Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. Are Jews Obligated To Be Environmental Activists?
2. Material sought for a Special Book Review Issue of the JVNA Newsletter
3. A Major Jewish Outlet For Our Messages
4. Another Review of the Global Warming Movie "An Inconvenient Truth"
5. "Sacred Foods Conference" Scheduled
6. Is the Future of the World "In Our Hands"?
9. Muslims Protest Mistreatment of Animals
10. Challenging Letter on Vegetarianism by Roberta Kalechofsky
14. Lewis Regenstein Article on Jewish Teachings on Animals Published in Atlanta Jewish Weekly
15. Suing Schools for Mis-educating Students About Meat Consumption
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
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1. Are Jews Obligated To Be Environmental Activists?
The following dvar Torah was in the latest Canfei Nesharim newsletter. I think it deserves widespread consideration as it eloquently explains why Jews should be actively involved in trying to reduce environmental threats. More material from the Canfei Nesharim newsletter is below. I have edited the dvar Torah very slightly.
DVAR TORAH
Earth Day and the Ethical Obligation to Protect the Earth
By: Candace Nachman
Candace Nachman has a MA in Marine Affairs and Policy from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. She currently works on the Maritime Boundary Project at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Coast Survey. She is also very active with the "Green Group" at Kesher Israel Congregation in Georgetown, Washington, DC.
Thirty-six years ago, the first Earth Day was observed in the United States. Twenty million people, 2,000 colleges and universities, 10,000 grammar and high schools and 1,000 communities mobilized for the first nationwide demonstrations on environmental problems. The response was nothing short of remarkable, and the modern American environmental movement took off. What does this have to do with the Torah? As Orthodox Jews, do we have a moral and ethical obligation to protect the Earth?
The shortest answer I can give is this: G-d created the universe. Hashem is the one who created all the flora and fauna that we use for our existence. In Bereshit (Genesis) chapter 2 verse 15, it states, "G-d took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and watch it." This should be our first clue that the land is not ours. The Torah uses the word shamra from the root of shomer to watch or to guard. We are merely leasing this land from G-d. The specific type of lease we have on the Earth is that of a sho'el, a borrower.
According to the Shulkhan Aruch, borrowers may use any part of what they borrow -- but they must ensure that, at the end of the term of the lease, and at any given moment during the lease, the property is at least as valuable as it was at the beginning (See, e.g. Shulkhan Arukh, Hoshen Mishpat 291, 292). The modern day sustainability criterion that has been articulated follows very closely with the idea first put forth by the Rabbis. The modern criterion requires that resource use by any generation should not exceed a level that would prevent future generations from achieving a level of well-being at least as great. Environmental protection is required so as not to destroy G-d's Earth.
The rabbis of the mishnaic and Talmudic era understood Hashem's role in providing us with nature's wonders. They developed blessings for seeing a rainbow, upon experiencing a natural disaster, at the sight of a mountain, or hearing a clash of thunder. The Talmudic sages are the ones who first added the ritual of Kiddush Levanah, a blessing for the renewal of the moon. All this once again reaffirms the notation that Judaism's worldview is theocentric and not anthropocentric.
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said, three things are of equal importance: earth, humans, and rain. Rabbi Levi ben Hiyyata said:…to teach that without earth, there is no rain, and without rain, the earth cannot endure, and without either, humans cannot exist (Genesis Rabbah, 13:3). We exist in a very intricate balance with the Earth. Any disturbances cause major upsets as can be seen in today's world. Category 4 and 5 storms have doubled in the last 30 years, and according to the NOAA Weather Service, this cycle of severe storms will continue for many years to come.
A healthy environment in turn allows for healthy humans. The great sage Maimonides, who was also a physician, saw the ill effects environmental degradation could have on human health, and he proposed regulations to counter them in his Treatise on Asthma. Rabbi Yitzhak ben Sheshet of the early fourteenth century wrote responsa on the topic of noise pollution and its effects on urban dwellers. These are all topics which can be seen in environmental court cases in this country over the last century.
We are losing Earth's greatest biological treasures just as we are beginning to appreciate their true value. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Experts estimate that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists (http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm).
We cannot allow this destruction to continue. And, more importantly, we cannot sit back and do nothing to change our current path. I would like to share a midrash from Parashat Noach with you. "When Noah came out of the ark, he opened his eyes and saw the whole world completely destroyed. He began crying for the world and said, God, how could you have done this? ... God replied, Oh Noah, how different you are from the way Abraham ... will be. He will argue with me on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah when I tell him that I plan their destruction... But you, Noah, when I told you I would destroy the entire world, I lingered and delayed, so that you would speak on behalf of the world. But when you knew you would be safe in the ark, the evil of the world did not touch you. You thought of no one but your family. And now you complain? Then Noah knew that he had sinned" (Midrash Tankhuma, Parashat Noach). We hear and see the warnings of destruction today-global warming, overfishing, drought and famine-yet we do not fight for change. We ensure that we are alright, that we have enough to eat and that our homes are safe from the storm, and then call it a day. In this way we are no different from Noach.
The task of repairing the environment and returning it to a completely healthy state certainly cannot be achieved overnight. However, this should not be a free pass to do nothing. As Rabbi Tarfon says, "We are not obligated to complete the task; neither are we free to abstain from it" (Pirke Avot, 2:21). But this is not an easy task ahead of us. So where do we begin? In Hilchot Teshuva, Maimonides states the following regarding preparing for the High Holidays: "As one approaches the Days of Awe, one should consider the entire world as if it were exactly balanced between acts of righteousness and evil. The very next action you take, therefore, can save or condemn the world."
Only buy [more than] you need. Don't waste. Reuse and recycle the products you do buy. Turn off lights and appliances when you are not using them. Educate yourself on the issues by reading books and articles and watching documentaries. Then, take what you learn and tell it to others. On a bigger scale, you can commit to supporting a project that is working to improve life in a place suffering from poverty and environmental degradation. Another option is to become an environmental vegetarian or environmentally-conscious consumer. More than 70% of the grain grown in the US goes to feed livestock. The livestock flesh, in turn, will feed far fewer people than the feed that went into it. If all the grain grown for livestock were consumed directly by people, it would feed five times as many people as it does when fed to animals (S.V. Tahl). Only buy sustainable seafood. Do not consume species of fish that are overexploited. [If anyone would like me to send them a copy of my cover article on why people should not eat fish, please let me know.] Support organic farms. Their crop production is far less harmful to the environment.
I am not asking you to change the world tomorrow, and I certainly do not want you to believe that you must go the road alone. Judaism is a religion based on community. We come together for a bris when a boy is born. We need a minyan to pray. Even in death we come together as a community to console the mourners. Why then can we not make protecting the environment a communal Jewish effort as well?
As it says in Midrash Kohelet Rabbah: "When G-d created the first human beings, G-d led them around the Garden of Eden and said: 'Look at my works! See how beautiful they are-how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it.'"
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2. Material sought for a Special Book Review Issue of the JVNA Newsletter
I have received some very interesting books in the last six months or so, but I have not had a chance to review them. I would like to produce a special JVNA newsletter in the next month or two that will consider many recent books that consider vegetarianism, animal rights, health, environmental problems, and related issues. I plan to write some book reviews and will also consider material that you send me. I hope that readers will use the book reviews and other material to choose books to read that will help them better understand the issues and become more effective activists.
So, please send me material that you think should be included or considered in this special JVNA newsletter. Thanks.
And I apologize to those whose books I have received but have not had a chance yet to review,
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3. A Major Jewish Outlet For Our Messages
The message below is from Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious action Center (RAC), the social action unit of the Union of Reformed Jews (URJ). Since there are many Reform Jews who are very concerned about environmental, animal rights, health and other current issues, I believe strongly that we should actively participate at their web site and to their blogs as the message below invites us to do. I have already posted a response to the article on Al Gore’s new film "An Inconvenient Truth" (see the next item), which is at their web site. Please join in the discussion. And let us please seek ways of doing similar things at Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist and other Jewish web sites and blog sites.
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Dear Friends,
After months of conversations and consultations - and lots of terrific
work by Sean Thibault, our web manager, and Alexis Rice, our former
director of communications - I am pleased to let you know that the
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) has launched a new
design for our home page and blog.
The RAC Blog, quickly emerging as one of the most popular features on our site, sports a new look, including bios of our contributors, as well as new capability that enables us to use many features that have become standard on blogs: comments, so-called "permalinks," and RSS feeds. We're taking this opportunity to invite you to submit blog postings to us that we can share with our readers.
Our website, www.rac.org, long has been the hub of Jewish social justice online. Strengthening our efforts in advocacy, awareness, and activism, our new design will encourage users to access those elements and features that can be of most use to them, while continuing to support Reform Jewish values and perspectives on pressing issues. Further, we can more appropriately highlight features and new resources on our site that help build the crucial relationships that have made our social justice work so valuable.
We hope that you can take a moment to visit and explore our page, including the blog. We would love to hear your feedback, and there is even a handy form on the website for that very purpose! Please enjoy, and we hope that by improving our presence on the web, we can make it easier for your voice to be amplified.
We are very grateful for your support of the RAC, which enables us to continue to improve our communications.
If you have any technical or other questions about the site, please feel free to Contact Us.
Sincerely,
Rabbi David Saperstein
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4. Another Review of the Global Warming Movie "An Inconvenient Truth"
As indicated in the previous item, the following review is from the Religious action Center (RAC) web site. Please go to that site and post a comment. Thanks. Also, once again, please attend this movie shortly after it opens and please encourage many others to see it.
*** If you have suggestions re material for a flyer to be handed out at showings of the movie, please let me know. Thanks. ***
Al Gore: Matinee Idol
David Morrill Schlitt is a Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He is a graduate of Columbia University in New York City.
If an episode of Family Feud were to feature the category "Boring Things to Feature in a Wide-Release Film," one could imagine a high-ranking response being something like "Industrial-Grade Adhesives" or "A Slideshow." But the top-ranked answer, naturally, would be "Al Gore." As it happens, a movie starring both Al Gore and a slideshow will be coming to a theater near you in just a few months (Industrial-grade adhesives were conspicuously absent from the production). And amazingly, this film, An Inconvenient Truth, may be one of the most engaging movies to come out of Hollywood this year. (reviewer’s emphasis)
On Wednesday, April 26th, I had the opportunity to see an advance screening of An Inconvenient Truth ,arranged for environmental policy wonks, followed by a question-and-answer period with Vice President Gore and Davis Guggenheim, the director. The former-Veep was witty and engaging during the Q&A as he had the demeanor of a man grateful to be freed from the neutered vocabulary of the campaigning politician. And the movie’s tone exhibited a similar sort of passion.
An Inconvenient Truth chronicles the former Vice President’s efforts to raise awareness about climate change by barnstorming the globe and delivering a presentation he modestly refers to as his slideshow. In reality, Gore’s "slideshow" is a sophisticated production (complete with an original Futurama short) that lays out the science behind climate change and makes the case for an urgent and dramatic response. In An Inconvenient Truth, we see a side of Al Gore that many of us may not be used to: He’s both inspiring and inspired, and even funny and cool (albeit in the same way that your father the podiatrist is funny and cool).
Oh, and also: An Inconvenient Truth is scare-off-your-pants-terrifying. [reviewer’s emphaisis] I work on environmental issues at the RAC, I spend a lot of my time working on climate change, I figured I had this stuff pretty much down, but An Inconvenient Truth changed the way I looked at the problem. Thanks to the film’s power and clarity, I left the theater with a renewed sense of urgency regarding climate change. The film’s website is helpful enough to offer some very useful ways to act on that sense of mission. The site also has links to the trailer for An Inconvenient Truth, for those of you that like your movies two minutes long and tiny.
