holy site for Christians, Jews and Muslims -- could dry up altogether during the summer season and be reduced to a meager flow during winter because of water diversions to Israel, Jordan, and Syria. "We have placed the future of the River Jordan on the public agenda in each of the affected lands," FoEME Israeli director, Gidon Bromberg, said afterwards.

Click http://jgenisrael.org/home2.html to learn more about Israel's environmental challenges and the Jewish Global Environmental Network.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIELD
Jewish Community Briefing on Energy Policy and Climate Change

COEJL co-hosted a Jewish community roundtable on energy policy and climate change in Washington on June 23. Jewish community leaders representing over a dozen national organizations attended the event. The program included briefings on national energy policy from Reid Detchon, executive director of the Energy Futures Coalition and Sara Hessenflow, national security and climate policy analyst at Environmental Defense. Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, and Joe Goffman, legislative assistant and counsel for Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), led our discussion of climate policy.

Finally, we considered the proposed U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act. This legislation, which COEJL helped develop, would provide $20 million in new U.S. funding for energy and environmental technology projects in Israel. Don MacDonald from the office of Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), the lead Democratic sponsor of this bill, discussed the importance of the bill, along with Sarah Stern, director of governmental and public affairs for the American Jewish Congress.

Other event sponsors included the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, American Jewish Committee, and American Jewish Congress.

NEWS AND MORE

* New Release: In the Beginning: the Story of Genesis and Earth Activities for Children by Michael Caduto was recently published by Paulist Press. Contact michaelcaduto@p-e-a-c-e.net for more information or call (800) 218-1903 for orders.

* Energy Action is leading a group of young people on the "Road to Detroit" tour in a 40-foot, painted, souped-up school bus that runs on biodiesel and veggie oil. Along the way, they will advocate for state clean car bills, work with local environmental, eco-justice, and religious groups, gather signatures for a clean car pledge, and demonstrate to U.S. automakers that the American Dream can include more sustainable, cleaner, efficient vehicles. For more information and a trip schedule, visit: www.roadtodetroit.org

Return to Top

=========================
7. More On the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Lawsuit Against the Dairy Industry

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com

Dairy industry sued for weight-loss ads
By Marguerite Higgins
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published June 29, 2005

A Washington health group yesterday sued the dairy industry to stop its national advertising campaigns that promise weight loss with increased dairy consumption.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a group with 5,000 doctors in its 100,000-person membership, filed two lawsuits, a class-action and a personal injury suit, in the Circuit Court of Alexandria.

The group, which has supported obesity-related lawsuits in the past, said in court documents that several dairy associations and food companies deceived consumers with unsubstantiated scientific claims in its national campaigns, which include "3-a-Day of Dairy" and "24/24 Milk Your Diet."

The group advocates a plant-based vegetarian lifestyle, known as vegan.

The campaigns, which were based on six clinical and 21 observational studies, have cost the dairy industry about $200 million since they were introduced in 2003.

The campaigns say consumers can lose more weight by having 24 ounces, or three servings, of dairy products, such as milk, cheese and yogurt, daily with a reduced-calorie diet.

"The dairy industry is relying on suspect science" to support the weight-loss claims, said Mindy Kursban, the group's executive director and general counsel, at a press conference in the District yesterday.

The International Dairy Foods Association, a Washington trade group, and Dairy Management Inc., a Rosemont, Ill., umbrella organization for the National Dairy Council and the American Dairy Association, responded that the ads are backed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and extensive scientific research.

"This is not a 'dairy diet;' it's a recommendation that people shouldn't cut out milk and dairy products when they're trying to lose weight," the groups, both defendants in the lawsuits, said yesterday.

The organizations intend to continuing running the ads, said Susan Ruland, spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association.

Kraft Foods Inc., one of the food manufacturers listed as a defendant in one suit, also said it had not received any court documents. The company currently is not running any ads associated with the dairy weight-loss program, said spokeswoman Alyssa Burns.

General Mills Inc., the Minneapolis cereal and food company that also was listed as a defendant, planned to "defend itself vigorously in this matter," said spokeswoman Marybeth Thorsgaard.

In addition to seeking a court order to stop the dairy campaigns, Arlington resident Catherine Holmes is suing for the weight she said she gained while trying the three-servings advice from November to April.