"Climate change," said Gore in the Q&A, "is not a partisan issue: it’s a moral issue -- the defining moral issue of our time." And the Veep, now done with politics, now a full-time advocate, calls on us to meet this challenge as a whole new Greatest Generation. That’s an epic mission he is charging us with. Except, instead of fighting in deadly hand-to-hand combat on the beaches of the Marianas Islands, we get to start out by watching a really neat movie. An Inconvenient Truth will be coming to theaters on June 2nd. {Actually on May 24]
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5. "Sacred Foods Conference" Scheduled
Forwarded message from JVNA advisor and agricultural expert Professor Joe Regenstein:
[It would be great if one or more people on this list attended and sought to have vegetarianism considered in discussion of "sacred food."]
Please join us at the Sacred Foods Conference. We hope you will join other leaders involved working on issues of food, faith and sustainability for this unique event.
The program (see below) will look at how the Christian, Islamic and Jewish traditions address issues of food, health and agriculture. We’ll also explore how religion is become an increasingly important force in the marketplace. Conference workshops will focus on the relationship between religion and contemporary issues such as business ethics, social justice, animal welfare, and sustainability. The Sacred Foods Conference also provides those working at faith-based institutions such as schools, hospitals and universities with an opportunity to learn about how to link business practices together and religious teachings.
This years Sacred Foods conference will be held at the Garrison Institute in New York on Wednesday June 7 and Thursday June 8.
Registration materials and other information are available at www.sacred-foods.org.
The Sacred Foods Project is an interfaith effort of religious institutions, civic organizations and members of the food industry to define and promote sustainable and healthy food and improve the quality of our land, air, water and the treatment of agricultural workers. Project partners include ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Faith in Place, the Food Alliance, the Islamic Society of North America, the National Council of Churches, the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and the Shalom Center. Inquiries about sponsoring or exhibiting at the conference should be directed to Arlin Wasserman arlin@changingtastes.net.
Sacred Foods Conference [Excerpts]
Keynote and Plenary Programming
Wednesday, June 7
9:00 Opening Prayer (Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin) (Garrison Hall)
Welcome, Introduction and the 8 Dimensions (D. Kolodny and MC for conference)
9:30-10:45
Perspectives on Faith, Food and Justice (Garrison Hall)
Bernie Evans (St. Johns Univeristy), Lucas Benitez (Imoklee Workers), Kirk Mustain (University of Portland), A. Wasserman, moderator
Religious perspectives and advice in support of ethics, public health, social benefits, animal welfare, and agriculture and the environment
11 am – 11:45 (Garrison Hall)
Faith, Food and the Consumer Marketplace
Jenny Zenner (Hartman Group), with intro by Arlin Wasserman
Consumer and social trends regarding religion in the marketplace including consumer insights and forecasts about the market for religious certified foods and the market for foods aimed at religious individuals.
12:00-1:15 LUNCH/ Prayer (Dhuhr Salat) (Dining Hall)
1:15 to 2:30
Panel: Religious and Secular Certification Standards
Scott Exo (presenter/moderator), Mazhar Hussaini, Joe Regenstein
What are the current standards for kosher and halal certifications? How do they relate to organic, Food Alliance, Fair Trade and other secular stands standards? How does the certification and inspection process work and what innovations are underway?
2:15-3:45 Discussion Groups: What is Sacred Food?
4:15-5:45 (Garrison Hall)
Defining Sacred Food: Report on Small Group Discussion
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6. Is the Future of the World "In Our Hands"?
In Our Hands
By Tali Lavie
Planet earth is warming up and becoming polluted, and the lives of animals, human and non-human, are in danger of extinction. How can each one of us make a personal contribution to save the earth?
A few days ago, my aunt announced that she must go shopping, and asked for my help, so we went to the "civilization of consumers" sanctuary, the mall. We drove there - a ten minute walk from her house - in her impressive car, which is really economical, she said, because "the gas is free, it's acompany car".
In the supermarket, she packed the groceries she purchased in plastic bags, and took a few extra, since "it's good to have some at home". We sat in the fast food area, where she ate a greasy hamburger and threw away the glass bottle she drank from, while asserting that the environment is the most important topic of our time, because it concerns our future, the health of our children, the fate of animals, and so on.
When I asked her if she does anything about the subject, she answered with surprise: "of course, I voted for the Green Party".
The facts of global warming and pollution are well-known and undisputed. Every day, more regions experience starvation and drought. Numerous species of animals are in danger of extinction, the result of pollution. One third of the amphibian population (frogs, toads, salamanders, triturus – aquatic salamanders) that existed before dinosaurs, and that survived a variety of challenges to their existence over time are suddenly endangered, primarily due to pollution. Many speak of the severe consequences of the green house effect, which apply to human as well as non-human animals. Melting icebergs are drastically reducing polar bears' habitat, for example.
The causes of environmental destruction are varied and complex, but it is obvious that the choices we each make play an important role. For some reason, it seems that the choices most of us make are unconnected with our supposed green awareness, which seems to remain mostly theoretical. At the same time as my aunt was telling me about the importance of preserving the environment, she was choosing to use plastic bags, rather than bring easy-to-obtain, multi-purpose cloth bags along on the planned shopping trip.
This "revolutionary" idea hit me when, without thinking, I found myself looking for plastic bags at the end of a shopping trip to one of the big grocery store chains in New-Zealand, and realized, with surprise, that they are not offered free to the public. Instead, multi-purpose cardboard boxes are provided, and plastic bags must be purchased. The cost of the bags is symbolic, but it helps remind people of the environmental damage caused by this waste. So simple.
Children are the hope
My aunt's choice of lunch completely disregarded the damage caused to the environment by the meat production industry. This industry contributes significantly to global warming through harmful green house gases emissions. Cows emit methane gas. Actually, thirty per cent of methane gas emissions come from cows, goats and sheep.
Another green house gas, carbon dioxide, is released into the atmosphere when forests are burned. Vast tracts of forest are being burned to make grazing land for cattle, and to grow crops to feed animals destined for slaughter. In Latin America, over 50 million acres of tropical rain forest have already been "converted" to grazing land for cows. Since 1960, more than one third of Central American forests have been eliminated, replaced by cow pastures.
Damage to the environment is also caused by fertilizers used in the meat
production industry, which produce a tremendous amount of nitrogenous oxide. Our water reservoirs are damaged by our reliance on meat, as well. A meat-based diet consumes a much larger amount of water than a vegetarian or vegan diet.
While it takes only 90 liters of water to produce half a kilogram of
potatoes, over 7,500 liters of water are required to produce the same amount of beef, if the amount of water used throughout the process is considered. Scientists say that a meat-based diet requires 14 times more water than a vegan diet. Reducing meat production is only one example of a choice we can make that will affect the entire ecological system.
My personal hope is that the spirit of change will come from today's youth. In my cousin's kindergarten, this year was declared the Year of Recycling. He is three and a half years old, but separates trash more than most adults around him. This definitely leaves room for optimism. Let us hope that by the time the children grow up to lead a real environmental revolution, there will be something left to save.
The author, Tali Lavie is the spokesperson of Hakol Chai, the Israeli sister charity of the U.S.-based Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (CHAI).
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9. Muslims Protest Mistreatment of Animals
Muslims Urge Stop to Inhumane Animal Slaughter
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
WASHINGTON, 3 May 2006 - A group of Muslim women demonstrated outside the Australian Embassy in Washington recently to protest the mistreatment of animals exported from Australia to the Middle East and North Africa for slaughter.
The protesters said that the horrific abuse of these sheep and cattle is in direct violation of halal slaughter laws as well as against the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who taught that one must minimize the suffering of animals being prepared for slaughter.
Bina Ahmed, a Muslim American and an attorney for PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said she became involved in animal rights "because of lessons we are taught in Islam about kindness to people and animals and all living things."
"I've lived and worked in the Middle East, and I have seen firsthand the abuse of animals for food there. As a Muslim, a woman, and a human being, I am very disheartened that we allow such abuses to take place," Ahmed told Arab News.
"What horrified me both as a person and a Muslim, was not only the awful way animals for slaughter are shipped and treated - which is against the humane slaughter laws of Australia. It is also a violation of halal slaughter rules, which are universal for all Muslims."
"One of the basic principles that Muslims are taught to be kind to all living things," said Ahmed.
"It is un-Islamic to drag these animals off the transport ships by their ears, kick them in the face, and stab them in the eyes, and then slit their throats several times and let them slowly bleed to death in front of other sheep, which is also against halal rules."
"Halal slaughter is based on trying to make it as painless as possible, so that includes not only feeding and watering the animal properly, but also not killing them in front of other animals, because it terrifies them," she said.
The Council of American Islamic Relations agrees. "I think that Muslims have to support all efforts to ensure humane and proper treatment of animals before their slaughter, and they should care about the well-being of the animals in the same way they should pay attention and care of the well being of human beings. This is the basic principle of necessary respect to everything living around us," said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.
"Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, taught us that everything possible must be done to minimize the suffering of an animal that is about to be slaughtered," he said.
Ahmed said the protest outside the Australian Embassy was successful on two levels. "As people passed by us, they stopped and watched the undercover investigation footage, which we played on the spot (the video is available at: www.savethesheep.com). We were able to give them information about the live export abuse. No one likes to see animals suffer, and many people were horrified."
The second, and most significant, is that the Australian government has taken action. "After viewing footage of the investigation, the Australian government has temporarily suspended the live animal export trade to Egypt.
But the same type of slaughter abuses in Egypt are also going on throughout the Middle East, including Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Dubai, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia," said Maya Linden, the Australian campaign coordinator for PETA.
Why then, focus on Australia? "Because Australia is the main exporter of sheep and cattle to the Middle East, which it is the largest market for Australia's meat market," said Linden, a native Australian.
In Australia, she said there are certified halal slaughterhouses, where slaughter regulations are met. "We're urging the Australian government to enforce these humane slaughter laws, rather than allow the animals to be shipped thousands of miles packed and cramped together while standing mired in their own waste, only to be killed in the worst possible ways."
As a Muslim, Ahmed agrees. Said she has begun receiving phone calls from Muslim men and women "who are introspective and looking at their place in the world."
"Muslims are advocating for their own rights, and so that calls into question Muslims being compassionate toward other living things as well, advocating for others as well as self," she said.
But vegetarian Muslim men? Ahmed insists it is more and more common. "I know Muslim men who are vegetarian and even vegan. Men are looking at how they treat animals in both a religious and humane issue. Islam also talks about taking care of your body and the environment, and as you know, many health problems are related to eating meat - including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer."
As for the environment, Ahmed said: "Factory farms are the largest polluter and consumer of natural resources.
"Most people don't realize that it takes 5,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, but only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of grain. In the Middle East, farmable land and water is scarce, so it's absurd that we're wasting these resources raising animals for slaughter rather than growing food directly to feed people."
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10. Challenging Letter on Vegetarianism by Roberta Kalechofsky
Preliminary comments from Roberta:
The article was in The World Jewish Digest, vol 3, # 9, May, 2006.
It describes itself as "The largest circulation mothly Jewish digest in America. The address is World Jewish Digest, LIC, PO Box 1307, Skokie, IL 60076. To send letters by email, address feedback@worldjewishdigest.com
The article I responded to was entitled "Kosher Food Revolution," by Marisa S. Katz, "a freelance writer based in Israel." The article is the main feature and headline article of the digest, it goes on for three pages, deals with mainly kosher wine, kosher cheese, and meat.
I believe they will send free copies for the asking, and there is morte to respond to on the meat issue than I wrote. Since iknow that letters to publications may not be too long or they will either not published them or edit them for space, I could not say everything I wished to say. For example, I did not mention the Iowa slaughterhouse scandal, which I felt needed a letter by itself. or that they say that in order to be certified as kosher a cow may not be older than two and a half years -- since most cows are brought to the slaughterhouse by 18 months, this doesn't seem like an important point.
Letters: To the World Jewish Digest
As president of Jews for Animal Rights and the author of several books on the relationship of Judaism and vegetarianism, I can testify to the interest of both Jewish and Christian vegetarians concerning the value of kosher food for the vegetarian and animal rights movements. I am frequently asked questions about this subject. While kosher food has little to offer vegans, who would not eat dairy or animal products of any kind (but who nevertheless might want to be assured of the "purity" of the foods they do eat) the appearance of kosher cheese--that is cheese without rennet--is of great benefit to vegetarians. The kosher label is one which both Christian and Jewish vegetarians (and vegans in some cases) are prepared to take advantage of.
However, the situation is very different when it comes to meat. Since all meat for the commercial market, whether kosher or not, comes through the factory farming system, the kosher label on meat is useless. Rabbi David Rosen has called this meat "b'averot,--i.e. rendered illegitimate by illegitimate means" and has questioned whether meat raised in this manner can ever be compatible with kashrut. (Rabbis and Vegetarianism: An Evolving Tradition, Micah Publications, p.58) As he further points out, "Most people...are simply ignorant or intentionally ignorant of the manifold transgressions involved in meat eating." But the rabbbis and shochets cannot be ignorant of these transgressions, or certainly ought not to be after all that has been written about factory farming.
Finally, to offer pate de fois gras--the product of tremendous cruetly--as an example of a kosher meat suggests a moral failure which is out of step with Israel and several states in this country. As awareness of the cruelty of pate de fois gras has grown, the Knesset has passed laws to phase out its production in Israel, and several states in this country are doing likewise. Should not kashrut, which prides itself as embodying concern for animal life, not do likewise and label this product "non-kosher" for all Jews.
Sincerely,
Roberta Kalechofsky, Ph.D.
(co-author of The Jewish Vegetarian Year Cookbook and author of Vegetarian Judaism: A Guide for Everyone)
255 Humphrey St.
Marblehead, MA 01945
781-631-7601
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14. Lewis Regenstein Article on Jewish Teachings on Animals Published in Atlanta Jewish Weekly
Be Kind to Animals
The Atlanta Jewish Times' Chai Inside magazine (May 5-11 issue)
By Lewis Regenstein
The beginning of the spring season, with its renewal of life, is a good time to be reminded of a little-known fact: The Bible and Jewish law are full of admonitions and commandments to protect animals, nature and the environment. Indeed, such teachings are fundamental to Judaism and its traditions.
For example, God's first commandment (Genesis 1:22) was to the birds, whales, fish and other creatures to "be fruitful and multiply" and fill the seas and the skies. His first commandment to humans (genesis 1:28) was to "replenish the earth ... and have dominion" over other creatures.
Both commandments concern the welfare and survival of animals and human-stewardship responsibilities toward them. So the Almighty must consider the care of animals an important thing.
Clearly, God was well pleased with the works of His creation. After He made each of the creatures, He blessed them, "saw" that each "was good," and commanded them to "be fruitful and multiply." And He pronounced the entire creation, when it was completed, "very good."
Later, when God made his promise to Noah and generations to come never again to destroy the earth with a flood, He included in the covenant "every living creature ... the fowl, the cattle and every beast of the earth" (genesis 9:12-17).
Psalm 104 extols the creatures of "this great and wide sea": "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom thou hast made them all: The earth is full of thy riches. ... The glory of the Lord shall endure forever." And a well-known Jewish blessing states, "Blessed art thou, Lord our God, king of the universe, who created everything for His glory."
Kindness to animals is stressed throughout the Bible and is even required in the Ten Commandments, wherein God forbids us to make our farm animals work on the Sabbath; we must give them a day of rest (exodus 20:10, 23:12).
Psalm 36 states, "Man and beast thou savest, O Lord. How precious is thy steadfast love." And Proverbs 12:10 suggests there are two types of people: "A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."
Indeed, the Jews invented the concept of kindness to animals some 4,000 years ago. Judaism has strict laws and teachings forbidding cruelty to animals. There is an entire code of laws (tsa'ar ba'alei hayim, the requirement "to prevent the suffering of living creatures") mandating that animals be treated with compassion. Jews are not allowed to "pass by" an animal in distress or animals being mistreated, even on the Sabbath.
As the Jewish Encyclopedia observes, "In rabbinic literature ... great prominence is given to demonstrating God's mercy to animals and to the importance of not causing them pain":
"Moral and legal rules concerning the treatment of animals are based on the principle that animals are part of God's creation toward which man bears responsibility. ... The Bible ... makes it clear not only that cruelty to animals is forbidden but also that compassion and mercy to them are demanded of man by God."
The obligation of humans to respect and protect the natural environment is another theme that appears throughout the Bible, often referring to just the kinds of problems we face today: destruction of wildlife and habitat and pollution of our food, air and water .
In the books of Jeremiah (9:9-11) and Habakkuk (2:17), the Lord warns against destroying nature and wildlife. Habakkuk specifically condemns "the destruction of the beasts." In both cases, the punishment is that the land is "laid waste," just what we are doing today to much of our farmland, wilderness and oceans.
Trees and forests are accorded a special reverence in the Bible, and one of the first things the Israelites were commanded to do when they entered the Promised Land was to plant trees and allow them to mature before eating the fruits thereof (leviticus 19:23).
One of the world's first and strongest nature-protection regulations is found in the Mosaic law (deuteronomy 20:19), which forbids the destruction of fruit-bearing trees even when waging war against a city.
Throughout the Bible, in stressing the reverence humans should have toward the land, the Scriptures impart a strong conservation message, warning against overusing and wearing out natural resources. In Leviticus (25:2-7), the Lord commands that every seventh year "the land shall keep a sabbath unto the Lord." The fields and vineyards shall be allowed to rest, and what grows naturally will be shared with the wildlife, "the beasts that are in thy land."
Also in Leviticus (26:3-6), the Lord's appreciation for the land is made clear when He promises that, if humans obey His commandments, the land will reward them: "If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you rains in their season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. ... And I will give peace in the land."
Yet every year we subject billions of farm and other animals to enormous abuse and suffering, and our activities threaten the existence of entire species of wildlife and of the earth's critical biological and life support systems, essential to our own survival.
This spring we should consider if this is how God intended for us to treat His creation, which he declared "very good" and over which he gave us dominion and stewardship responsibilities. As the Lord said, "Every beast of the earth, and ... every fowl of the air ... all that moveth upon the earth, and all the fishes of the sea: into your hand are they delivered" (genesis 9:2).
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15. Suing Schools for Mis-educating Students About Meat Consumption
Forwarded message:
There is a certain well-known vegetarian who is initiating a lawsuit on behalf of one child, or perhaps all vegetarian school children, who are deceived about eating meat and/or animal products by malfeasant school employees.
This is in California. Whoever has expertise and would like to advise or watch this case, please contact me ASAP by e-mail at BOTH these addresses:
MaynardClark@Yahoo.com
Maynard.Clark@gmail.com
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** 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.
May 13, 2006
May 7, 2006
5/7/06 JVNA Online Newsletter
Shalom everyone,
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. Update on JVNA Video
2. JVNA Pamphlets
3. Relating Shavuot and Vegetarianism
4. Three of My Recent Letters to Editors
5. Article on New Video "If This Is Kosher..."
6. Great Letter on Foie Gras Ban in Chicago
7. Article by Rabbi Marc Gellman on Vegetarianism
8. Israel Joins Nations Opposing Whaling
9. Jewish Vegans Demonstrate Against Genocide in Sudan
10. Update on the Recent Ban on Foie Gras in Chicago
11. Animal-based Diets a Major Factor Behind Global Warming
12. Major Study Questions Health Benefits of Fish
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
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1. Update on JVNA Video
We are continuing to make progress in producing our video, now tentatively titled: “So It Is Written,” with a sub-title, “Applying Jewish Values to Help Save an Imperiled World.” Suggestions on the title and subtitle are very welcome.
Recent reports about global warming (see below) and other environmental threats, and the general failure to recognize the huge effects that animal-based diets and agriculture are having, are making it increasingly clear that completing our video is essential and that it has the potential to make a major difference.
Lionel Friedberg, our multi-award-winning film producer has just completed a very successful visit to the East coast in which he:
* interviewed Roberta Kalechofsky, founder and director of Jews for Animal Rights and Micah Publications and author and editor of many books on Jewish teachings on vegetarianism and animal rights;
* interviewed Joel Fuhrman, MD, an expert on preventing diseases through proper nutrition, and an author of several books and frequent speaker about proper nutrition;
* interviewed me and videotaped me at work in my office;
* videotaped numerous Torah verses, and verses from the siddur, Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets;
* videotaped a simulation of the Torah being raised and then properly covered.
Lionel still has one trip ahead of him in which he plans to interview three additional Jewish vegetarian leaders. After that, we will move into the final production phases.
While we have made some progress re getting background footage, we are still seeking footage on the following topics:
*hospitals, including wards and surgery
* road accidents
* harvesting, reaping
* aftermath of terrorist attack,
* demonstrations in Israel
* the Israeli Knesset in session.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions re getting such footage or similar footage. Thanks.
So, we are making great progress, and have the potential of producing a documentary video that can make a tremendous difference in getting the Jewish community involved in efforts that can move our endangered planet to a more sustainable path. However, we are desperately in need of additional funds. We are very grateful to NALITH for two grants of $4,000 each, and to people who have already contributed. However, to complete the video, we still will need at least $20,000 to $30,000. We would need far more if Lionel and his wife, a professional film editor, were taking professional fees. They are only being reimbursed for their expenses. So, please contribute and help us complete this project that has so much potential. Many thanks. All contributions are very welcome and will be acknowledged, and as indicated, all contributors of $1,000 or more will be mentioned in the final credits. We have already received such contributions or more from Roberta Kalechofsky, Roberta Schiff, John Diamond, and an anonymous donor. I have contributed $15,000 because I believe so strongly in this project, with the hope, especially on my wife’s part, that somehow some of that money will be reimbursed.
Please make a tax deductible contribution online (at the bottom of the page click on "Donate") or by a check made out to Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and sent to
Israel Mossman
6938 Reliance Road
Federalsburg, MD 21632
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2. JVNA Pamphlets
We have a very strong case for vegetarianism based on Jewish values, but we must be more effective in getting it out. Please contact us at mail@jewishveg.com to order multiple free copies of our very effective JVNA pamphlets to distribute. We have plenty of these very well-designed pamphlets, and he is eager to get them to you so that you can help get them to many additional people. Thanks.
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3. Relating Shavuot and Vegetarianism
Now that we “counting” the days until Shavuot, I plan to send the article below to my Jewish media list and to my lists of rabbis. So, please review the article and let me know if you have any suggestions for improvements. Also, please feel free to share the article with others and to use it and the sample letter below for your own letters and articles. Thanks.
Shavuot and Vegetarianism
By Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
There are many connections between vegetarianism and the important Jewish festival of Shavuot:
1. Shavuot is described as "z'man matan Toratenu" (the time of the giving of our law (the Torah)). It is this Torah that has in its very first chapter God's original, strictly vegetarian, dietary regimen: "And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed - to you it shall be for food'" (Genesis 1:29).
2. To honor the Torah, many Jews stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to study Torah teachings. It is some of these teachings -to guard our health and our lives, to treat animals with compassion, to share with hungry people, to protect the environment, and to conserve natural resources - that are the basis for Jewish vegetarianism.
3. Shavuot is also known as "Chag Hakatzir" (the Harvest Festival), since it climaxes the year's first harvest. Hence, it can remind us that many more people can be sustained on vegetarian diets than on animal -centered diets. While the Torah stresses that farmers are to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of their harvests for the hungry, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as 15 to 20 million people worldwide die annually because of hunger and its effects.