Ms. Holmes, a 46-year-old project manager for an undisclosed government contractor, said she added about 4 pounds onto her 5-foot-5 frame by following the campaign's dietary advice.

She "significantly" added dairy products, like yogurt and milk, to her diet while cutting out meat and limiting her intake of peas, brown rice, lentils and other carbohydrates, the court papers said.

Ms. Holmes would not say whether she changed her caloric intake or exercise level.

Even though she has been a member of the physicians group for two years, Ms. Holmes said she believed the dairy diet could help her lose two dress sizes.

"I really want those ads to get yanked," Ms. Holmes said, adding she is seeking $236 in reimbursement for the dairy products she bought during the diet period.

Return to Top

=========================
8. Lantern Books - Publishers of Books on Animal Advocacy, Vegetarianism, and Environmentalism - Announces Essay Contest

Forwarded message from Lantern Books:

Dear Friend,

Lantern Books - publishers of books on animal advocacy, vegetarianism, and environmentalism - is pleased to announce our first annual essay competition. The aim of the competition is to allow new thinking to emerge on the key subjects of Lantern's publishing program and to encourage new voices to step forward to shape the debate for the future.

The first prize is $1000. There is no entry fee. Essays should be no longer than 1500 words. The deadline is December 31, 2005. Complete guidelines can be found at:

http://lanternbooks.com/essay.php

We encourage you to share this announcement with your students and colleagues through emails, websites or in print.

If you require any more information do not hesitate to write.

Warmest regards and many thanks,
Olivia Lane
Publishing Associate
Lantern Books
1 Union Square West, Suite 201
New York, NY 10003
212 414 2275 x16
www.lanternbooks.com

Lantern Books publishes books for all wanting to live with greater spiritual depth and commitment to the preservation of the natural world.

Return to Top

=========================
9. Two Challenging Analyses of Animal Welfare Issues in “War of the Worlds”

a. "War of the Worlds" -- Spielberg version hints at animal welfare issues

by Rabbi Yonassan Gershom

This week, the Steven Spielberg version of "War of the Worlds" opened in the theaters. Being a science fiction buff, I went to see it. This is not E.T. or even Jurassic Park -- its a much darker, heavier film (rated PG-13), with images reminiscent of 9/11. Having read the book and seen two previous film versions, I knew the basic plot: Space aliens invade, seem invincible, conquer the Earth, but are done in by our bacteria (no immunity). However, the Spielberg version adds a new detail: It explains WHY the aliens invade in the first place.

It seems they have returned to harvest their crop --humans -- and they do it with total ruthlessness. Their tripod ships clear-cut the Earth and leave nothing living behind. There are scenes of terrified humans in cages, waiting to be grabbed up into a big machine and made into fertilizer. I found myself thinking, this must be how animals feel when humans come in and raze the forests to plant whatever, with total disregard for the existing ecosystem. This must be how cows feel, standing in line waiting to be slaughtered. If people find the film disturbing (I certainly did) then maybe that is a good thing. Seeing ourselves treated "like animals" is serious food for thought.

-------------------------

b. War of the Worlds: The Best Animal Rights Movie of all Time!

There has been an ongoing debate in the animal rights community about what is, or would be considered, a major motion picture with an animal rights message. There was Babe which was hailed as a positive movie with a strong animal rights message, as was Chicken Run. Personally, I do not think that either of those movies deliver the sort of message I would expect to find in a true animal rights movie, yet it surprised me to find a movie that did deliver that message: War of the Worlds.

I have been a fan of H.G. Wells for many years, and the original War of the Worlds has always been one of my favorite movies. I have seen that movie so many times, but never once, while watching it, did the true message of the movie come though. It wasn’t until seeing the remake of this classic that it was sent home for me.