4. The Talmudic sages also referred to Shavuot as "Atzeret" (the closing festival of Passover). This name implies not only that Shavuot completes the harvest begun at Passover time, but also suggests that the Torah completes the physical liberation celebrated during Passover. Yet, while the Torah has many teachings on compassion toward animals and indicates, as part of the Ten Commandments, that animals are also to be able to rest on the Sabbath day, most farm animals are kept in cramped confined spaces where they are denied exercise, fresh air, sunlight, and the fulfillment of their instinctual needs.
5. There are several other Torah teachings that are seriously violated by animal-based diets: a) While the Torah mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives (Deuteronomy: 4-9, 4-15), animal-centered diets have been linked to heart disease, stroke, several forms of cancer, and other illnesses. b) While many Torah teachings are concerned with protecting the environment, modern intensive animal agriculture results in soil erosion and depletion, extensive air and water pollution related to chemical fertilizer and pesticides, and the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats. c) While the Torah mandates bal tashchit, (Deuteronomy 20:19, 20) that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, livestock agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
6. Shavuot is a festival of thanksgiving to the Creator for His kindness. The full Hallel, psalms of praise and thanksgiving from Psalm 113 to 118, are chanted during morning synagogue services. Since one must be in good health and have a clear conscience in order to fully rejoice and be thankful, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are not harmful to hungry people or animals are factors that can enhance thankfulness.
7. On Shavuot, Jews read the Book of Ruth in synagogues. One reason is that its barley-harvest setting echoes the harvest just ending as Shavuot arrives. One of Ruth's outstanding attributes was her acts of kindness. Vegetarianism is a way of showing kindness, because it best shares food with hungry people and it doesn't involve the mistreatment and death of animals.
8. The Book of Ruth begins with Naomi, Ruth's future mother-in-law, and her family leaving Israel because of a severe famine. Today, major shortages of food in the near future are being predicted by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington DC think tank, and others, and one major reason is that people in China, Japan, India, and other countries where affluence has been increasing, are joining the US and other western countries by moving to animal-centered diets that require vast amounts of grain.
9. The Book of Ruth indicates that Naomi's family suffered the death of her husband and her two sons because the family fled in the time of famine rather than using their leadership to help others in need. In contrast to this selfish act, vegetarianism considers not only personal well being, but also encompasses broader concerns, including the global environment, the world's hungry people, animals, and the efficient use of the world's resources.
10. According to the Talmud, Shavuot is the day of judgment for fruit trees and there is an obligation to pray for them. Yet, to create pasture land for cattle, tropical forests are being rapidly destroyed. The production of just one quarter-pound fast food hamburger can require the destruction of almost 55 square feet of tropical rain forest along with much animal and plant life.
11. Shavuot involves the highest spiritual teachings (the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai) and down-to-earth considerations - the wheat harvest and the offering of the first fruits in the Temple. This reminds us that ideally we should relate heaven to earth and translate the Divine laws to our daily lives. Vegetarianism is an attempt to do this because it applies Torah teaching to our sustenance needs.
In view of these and other connections, I hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of the beautiful and spiritually meaningful holiday of Shavuot by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and teachings by moving toward a vegetarian diet.
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Sample letters connecting Shavuot and vegetarianism
Dear editor,
Since Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people, and there is increased Torah study on this important holiday, with many religious Jews staying up all night engaged in Torah study, it makes me wonder why the many ways that animal-based diets and agriculture violate Torah values seem to be generally ignored in the Jewish community:
1. While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives, numerous scientific studies have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.
2. While Judaism forbids tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain on animals, most farm animals -- including those raised for kosher consumers -- are raised on "factory farms" where they live in cramped, confined spaces, and are often drugged, mutilated, and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and any enjoyment of life, before they are slaughtered and eaten.
3. While Judaism teaches that "the earth is the Lord’s" (Psalm 24:1) and that we are to be God's partners and co-workers in preserving the world, modern intensive livestock agriculture contributes substantially to soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, global warming, and other environmental damage.
4 While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, and that we are not to use more than is needed to accomplish a purpose, animal agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
5. While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and share our bread with hungry people, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter (it takes about 9 pounds of grain to produce one pound of edible beef), while an estimated 20 million people worldwide die because of hunger and its effects each year.
In view of these important Jewish mandates to preserve human health, attend to the welfare of animals, protect the environment, conserve resources, help feed hungry people, and pursue peace, contrasted with the harm that animal-centered diets do in each of these areas, shouldn’t committed Jews (and others) sharply reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products?
One could say "dayenu" (it would be enough) after any of the arguments above, because each one constitutes by itself a serious conflict between Jewish values and current practice that should impel Jews to seriously consider a plant-based diet. Combined, they make an urgently compelling case for the Jewish community to address these issues.
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Dear Editor:
Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people. There is increased Torah study on this important holiday, and many religious Jews stay up all night engaged in Torah study. Hence, this may provide a good occasion to respectfully raise some questions, such as:
Since the Torah mandates the avoidance of tsa’ar ba’alei chaim (causing unnecessary pain to animals), why isn’t there far greater concern about the horrible treatment of animals (10 billion annually in the US alone) on factory farms?
Since the Torah mandates that we should very diligently guard our health, why don’t Jewish leaders speak out about the many negative health effects of animal-based diets?
Since the Torah mandates that we are to be shomrei adamah (guardians of the earth – Genesis 2:15), why are the many current severe environmental threats (all of which are significantly worsened by animal-based agriculture) not being adequately addressed by the Jewish community?
Since the Torah mandates that we are not to waste resources (bal tashchit – Deuteronomy 20: 19, 20), why isn’t the Jewish community addressing the fact that animal-based agriculture requires far more land, water, energy, and other agricultural resources than plant-based agriculture?
Since the Torah mandates that we are to share with hungry people, why isn’t the Jewish community (and others) addressing the fact that 70% of the grain produced in the United States is being fed to animals destined for slaughter while an estimated 20 million people die from malnutrition and its effects annually?
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4. Three of My Recent Letters to Editors
May 5, 2006
Editor, Staten Island Advance
letters@siadvance.com
Dear Editor,
As president of Jewish vegetarians of North America and author of the book, "Judaism and vegetarianism," I express kudos to you for the three wonderful articles on vegetarianism in the May 3, 2006 "Food" section. It is very heartening to read that "More people than ever are switching to diets rooted in fruits, vegetables and grains" and that "[Staten] Island is Fertile Ground for Vegetarians."
An increased shift toward vegetarianism is a societal imperative because animal-based agriculture contributes significantly to global warming, record species extinction, widening water shortages, deforestation, soil erosion and depletion and other environmental threats, and because animal-based diets have been shown in many scientific studies to be linked to heart disease, several forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.
An increased shift toward vegetarianism is a religious imperative, because the widespread production and consumption of animal products violate religious mandates to protect our health, treat animals with compassion, preserve the environment, conserve natural resources, and help hungry people.
I wonder respectfully if anyone who eats animal products can please tell me why you have a diet that is so detrimental to your health, that is so devastating to our imperiled planet, that requires the annual slaughter of over 10 billion farmed animals in the U.S. alone, after they have been raised under very cruel conditions on factory farms, that requires massive amounts of scarce land, water, energy, and other resources, and that involves the feeding to animals of over seventy percent of the grain produced in the U.S. while millions of the world’s people die annually of hunger.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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Editor, the Forward
letters@forward.com
Dear Editor:
Re "Novelist Sharpens His Knife For Those Who Eat Animals" (April 7, 2006 article):
As president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, I applaud the new video that respectfully discusses Judaism’s splendid teachings on compassion to animals and contrasts them with the major abuses of animals on factory farms and at the Postville slaughterhouse. I hope that it will be a wake-up call that will result in a consideration of the many ways that the production and consumption of animal products violate basic Jewish teachings.
Rabbi Menachem Genack, rabbinic administrator of the Orthodox Union's Kashrus Division, correctly states that "Video taken at any slaughterhouse would be gruesome." We should consider that this gruesome process creates a product that contributes to heart disease, cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases, and that animal agriculture is contributing significantly to global warming, deforestation, widening water shortages, and many additional threats.
It is time for the Jewish community to address a fundamental question: Since Judaism mandates that we take care of our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help hungry people, and since the production and consumption of animal products seriously violate each of these mandates, shouldn’t Jews shift toward plant-based diets?
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April 16, 2006
Editor, Jerusalem Post
letters@jpost.com
[This letter was published in the Jerusalem Post.]
Dear Editor:
As indicated in your April 14 "Wellness" column, "Calcium is critical." But, how can we explain the fact that the countries where people consume the most dairy products, including Israel, the United States, and Scandanavian countries, have the highest rates of calcium, and that countries where most of the people are lactose intolerant, such as China, have far lower rates of osteoporosis. The answer is the high amounts of animal protein in meat and dairy products that delete calcium from the body.
The high amounts of nitrogen and sulphur in high animal-protein products acidify the blood and the body draws calcium from the bones in order to neutralize the excess acidity. This calcium is lost in the urine along with the excess protein. Hence people often have negative calcium balances, even though they consume high amounts of dairy products. The excretion of calcium and large amounts of animal protein also has very negative effects on the kidneys. The best solution is to reduce consumption of animal products, since they are also high in cholesterol, saturated fats, and often pesticides, hormones, and other dangerous additives, and to get calcium from plant-foods and enriched soy milk, orange juice, and cereals.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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5. Article on New Video "If This Is Kosher..."
Forwarded message:
Jonathan Safran Foer Bedfellows with Pamela Anderson, Michael Bolton, Moby, k.d. lang; Takes on Kosher-Meat Industry in New Video
April 05, 2006
THE BOOK STANDARD
By Jerome Kramer
Jonathan Safran Foer, the Magical Judaism wunderkind author of 2002's Everything Is Illuminated and its 2005 follow-up, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, has apparently traded in his word processor for a muckraking videocam. Foer serves as host for a "video exposé" of the kosher meat industry, entitled "If This Is Kosher …," in which he walks viewers through the investigation at AgriProcessors, described by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals as the world’s largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse. Foer makes the case that modern animal farms violate Jewish law (halacha), which requires humane treatment of animals, and concludes that Jews should reject violence to animals and adopt a vegetarian diet.
"The video shows completely conscious cows who are writhing in agony in pools of their own blood," says PETA’s Ben Goldsmith. "Workers jab cows in the face with electric prods, rip their tracheas out of their throats while the animals are still conscious, and dump them onto a concrete floor, where they stumble and try to get up as blood pours from their throats. Many can be seen standing and walking around as their tracheas dangle from their necks."
"Not at all surprisingly, veterinary and animal welfare experts unanimously condemned AgriProcessors. Very surprisingly, though, both the plant and kosher certification agencies actually defended these cruel practices," explains Foer. Referring to plant owner Sholom Rubashkin’s claim that PETA’s video represents kosher slaughter "in its full glory," Foer asks, "Do you agree? Are these the highest standards of Jewish law and tradition? Or is this activity a perversion of our tradition, on the part of a massive corporation, whose interest in profits is all-consuming enough to allow such blatant cruelty to happen?"
Rabbis Irving "Yitz" Greenberg (Orthodox), president of the Jewish Life Network, and David Wolpe (Conservative), of the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, also appear in the video in support of Foer and PETA’s suggestion that the best way for Jews to take a stand against cruelty is to adopt a vegetarian diet.
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6. Great Letter on Foie Gras Ban in Chicago
Forwarded message:
Re: Recent Chicago foie gras ban.
NY Times article
Chicago Tribune article
The following note was sent to the Chicago Tribune, which ran a piece on Chicago's ban on pate foie gras (the first city to do so). Mayor Daley -- a politician for whom the word "machine politician" was apparently coined, came out criticizing the ban on the grounds of frivolity. He scoffed at the City's council priorities, arguing that "with children being killed, we couldn't distract ourselves with lesser, ridiculous issues."
COMMENT REGARDING THE FOIE GRAS CONTROVERSY 4.27.06
To the editor:
The City of Chicago, and its enlightened aldermen, deserve praise for their courageous stands on behalf of public health (banning smoking in public places) and the humane treatment of animals, even if the foie gras ban only concerns a very small fraction of the creatures we subject to pain and death for the sake of a meat-based diet. (Sacré Bleu! No foie gras for you, 4.26.06)
Let me state for the record that I am no ascetic and I am no "goose-hugger" either--a term I find gratuitously derisive despite a rather robust sense of humor. I appreciate the good table as much as the next guy, but, frankly, I can't find a way to justify my pleasures at the expense of another sentient being, just because this being happens to be a creature our species can easily exploit, manipulate or destroy at will. I therefore celebrate this ban as a triumph of civilized behavior, compassion, and justice over selfish individualism, and the fact that "right" has prevailed--at least momentarily-over "might." The freedom to tyrannize is not a freedom worth honoring, a point that apparently eludes the ever opportunistic Richard Daley who, in typical demagogue style, chose to play it safe and hide behind what he perceived to be the mainstream viewpoint by advancing a ridiculous "either or" proposition. Fact is, we can't wait to have every problem besetting human society solved before we attend to other "non-human" issues. If the aldermen could pass a ban that held on killing children, and that really did the trick, of course they'd have passed that decades ago. But keeping children from being killed is not as easily regulated as banning cruelty performed by an industry, or group of industries-and any thinking person can see that, perhaps even Mr. Daley. Hence the appropriateness of this city ruling.
Incidentally, in one of those cases where the writer tries to be "balanced and fair," the article says that, "ban supporters claim [fois gras] production is barbaric." "Claim"? To produce foie gras, a duck or goose is restrained and a metal pipe is shoved down the bird's throat and into the stomach. A massive quantity of corn is pressure-driven down the pipe, often causing a rupture of the bird's stomach or esophagus, leading to a very slow and agonizing death. Vomiting is often prevented by tying an elastic band around the bird's throat. This force-feeding process takes place 3 to 5 times a day for a month, and transforms the 2 to 3 ounce liver into a 1 to 2 pound mass known as foie gras. If this is not barbaric, what is? I suppose your writer still can't decide.
PATRICE GREANVILLE
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7. Article by Rabbi Marc Gellman on Vegetarianism
The First Hamburger
A guilt-ridden carnivore makes the spiritual case for vegetarianism.
MSNBC.com
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Marc Gellman
Newsweek
Updated: 3:58 p.m. ET April 20, 2006
April 20, 2006 - Reflecting on the Earth Day to come and on the lamb-besotted Easter and brisket-baked Passover that has passed, and still being emotionally tender from the death of my dog, I need to confess my steak-loving sins. Sins because there is simply no spiritual defense in either the Western or Eastern religious traditions for eating meat. The reason is not that meat is murder as some of my vegan friends claim. To say that is to also say that there is no moral distinction between cannibalism and dinner at The Palm. Eating animals may be right or wrong, but it is not wrong for the same reasons it is wrong to eat people. This is morally absurd and trivializes what is on its face an already daunting problem. The problem is that animals, though obviously not people, are also obviously not things. Animals are sentient beings and their deaths, particularly in the query of what is euphemistically called food processing causes them great pain and suffering. That is the nub of the spiritual problem. Animals are God's creations that, unlike plants, suffer when they die just to become food for us.
I have long believed that the Torah was not just given by God, but given by God on different levels simultaneously. There is a low Torah and a high Torah in the same Holy Writ. For example, the high Torah teaches us that there should be no war, “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Micah 4:3). The low Torah, on the other hand, teaches that if you must make war, you must allow besieged people to go free, never cut down your enemy's fruit trees, and treat captives of war with respect. (Deuteronomy 20:19-20 and also Maimonides “Laws of Kings 6:8). The same is true for eating meat. As Rav Kook, the first chief rabbi of the State of Israel taught, in Genesis 1:29 God clearly limits the diet of the first people to fruits and vegetables. Only after ten generations of corruption from Adam to Noah, at the end of the flood God offers a low Torah carnivorous concession to Noah and his descendants, “Every living thing that moves shall now also be yours for food.” (Genesis 9:3) However, God quickly adds the limitation of not eating meat with its blood in it (v.4) and the caution that there will be a reckoning for all blood we shed (v.5). The end result is a clear though subtle spiritual message that we can eat meat if we must, but we should work toward the high Torah goal of not wanting to.
Gandhi wrote that “There is no transcendence without renunciation.” This means to me that we, natural or habitual or meat-imprinted-from-childhood, carnivores should constantly try to overcome our baser instincts and rise to the level where we eat as low down on the sentience food chain as we can. It just makes sense to cause the least suffering possible to get through lunch or dinner.
As for me, I consider my love of meat a morally corrosive habit. I went eight years once as a vegetarian, but I ended up chiefly a dessert-atarian. I know however, that God is not finished with me, and I keep trying to love lettuce, humbled in the knowledge that when I die and am judged, a long line of chickens and cows will be clucking and mooing when I pass, “That's the man!! He's the guy who ate me!” Hey, if you want a teacher who knows what is true, stick with me. If you want a perfect teacher you'd better go somewhere else…I have burgers on the grill.
The first children's story about the Bible I ever wrote is a tribute to Rav Kook, and all the vegetarians living the high Torah in a broken world. And it goes something like this…
The First Hamburger
Once animals talked just like people. Once every living creature ate only grass and nuts and a few berries when they could find them. No living thing ever thought about killing another living thing to eat it, until the day Noah wanted a hamburger.One night Noah dreamed of a hamburger, and when he woke up, he wanted one really badly. But Noah wasn't exactly sure how to get a hamburger, so he asked his friend the cow, “I dreamed about a hamburger last night. Do you know where I can get one?”
The cow gave Noah a puzzled look and asked, “What's a hamburger?”
“I don't know exactly,” Noah replied. “All I know is that in my dream the hamburger was something delicious between two buns with lettuce, onions, pickles and some special sauce.”
“Have some more grass and forget about it,” said the cow.
Noah asked the snake, who was the smartest of all the animals, “What's a hamburger and how can I get one?”
The snake whispered in Noah's ear, “To get one you have to make one.”
“I don't know how to make one.” Noah sputtered.
The snake laughed, pointed at the cow who was peacefully munching some grass, and said to Noah, “To make a hamburger, you have to kill that cow, chop up her meat, and fry it in a pan--or flame broil it!”
Noah's mouth opened wide, “But...but...the cow is my friend! She is a living thing just like me! I can't kill her, chop up her meat and fry it in a pan! And what is flame broiling anyway?”
By now the snake was rolling around on the ground laughing, “Kid, if you want a hamburger, that's what you gotta do.”
Well...Noah really wanted a hamburger and so that's what he really did! The first hamburger tasted delicious. But when Noah came again to the fields everything was different. When he walked towards the birds, they flew away. When Noah went over to say hello to the cows and the sheep and the buffalo, they ran away from him. Even the fish swam away when they heard Noah coming.
Noah could not understand what had happened to his friends the animals, and he could not find one single animal that would explain it to him. In fact, since the day Noah ate the first hamburger, no animal has ever talked to a person. They are still too angry.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12409517/site/newsweek/
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8. Israel Joins Nations Opposing Whaling
Thanks to Charles Stahler, director of the Vegetarians Resource Group (VRG) for sending this item.
Israel Joins the Ranks of the Whale Defenders
With Japan on the threshold of seizing control of the International Whaling Commission, Israel has bolstered the ranks of the anti-whaling nations by joining the International Whaling Commission.
The Israeli decision was the result of a direct plea from the United States to help defend the 20-year old moratorium on commercial whaling. The moratorium came into effect in 1986 after centuries of whaling nearly drove several species to extinction.
Japan, along with outlaw whaling nations Norway and Iceland, have been bribing small, poor nations to join the IWC to vote in favor of resuming commercial whaling operations.
Finally, the whale-defending nations are beginning to do the same except that Israel did not need to be bribed. They were simply asked and accepted.
The International Whaling Commission, established in 1949, is an international organization responsible for the management of whaling and the conservation of whales. It currently has 66 signatory nations, split almost evenly between two camps – the pro-whaling nations, led by Japan, and the anti-whaling nations, led by the U.S. and Australia.
Israel will make this 34-33.
Japanese attempts to reintroduce commercial whaling were narrowly defeated at last year's annual meeting, and both sides have been attempting to shore up support ahead of the annual meeting in May, to be held in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Israel has no whaling industry and to date has yet to formulate an official policy on the contentious issue, but it is certain to join the anti-whaling bloc.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev confirmed the American request and said, "Israel is responding to concerns of friends and allies."
Stewart Tuttle, the U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv, said the U.S. ambassador made a personal appeal to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. A formal request also came from the U.S. representative to the whaling commission to the Israeli environment minister, he said.
"The U.S. believes that countries such as Israel can help make a difference in ensuring the long-term conservation of whale species and opposing attempts to weaken or minimize regulations for future whaling operations," Tuttle said.
Petsuya Mori, a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in Tel Aviv said he would have not comment unless Israel formally joins the coalition.
Valerie Brachya, an Israeli Environment Ministry official, said whaling had previously not been high on Israel's agenda. But Israel is committed to global conservation efforts and will support "anything that we would see in a positive light from an environmental point of view," she said.
"Israel is active in international forums and sees itself as part of the global community for the protection of the environment," Brachya said.
Tuttle said Israel's input would be appreciated in the global body.
"Even in the absence of critical marine issues in Israel, the country can export its principles and sound environmental ethic to the IWC to effect change that will be seen for generations to come," he said.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society welcomes Israel and applauds their
conservation objectives. Sea Shepherd’s Founder and President Captain Paul Watson said, “Israel may be getting some bad press in other areas but today this nation is a friend of the whales and any friend of the whales is a friend to us.”
Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977-
Co-Founder - The Greenpeace Foundation (1972)
Co-Founder - Greenpeace International (1979)
Director of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)
Director - The Farley Mowat Institute
Director - www.harpseals.org
www.Seashepherd.org
Tel: 360-370-5650
Fax: 360-370-5651
Address: P.O. Box 2616
Friday Harbor, Wa 98250 USA
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9. Jewish Vegans Demonstrate Against Genocide in Sudan
On April 30, 2006, Jewish vegans demonstrated that a compassionate world that takes to heart Jewish teachings will take a stand against violence and cruelty, when inflicted on animals and on humans alike, as part of the rally in Washington, DC calling for action to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
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10. Update on the Recent Ban on Foie Gras in Chicago
Forwarded message from Karen Dawn of dawnWatch:
On Wednesday, May 3, both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times have articles on the recent ban on foie gras in Chicago and the intention of expanding the ban to other areas and perhaps to other cruel practices.
The New York Times article, (Pg F 3) is headed, "Organizing for an Indelicate Fight." It opens:
"Fresh from a victory in Chicago, where the City Council voted last week to ban the sale of foie gras, animal rights activists have set their sights on Philadelphia, where they are collecting signatures on a petition to ban the delicacy there."
And we learn, "Their influence on Whole Foods Market has led a foie gras producer to file a lawsuit against the natural-food grocery chain....
Whole Foods told Grimaud Farms last fall to stop processing and distributing Sonoma's ducks and foie gras or the grocer would no longer do business with the company. Grimaud, which sells ducks to Whole Foods, will terminate its contract with Sonoma at the end of this month."