The new War of the Worlds shows, without compromise, that a future for human beings would look like if we were the animals being harvested and exterminated by a more advanced species. Humans live on this planet safe in the assumption that we are at the top of the food chain, and therefore safe from the abuse and exploitation we dole out to all animals on this planet. But what if there was something greater than us out there, that was also as spiritually un-evolved as human being, that would come to this planet and use us as the building blocks to create their world, which is the exact same thing we do to animals every day on this planet? What if overnight, humans were not the supreme rulers anymore, and our fate became the fate of the creatures we exploit to exist? What if we became the hunted, instead of the hunter? Would we be able to survive? Imagine a planet, where it is us, not rats or bunnies, which have their homes destroyed? Families broken apart? Bodies used as objects? Imagine the fear! Imagine if all of our human interests did not matter because the superior species looked at us and did not think that we were worthy of any rights? Imagine if we were discounted just like we discount the needs of non-human animals on this planet?

In a very memorable scene in the movie, Tom Cruise gets to see just what the aliens are doing with all the people they pick up with there tentacles. He witnesses a human man, being dangled by his feet (very reminiscent of a cow in a slaughterhouse) lowered to the ground, whereby a scary metal tube is thrust into the human and all of the humans body fluids are drained. The fluids were then used to spray over the planet to change the Earth to suit the needs of its new dominant species. The world was being fashioned to accommodate them, at the expense of us ö sound vaguely familiar? Either the aliens killed you, or they used your body as materials for their needs. In this scene, the man Tom Cruise was hiding with lost his mind and started digging a hole, shouting that they were not going to have his blood. He realized his fate, and it terrified him to the bone. Now can you tell me that a cow, being herded into a slaughterhouse, does not know he is about to die? Maybe you can say that they don’t, because we have humans who have decided that with science. But think about it; isn’t that what the aliens did to us in the movie? They discounted us, or just didn’t care. What we felt didn’t matter; it was all about them. We can never know what the cow thinks or feels because we are not a cow, but chances are, seeing how very similar all life on earth is, they do know and we are merely blind to that fact.

This movie tackles all of these issues, but the majority of people watching the movie will never see this message. To them, the movie is a blockbuster hit with Tom Cruise about aliens wreaking havoc on planet Earth. And yes it is that, but if you open your mind, and see what else the movie really is about, there is no doubt that this has to be one of the strongest animal rights movies made.

I enjoyed the movie, and I hope that others will see it with this message in the back of their minds. One thing I wish the movie did do was show what happened next. So the aliens died, thanks to a simple organism we take for granted: bacteria. Humanity ended up relying on nature, something we have spent thousands of years trying to dominate, to save us. Ironic? Yes. Before they died though, they killed the vast majority of humans on Earth, and destroyed much of the infrastructure we had built. So what next? Would the humans learn from the experience and no longer treat animals as the aliens had treated them? Or would they continue in denial and simply re-fashion the civilization that existed before the attack? Are humans ever going to get it? Are we ever going to spiritually evolve to a place where we see that our interests are not the only ones that matter? Is there any hope?

Shannon Elliott
University of Victoria Faculty of Law
Executive Director, Student Animal Legal Defense Fund
PO Box 2400, STN CSC
Victoria, British Columbia
V8W 3H7 - Canada
E-mail: sde@uvic.ca

Return to Top

=========================
10. American Vegan Society Conference Scheduled

Forwarded message from the American Vegan society:

Register now to attend

American Vegan Conference
at The Farm in Summertown Tennessee
Wednesday August 10 to Sunday August 14 2005

*Nutrition & Health Education
*Food Production and Preparation
*Environmental Sanity
*Compassion for Animals
*Relax & Refresh

The Farm is known for its pioneering work in soy-food production, environmental initiatives, midwifery, international aid, and nonviolent activism. Speakers, a unique blend of Farm experts and authors with Book Publishing, include: Louise Hagler, Jo Stepaniak, Cynthia and Bob Holzapfel, Karen Davis, Dr. Alan Goldhamer, Barb Bloomfield, Cherie Soria, Albert Bates, Vesanto Melina, Doug Stephenson, Frank Michaels, Brenda Davis, Elysa Markowitz

A Kids Vegan Summer Program (for ages 7 -14), directed by Andy Mars PhD (Kids Make A Difference), will run in conjunction with this Conference in The Farm's Ecovillage Training Center (7-day and 4-day options).

See www.americanvegan.org
Write American Vegan Society, PO Box 369, Malaga NJ 08328
Phone (856) 694-2887

Some financial assistance scholarships available. Apply to AVS.

Return to Top

=========================
** Fair Use Notice**
This document may contain copyrighted material, use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. I believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.