"Events like these have spurred the foie gras industry, which estimates its sales were $20 million last year, to organize and to take on its opponents." The industry has hired a public advocacy and lobbying group.
We read:
"Until now, producers, wholesalers, retailers and restaurateurs have not been organized, and they have been ineffective in countering the messages of their opponents, which include videos of the force-feeding of the birds, advertisements that include Pope Benedict XVI's position on force-feeding, and celebrities speaking out against the process."
A chef in California, where foie gras is banned from 2012, is quoted:
"If force-feeding a duck is cruel, then packing chickens in a cage is cruel, and then the veal and the beef. We are all going to be vegetarians soon if they have their way. We should probably start converting now.''
Then we read:
"Mr. Keller might have been joking, but animal activists are not. Their opposition to the force-feeding of ducks and geese is just the beginning of a campaign against what they consider inhumane farm practices.
'''It's only a matter of time before practices like cramming nine hens into an 18-by-20-inch wire mesh cage for their entire lives is made illegal,' said Bruce Friedrich, a PETA official."
You'll find the whole article on line
The Los Angeles Times article, on the cover of the food section (F1) is headed, "Chicago says no to foie. The city bans foie gras, but chefs refuse to give in quietly. California awaits the same fate."
It opens:
"Chicago's ban on the sale of foie gras has left chefs in the one-time big-shouldered hog butcher to the world shaking their heads and wondering what the next forbidden menu item will be.
"Last Wednesday, the Chicago City Council drew headlines by outlawing the sale of the luxury ingredient. The ordinance, which was proposed by Alderman Joe Moore, passed on a voice vote. It takes effect in mid-June. A similar measure was approved by the California Legislature in 2004, but doesn't take effect until 2012. That law will also prohibit production of foie gras.
"Animal rights groups have long criticized the making of foie gras — fattened duck or goose liver — as cruel because to produce the delicacy, the fowl must be force-fed for two weeks before slaughter.
"'My biggest fear is what's next,' says Grant Achatz, chef at the cutting-edge restaurant Alinea. 'Veal? Then rabbit? Squab? Let's face it, you can take apart just about any commercially grown animal and find some flaw in the raising process. It just depends on how far people want to push it.'
"Paul Kahan, chef at Blackbird and Avec, agrees. 'The implications are so far-reaching,' he says. 'Do we want politicians deciding what we can and cannot eat? I feel it's incredibly hypocritical because there are so many things people eat every day that are raised in an inhumane way. The way chickens are raised, if people saw it … commodity pork, I could just go on.'"
Indeed we read that Farm Sanctuary, one of the groups behind the foie gras ban, is "trying to educate people to the cruelty of factory farming." Their campaign manager, Meghan Beeby is quoted: "People just aren't aware of the psychological torture animals undergo in modern agriculture. What we are mostly concerned with is the cruelty involved in factory farming, and foie gras is one of the cruelest of the industries."
You'll find the whole Los Angeles Times article on line.
Both articles offer great opportunities for letters about the plight of animals raised for food. A great source of information is www.FactoryFarming.com.
The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com
The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com
And why not keep an eye out for this issue in your local media and send a letter to your editor when you see something about foie gras?
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.
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 http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)
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11. Animal-based Diets a Major Factor Behind Global Warming
Forwarded message:
Meat-Eaters Aiding Global Warming?
New Research Suggests What You Eat as Important as What You Drive
April 19, 2006 -- Your personal impact on global warming may be influenced as much by what you eat as by what you drive.
That surprising conclusion comes from a couple of scientists who have taken an unusual look at the production of greenhouse gases from an angle that not many folks have even thought about. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, assistant professors of geophysics at the University of Chicago, have found that our consumption of red meat may be as bad for the planet as it is for our bodies.
If you want to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, they conclude in a report to be published in the journal Earth Interactions, become a vegetarian.
In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that both researchers are vegetarians, although they admit to cheating a little with an occasional sardine. They say their conclusions are backed up by hard data.
Eshel and Martin collected that data from a wide range of sources, and they examined the amount of fossil-fuel energy — and thus the level of production of greenhouse gases — required for five different diets. The vegetarian diet turned out to be the most energy efficient, followed by poultry, and what they call the "mean American diet," which consists of a little bit of everything.
There was a surprising tie for last place. In terms of energy required for harvesting and processing, fish and red meat ended up in a "virtual tie," but that's just in terms of energy consumed. When you toss in all those other factors, such as bovine flatulence and gas released by manure, red meat comes in dead last. Fish remains in fourth place, some distance behind poultry and the mean American diet, chiefly because the type of fish preferred by Americans requires a lot of energy to catch.
Eating Red Meat Like Driving an SUV?
Can changing your diet really have much of an impact?
"It is comparable to the difference between driving an SUV and driving a reasonable sedan," said Eshel, who drives a Honda Civic, and only when he has to.
Eshel, who grew up on a farm, has always been interested in ecology and the impact we have on the planet. He got into this research, he says, because "now that I'm a professor of geophysics, I have tools in my tool kit that I can apply much more quantitatively and rigorously to evaluate what we do."
It's probably safe to say that both he and Martin figured the vegetarian diet would come out on top, but demonstrating that wasn't easy.
The first hurdle, Eshel says, was coming up "with those semirealistic diets." We don't all eat the same way, of course, so how do you figure out the accumulative impact of our widely varied diets?
The researchers began with data from the U.S. Department of Energy that quantifies the "food disappearance" rate.
"What they are referring to is the rate at which food disappears from supermarket shelves," Eshel said. On the basis of that data, they were able to construct the five semirealistic diets.
Then they collected data from a wide range of sources, mostly available to anyone on the Internet, concerning the amount of energy required to grow, harvest and prepare the foods that make up those five diets.
The centerpiece is the "mean American diet." About 72 percent of the calories from that diet are plant-based.
"Of course, most of it is tomatoes and ketchup and potatoes and french fries, but none the less it is plant-based," Eshel said.
Of the remaining 28 percent, about half comes from meat, and the rest from dairy and eggs.
When they looked at only carbon dioxide emissions associated directly with energy consumption, they came up with the vegetarian diet far less damaging to the planet than the others.
However, the researchers admit that their findings can't be considered exact. Take fish, for instance.
"The seafood portion of American diets is heavily skewed toward what is called charismatic predator fish," Eshel said, which are harder to catch. "Sword, shark and tuna and so on require long-distance ocean journeys, and those efforts are not efficient. They require a lot of labor and a lot of fossil fuel."
Switching from red meat to fish won't necessarily help the planet, unless you can develop a taste for anchovies, which prefer to remain closer to shore and travel in large schools that can be easily caught and harvested.
Considering the fact that so much of our energy goes into such areas as transportation, is it realistic to think of lowering greenhouse gases by changing the typical American diet?
The researchers insist it is. The United States, Eshel says, accounts for about 28 percent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions.
"The U.S. has five sectors of the economy that are large emitters," he said. "Those are transportation, industrial, commercial, residential and agriculture."
Energy used in agriculture has grown substantially in recent years, he says, and now stands at around 18 percent or 19 percent of the nation's energy use.
The researchers say their findings show that at least 6 percent of that use comes from the production of foods that are not energy efficient, like cattle and the food to feed them. Considering that the "mean American diet is responsible for an additional ton-and-a-half of greenhouse gas emissions a year from each of us," the savings could be substantial.
"It's a huge deal," Eshel said.
So do these two vegetarians want us to give up our hamburgers and tuna and eat cauliflower?
"I hate to sound preachy," Eshel said, but it wouldn't hurt to give a little.
"I say eat whatever works for you, but just keep in mind that the less animal-based food you eat, and the more you replace those calories with plant-based food, the better off you are, in terms of your health as well as your contributions to the health of the planet. Bring on the anchovies!
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
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12. Major Study Questions Health Benefits of Fish
Article forwarded by JVNA advisor Dan Brooks:
Major Scientific Review: Eating Fish May Be Unhealthy
A major review of the 89 best studies between 2002 and 2006-published in the March 24, 2006, issue of the British Medical Journal-finds that there is no evidence of health benefits from eating oily fish or taking fish oil supplements. Researchers from nine institutions analyzed the 89 most rigorous studies that looked at the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on various health issues. Researchers said that they found no strong evidence that fish consumption had an effect on overall deaths or the prevention of heart disease, cancer, or strokes. Mike Knapton, a director at the British Heart Foundation, even noted that "some studies have shown a slightly increased risk associated with eating very high amounts of oily fish, which is possibly related to mercury levels." The magazine New Scientist summarized the review: "An analysis of studies found little evidence that fish oil supplements cut the risk of heart problems and even suggests that they could increase risk of heart attack in men with angina."
Although the study's authors did not find the expected increase in cancer rates as a result of eating fish, the authors suggested that the harm from "[t]oxic compounds, such as fat-soluble methylmercury, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls . found in oily fish and fish oils . would be seen only after long-term [consumption]." They wrote that the "dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls increase the risk of cancer" and that the mercury in fish "may increase the risk of myocardial infarction and cause neurological damage." Most concerning, the authors wrote that "harmful effects of methylmercury could be cumulative."
Learn more about thehealth effects of the toxins in fish flesh.
Read the British Medical Journal study.
If you really want to improve your health, adopt a vegan diet rich in whole
grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and soy. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters do. Read more about the health benefits of a
vegetarian diet. It's never too late to turn over a new leaf-you can take control of your health by going vegetarian. Request a free vegetarian starter kit today!
Eco-Eating: Eating as if the Earth Matters
www.brook.com/veg
The Vegetarian Mitzvah
www.brook.com/jveg
CyberBrook's ThinkLinks
www.brook.com/cyberbrook
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** 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.
This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:
1. Update on JVNA Video
2. JVNA Pamphlets
3. Relating Shavuot and Vegetarianism
4. Three of My Recent Letters to Editors
5. Article on New Video "If This Is Kosher..."
6. Great Letter on Foie Gras Ban in Chicago
7. Article by Rabbi Marc Gellman on Vegetarianism
8. Israel Joins Nations Opposing Whaling
9. Jewish Vegans Demonstrate Against Genocide in Sudan
10. Update on the Recent Ban on Foie Gras in Chicago
11. Animal-based Diets a Major Factor Behind Global Warming
12. Major Study Questions Health Benefits of Fish
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
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1. Update on JVNA Video
We are continuing to make progress in producing our video, now tentatively titled: “So It Is Written,” with a sub-title, “Applying Jewish Values to Help Save an Imperiled World.” Suggestions on the title and subtitle are very welcome.
Recent reports about global warming (see below) and other environmental threats, and the general failure to recognize the huge effects that animal-based diets and agriculture are having, are making it increasingly clear that completing our video is essential and that it has the potential to make a major difference.
Lionel Friedberg, our multi-award-winning film producer has just completed a very successful visit to the East coast in which he:
* interviewed Roberta Kalechofsky, founder and director of Jews for Animal Rights and Micah Publications and author and editor of many books on Jewish teachings on vegetarianism and animal rights;
* interviewed Joel Fuhrman, MD, an expert on preventing diseases through proper nutrition, and an author of several books and frequent speaker about proper nutrition;
* interviewed me and videotaped me at work in my office;
* videotaped numerous Torah verses, and verses from the siddur, Psalms, Proverbs, and Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets;
* videotaped a simulation of the Torah being raised and then properly covered.
Lionel still has one trip ahead of him in which he plans to interview three additional Jewish vegetarian leaders. After that, we will move into the final production phases.
While we have made some progress re getting background footage, we are still seeking footage on the following topics:
*hospitals, including wards and surgery
* road accidents
* harvesting, reaping
* aftermath of terrorist attack,
* demonstrations in Israel
* the Israeli Knesset in session.
Please let me know if you have any suggestions re getting such footage or similar footage. Thanks.
So, we are making great progress, and have the potential of producing a documentary video that can make a tremendous difference in getting the Jewish community involved in efforts that can move our endangered planet to a more sustainable path. However, we are desperately in need of additional funds. We are very grateful to NALITH for two grants of $4,000 each, and to people who have already contributed. However, to complete the video, we still will need at least $20,000 to $30,000. We would need far more if Lionel and his wife, a professional film editor, were taking professional fees. They are only being reimbursed for their expenses. So, please contribute and help us complete this project that has so much potential. Many thanks. All contributions are very welcome and will be acknowledged, and as indicated, all contributors of $1,000 or more will be mentioned in the final credits. We have already received such contributions or more from Roberta Kalechofsky, Roberta Schiff, John Diamond, and an anonymous donor. I have contributed $15,000 because I believe so strongly in this project, with the hope, especially on my wife’s part, that somehow some of that money will be reimbursed.
Please make a tax deductible contribution online (at the bottom of the page click on "Donate") or by a check made out to Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and sent to
Israel Mossman
6938 Reliance Road
Federalsburg, MD 21632
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2. JVNA Pamphlets
We have a very strong case for vegetarianism based on Jewish values, but we must be more effective in getting it out. Please contact us at mail@jewishveg.com to order multiple free copies of our very effective JVNA pamphlets to distribute. We have plenty of these very well-designed pamphlets, and he is eager to get them to you so that you can help get them to many additional people. Thanks.
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3. Relating Shavuot and Vegetarianism
Now that we “counting” the days until Shavuot, I plan to send the article below to my Jewish media list and to my lists of rabbis. So, please review the article and let me know if you have any suggestions for improvements. Also, please feel free to share the article with others and to use it and the sample letter below for your own letters and articles. Thanks.
Shavuot and Vegetarianism
By Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
There are many connections between vegetarianism and the important Jewish festival of Shavuot:
1. Shavuot is described as "z'man matan Toratenu" (the time of the giving of our law (the Torah)). It is this Torah that has in its very first chapter God's original, strictly vegetarian, dietary regimen: "And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed - to you it shall be for food'" (Genesis 1:29).
2. To honor the Torah, many Jews stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to study Torah teachings. It is some of these teachings -to guard our health and our lives, to treat animals with compassion, to share with hungry people, to protect the environment, and to conserve natural resources - that are the basis for Jewish vegetarianism.
3. Shavuot is also known as "Chag Hakatzir" (the Harvest Festival), since it climaxes the year's first harvest. Hence, it can remind us that many more people can be sustained on vegetarian diets than on animal -centered diets. While the Torah stresses that farmers are to leave the corners of their fields and the gleanings of their harvests for the hungry, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter, as 15 to 20 million people worldwide die annually because of hunger and its effects.
4. The Talmudic sages also referred to Shavuot as "Atzeret" (the closing festival of Passover). This name implies not only that Shavuot completes the harvest begun at Passover time, but also suggests that the Torah completes the physical liberation celebrated during Passover. Yet, while the Torah has many teachings on compassion toward animals and indicates, as part of the Ten Commandments, that animals are also to be able to rest on the Sabbath day, most farm animals are kept in cramped confined spaces where they are denied exercise, fresh air, sunlight, and the fulfillment of their instinctual needs.
5. There are several other Torah teachings that are seriously violated by animal-based diets: a) While the Torah mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives (Deuteronomy: 4-9, 4-15), animal-centered diets have been linked to heart disease, stroke, several forms of cancer, and other illnesses. b) While many Torah teachings are concerned with protecting the environment, modern intensive animal agriculture results in soil erosion and depletion, extensive air and water pollution related to chemical fertilizer and pesticides, and the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats. c) While the Torah mandates bal tashchit, (Deuteronomy 20:19, 20) that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, livestock agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
6. Shavuot is a festival of thanksgiving to the Creator for His kindness. The full Hallel, psalms of praise and thanksgiving from Psalm 113 to 118, are chanted during morning synagogue services. Since one must be in good health and have a clear conscience in order to fully rejoice and be thankful, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are not harmful to hungry people or animals are factors that can enhance thankfulness.
7. On Shavuot, Jews read the Book of Ruth in synagogues. One reason is that its barley-harvest setting echoes the harvest just ending as Shavuot arrives. One of Ruth's outstanding attributes was her acts of kindness. Vegetarianism is a way of showing kindness, because it best shares food with hungry people and it doesn't involve the mistreatment and death of animals.
8. The Book of Ruth begins with Naomi, Ruth's future mother-in-law, and her family leaving Israel because of a severe famine. Today, major shortages of food in the near future are being predicted by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington DC think tank, and others, and one major reason is that people in China, Japan, India, and other countries where affluence has been increasing, are joining the US and other western countries by moving to animal-centered diets that require vast amounts of grain.
9. The Book of Ruth indicates that Naomi's family suffered the death of her husband and her two sons because the family fled in the time of famine rather than using their leadership to help others in need. In contrast to this selfish act, vegetarianism considers not only personal well being, but also encompasses broader concerns, including the global environment, the world's hungry people, animals, and the efficient use of the world's resources.
10. According to the Talmud, Shavuot is the day of judgment for fruit trees and there is an obligation to pray for them. Yet, to create pasture land for cattle, tropical forests are being rapidly destroyed. The production of just one quarter-pound fast food hamburger can require the destruction of almost 55 square feet of tropical rain forest along with much animal and plant life.
11. Shavuot involves the highest spiritual teachings (the revelation of the Torah on Mount Sinai) and down-to-earth considerations - the wheat harvest and the offering of the first fruits in the Temple. This reminds us that ideally we should relate heaven to earth and translate the Divine laws to our daily lives. Vegetarianism is an attempt to do this because it applies Torah teaching to our sustenance needs.
In view of these and other connections, I hope that Jews will enhance their celebrations of the beautiful and spiritually meaningful holiday of Shavuot by making it a time to begin striving even harder to live up to Judaism’s highest moral values and teachings by moving toward a vegetarian diet.
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Sample letters connecting Shavuot and vegetarianism
Dear editor,
Since Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people, and there is increased Torah study on this important holiday, with many religious Jews staying up all night engaged in Torah study, it makes me wonder why the many ways that animal-based diets and agriculture violate Torah values seem to be generally ignored in the Jewish community:
1. While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful about preserving their health and their lives, numerous scientific studies have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.
2. While Judaism forbids tsa'ar ba'alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain on animals, most farm animals -- including those raised for kosher consumers -- are raised on "factory farms" where they live in cramped, confined spaces, and are often drugged, mutilated, and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and any enjoyment of life, before they are slaughtered and eaten.
3. While Judaism teaches that "the earth is the Lord’s" (Psalm 24:1) and that we are to be God's partners and co-workers in preserving the world, modern intensive livestock agriculture contributes substantially to soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, global warming, and other environmental damage.
4 While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, and that we are not to use more than is needed to accomplish a purpose, animal agriculture requires the wasteful use of food, land, water, energy, and other resources.
5. While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and share our bread with hungry people, over 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter (it takes about 9 pounds of grain to produce one pound of edible beef), while an estimated 20 million people worldwide die because of hunger and its effects each year.
In view of these important Jewish mandates to preserve human health, attend to the welfare of animals, protect the environment, conserve resources, help feed hungry people, and pursue peace, contrasted with the harm that animal-centered diets do in each of these areas, shouldn’t committed Jews (and others) sharply reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products?
One could say "dayenu" (it would be enough) after any of the arguments above, because each one constitutes by itself a serious conflict between Jewish values and current practice that should impel Jews to seriously consider a plant-based diet. Combined, they make an urgently compelling case for the Jewish community to address these issues.
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Dear Editor:
Shavuot commemorates God giving the Torah to the Jewish people. There is increased Torah study on this important holiday, and many religious Jews stay up all night engaged in Torah study. Hence, this may provide a good occasion to respectfully raise some questions, such as:
Since the Torah mandates the avoidance of tsa’ar ba’alei chaim (causing unnecessary pain to animals), why isn’t there far greater concern about the horrible treatment of animals (10 billion annually in the US alone) on factory farms?
Since the Torah mandates that we should very diligently guard our health, why don’t Jewish leaders speak out about the many negative health effects of animal-based diets?
Since the Torah mandates that we are to be shomrei adamah (guardians of the earth – Genesis 2:15), why are the many current severe environmental threats (all of which are significantly worsened by animal-based agriculture) not being adequately addressed by the Jewish community?
Since the Torah mandates that we are not to waste resources (bal tashchit – Deuteronomy 20: 19, 20), why isn’t the Jewish community addressing the fact that animal-based agriculture requires far more land, water, energy, and other agricultural resources than plant-based agriculture?
Since the Torah mandates that we are to share with hungry people, why isn’t the Jewish community (and others) addressing the fact that 70% of the grain produced in the United States is being fed to animals destined for slaughter while an estimated 20 million people die from malnutrition and its effects annually?
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4. Three of My Recent Letters to Editors
May 5, 2006
Editor, Staten Island Advance
letters@siadvance.com
Dear Editor,
As president of Jewish vegetarians of North America and author of the book, "Judaism and vegetarianism," I express kudos to you for the three wonderful articles on vegetarianism in the May 3, 2006 "Food" section. It is very heartening to read that "More people than ever are switching to diets rooted in fruits, vegetables and grains" and that "[Staten] Island is Fertile Ground for Vegetarians."
An increased shift toward vegetarianism is a societal imperative because animal-based agriculture contributes significantly to global warming, record species extinction, widening water shortages, deforestation, soil erosion and depletion and other environmental threats, and because animal-based diets have been shown in many scientific studies to be linked to heart disease, several forms of cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases.
An increased shift toward vegetarianism is a religious imperative, because the widespread production and consumption of animal products violate religious mandates to protect our health, treat animals with compassion, preserve the environment, conserve natural resources, and help hungry people.
I wonder respectfully if anyone who eats animal products can please tell me why you have a diet that is so detrimental to your health, that is so devastating to our imperiled planet, that requires the annual slaughter of over 10 billion farmed animals in the U.S. alone, after they have been raised under very cruel conditions on factory farms, that requires massive amounts of scarce land, water, energy, and other resources, and that involves the feeding to animals of over seventy percent of the grain produced in the U.S. while millions of the world’s people die annually of hunger.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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Editor, the Forward
letters@forward.com
Dear Editor:
Re "Novelist Sharpens His Knife For Those Who Eat Animals" (April 7, 2006 article):
As president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, I applaud the new video that respectfully discusses Judaism’s splendid teachings on compassion to animals and contrasts them with the major abuses of animals on factory farms and at the Postville slaughterhouse. I hope that it will be a wake-up call that will result in a consideration of the many ways that the production and consumption of animal products violate basic Jewish teachings.
Rabbi Menachem Genack, rabbinic administrator of the Orthodox Union's Kashrus Division, correctly states that "Video taken at any slaughterhouse would be gruesome." We should consider that this gruesome process creates a product that contributes to heart disease, cancer, and other chronic degenerative diseases, and that animal agriculture is contributing significantly to global warming, deforestation, widening water shortages, and many additional threats.
It is time for the Jewish community to address a fundamental question: Since Judaism mandates that we take care of our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, and help hungry people, and since the production and consumption of animal products seriously violate each of these mandates, shouldn’t Jews shift toward plant-based diets?
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April 16, 2006
Editor, Jerusalem Post
letters@jpost.com
[This letter was published in the Jerusalem Post.]
Dear Editor:
As indicated in your April 14 "Wellness" column, "Calcium is critical." But, how can we explain the fact that the countries where people consume the most dairy products, including Israel, the United States, and Scandanavian countries, have the highest rates of calcium, and that countries where most of the people are lactose intolerant, such as China, have far lower rates of osteoporosis. The answer is the high amounts of animal protein in meat and dairy products that delete calcium from the body.
The high amounts of nitrogen and sulphur in high animal-protein products acidify the blood and the body draws calcium from the bones in order to neutralize the excess acidity. This calcium is lost in the urine along with the excess protein. Hence people often have negative calcium balances, even though they consume high amounts of dairy products. The excretion of calcium and large amounts of animal protein also has very negative effects on the kidneys. The best solution is to reduce consumption of animal products, since they are also high in cholesterol, saturated fats, and often pesticides, hormones, and other dangerous additives, and to get calcium from plant-foods and enriched soy milk, orange juice, and cereals.
Very truly yours,
Richard H. Schwartz
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5. Article on New Video "If This Is Kosher..."
Forwarded message:
Jonathan Safran Foer Bedfellows with Pamela Anderson, Michael Bolton, Moby, k.d. lang; Takes on Kosher-Meat Industry in New Video
April 05, 2006
THE BOOK STANDARD
By Jerome Kramer
Jonathan Safran Foer, the Magical Judaism wunderkind author of 2002's Everything Is Illuminated and its 2005 follow-up, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, has apparently traded in his word processor for a muckraking videocam. Foer serves as host for a "video exposé" of the kosher meat industry, entitled "If This Is Kosher …," in which he walks viewers through the investigation at AgriProcessors, described by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals as the world’s largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse. Foer makes the case that modern animal farms violate Jewish law (halacha), which requires humane treatment of animals, and concludes that Jews should reject violence to animals and adopt a vegetarian diet.
"The video shows completely conscious cows who are writhing in agony in pools of their own blood," says PETA’s Ben Goldsmith. "Workers jab cows in the face with electric prods, rip their tracheas out of their throats while the animals are still conscious, and dump them onto a concrete floor, where they stumble and try to get up as blood pours from their throats. Many can be seen standing and walking around as their tracheas dangle from their necks."
"Not at all surprisingly, veterinary and animal welfare experts unanimously condemned AgriProcessors. Very surprisingly, though, both the plant and kosher certification agencies actually defended these cruel practices," explains Foer. Referring to plant owner Sholom Rubashkin’s claim that PETA’s video represents kosher slaughter "in its full glory," Foer asks, "Do you agree? Are these the highest standards of Jewish law and tradition? Or is this activity a perversion of our tradition, on the part of a massive corporation, whose interest in profits is all-consuming enough to allow such blatant cruelty to happen?"
Rabbis Irving "Yitz" Greenberg (Orthodox), president of the Jewish Life Network, and David Wolpe (Conservative), of the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, also appear in the video in support of Foer and PETA’s suggestion that the best way for Jews to take a stand against cruelty is to adopt a vegetarian diet.
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6. Great Letter on Foie Gras Ban in Chicago
Forwarded message:
Re: Recent Chicago foie gras ban.
NY Times article
Chicago Tribune article
The following note was sent to the Chicago Tribune, which ran a piece on Chicago's ban on pate foie gras (the first city to do so). Mayor Daley -- a politician for whom the word "machine politician" was apparently coined, came out criticizing the ban on the grounds of frivolity. He scoffed at the City's council priorities, arguing that "with children being killed, we couldn't distract ourselves with lesser, ridiculous issues."
COMMENT REGARDING THE FOIE GRAS CONTROVERSY 4.27.06
To the editor:
The City of Chicago, and its enlightened aldermen, deserve praise for their courageous stands on behalf of public health (banning smoking in public places) and the humane treatment of animals, even if the foie gras ban only concerns a very small fraction of the creatures we subject to pain and death for the sake of a meat-based diet. (Sacré Bleu! No foie gras for you, 4.26.06)
Let me state for the record that I am no ascetic and I am no "goose-hugger" either--a term I find gratuitously derisive despite a rather robust sense of humor. I appreciate the good table as much as the next guy, but, frankly, I can't find a way to justify my pleasures at the expense of another sentient being, just because this being happens to be a creature our species can easily exploit, manipulate or destroy at will. I therefore celebrate this ban as a triumph of civilized behavior, compassion, and justice over selfish individualism, and the fact that "right" has prevailed--at least momentarily-over "might." The freedom to tyrannize is not a freedom worth honoring, a point that apparently eludes the ever opportunistic Richard Daley who, in typical demagogue style, chose to play it safe and hide behind what he perceived to be the mainstream viewpoint by advancing a ridiculous "either or" proposition. Fact is, we can't wait to have every problem besetting human society solved before we attend to other "non-human" issues. If the aldermen could pass a ban that held on killing children, and that really did the trick, of course they'd have passed that decades ago. But keeping children from being killed is not as easily regulated as banning cruelty performed by an industry, or group of industries-and any thinking person can see that, perhaps even Mr. Daley. Hence the appropriateness of this city ruling.
Incidentally, in one of those cases where the writer tries to be "balanced and fair," the article says that, "ban supporters claim [fois gras] production is barbaric." "Claim"? To produce foie gras, a duck or goose is restrained and a metal pipe is shoved down the bird's throat and into the stomach. A massive quantity of corn is pressure-driven down the pipe, often causing a rupture of the bird's stomach or esophagus, leading to a very slow and agonizing death. Vomiting is often prevented by tying an elastic band around the bird's throat. This force-feeding process takes place 3 to 5 times a day for a month, and transforms the 2 to 3 ounce liver into a 1 to 2 pound mass known as foie gras. If this is not barbaric, what is? I suppose your writer still can't decide.
PATRICE GREANVILLE
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7. Article by Rabbi Marc Gellman on Vegetarianism
The First Hamburger
A guilt-ridden carnivore makes the spiritual case for vegetarianism.
MSNBC.com
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Marc Gellman
Newsweek
Updated: 3:58 p.m. ET April 20, 2006
April 20, 2006 - Reflecting on the Earth Day to come and on the lamb-besotted Easter and brisket-baked Passover that has passed, and still being emotionally tender from the death of my dog, I need to confess my steak-loving sins. Sins because there is simply no spiritual defense in either the Western or Eastern religious traditions for eating meat. The reason is not that meat is murder as some of my vegan friends claim. To say that is to also say that there is no moral distinction between cannibalism and dinner at The Palm. Eating animals may be right or wrong, but it is not wrong for the same reasons it is wrong to eat people. This is morally absurd and trivializes what is on its face an already daunting problem. The problem is that animals, though obviously not people, are also obviously not things. Animals are sentient beings and their deaths, particularly in the query of what is euphemistically called food processing causes them great pain and suffering. That is the nub of the spiritual problem. Animals are God's creations that, unlike plants, suffer when they die just to become food for us.
I have long believed that the Torah was not just given by God, but given by God on different levels simultaneously. There is a low Torah and a high Torah in the same Holy Writ. For example, the high Torah teaches us that there should be no war, “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Micah 4:3). The low Torah, on the other hand, teaches that if you must make war, you must allow besieged people to go free, never cut down your enemy's fruit trees, and treat captives of war with respect. (Deuteronomy 20:19-20 and also Maimonides “Laws of Kings 6:8). The same is true for eating meat. As Rav Kook, the first chief rabbi of the State of Israel taught, in Genesis 1:29 God clearly limits the diet of the first people to fruits and vegetables. Only after ten generations of corruption from Adam to Noah, at the end of the flood God offers a low Torah carnivorous concession to Noah and his descendants, “Every living thing that moves shall now also be yours for food.” (Genesis 9:3) However, God quickly adds the limitation of not eating meat with its blood in it (v.4) and the caution that there will be a reckoning for all blood we shed (v.5). The end result is a clear though subtle spiritual message that we can eat meat if we must, but we should work toward the high Torah goal of not wanting to.
Gandhi wrote that “There is no transcendence without renunciation.” This means to me that we, natural or habitual or meat-imprinted-from-childhood, carnivores should constantly try to overcome our baser instincts and rise to the level where we eat as low down on the sentience food chain as we can. It just makes sense to cause the least suffering possible to get through lunch or dinner.
As for me, I consider my love of meat a morally corrosive habit. I went eight years once as a vegetarian, but I ended up chiefly a dessert-atarian. I know however, that God is not finished with me, and I keep trying to love lettuce, humbled in the knowledge that when I die and am judged, a long line of chickens and cows will be clucking and mooing when I pass, “That's the man!! He's the guy who ate me!” Hey, if you want a teacher who knows what is true, stick with me. If you want a perfect teacher you'd better go somewhere else…I have burgers on the grill.
The first children's story about the Bible I ever wrote is a tribute to Rav Kook, and all the vegetarians living the high Torah in a broken world. And it goes something like this…
The First Hamburger
Once animals talked just like people. Once every living creature ate only grass and nuts and a few berries when they could find them. No living thing ever thought about killing another living thing to eat it, until the day Noah wanted a hamburger.One night Noah dreamed of a hamburger, and when he woke up, he wanted one really badly. But Noah wasn't exactly sure how to get a hamburger, so he asked his friend the cow, “I dreamed about a hamburger last night. Do you know where I can get one?”
The cow gave Noah a puzzled look and asked, “What's a hamburger?”
“I don't know exactly,” Noah replied. “All I know is that in my dream the hamburger was something delicious between two buns with lettuce, onions, pickles and some special sauce.”
“Have some more grass and forget about it,” said the cow.
Noah asked the snake, who was the smartest of all the animals, “What's a hamburger and how can I get one?”
The snake whispered in Noah's ear, “To get one you have to make one.”
“I don't know how to make one.” Noah sputtered.
The snake laughed, pointed at the cow who was peacefully munching some grass, and said to Noah, “To make a hamburger, you have to kill that cow, chop up her meat, and fry it in a pan--or flame broil it!”
Noah's mouth opened wide, “But...but...the cow is my friend! She is a living thing just like me! I can't kill her, chop up her meat and fry it in a pan! And what is flame broiling anyway?”
By now the snake was rolling around on the ground laughing, “Kid, if you want a hamburger, that's what you gotta do.”
Well...Noah really wanted a hamburger and so that's what he really did! The first hamburger tasted delicious. But when Noah came again to the fields everything was different. When he walked towards the birds, they flew away. When Noah went over to say hello to the cows and the sheep and the buffalo, they ran away from him. Even the fish swam away when they heard Noah coming.
Noah could not understand what had happened to his friends the animals, and he could not find one single animal that would explain it to him. In fact, since the day Noah ate the first hamburger, no animal has ever talked to a person. They are still too angry.
© 2006 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12409517/site/newsweek/
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8. Israel Joins Nations Opposing Whaling
Thanks to Charles Stahler, director of the Vegetarians Resource Group (VRG) for sending this item.
Israel Joins the Ranks of the Whale Defenders
With Japan on the threshold of seizing control of the International Whaling Commission, Israel has bolstered the ranks of the anti-whaling nations by joining the International Whaling Commission.
The Israeli decision was the result of a direct plea from the United States to help defend the 20-year old moratorium on commercial whaling. The moratorium came into effect in 1986 after centuries of whaling nearly drove several species to extinction.
Japan, along with outlaw whaling nations Norway and Iceland, have been bribing small, poor nations to join the IWC to vote in favor of resuming commercial whaling operations.
Finally, the whale-defending nations are beginning to do the same except that Israel did not need to be bribed. They were simply asked and accepted.
The International Whaling Commission, established in 1949, is an international organization responsible for the management of whaling and the conservation of whales. It currently has 66 signatory nations, split almost evenly between two camps – the pro-whaling nations, led by Japan, and the anti-whaling nations, led by the U.S. and Australia.
Israel will make this 34-33.
Japanese attempts to reintroduce commercial whaling were narrowly defeated at last year's annual meeting, and both sides have been attempting to shore up support ahead of the annual meeting in May, to be held in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Israel has no whaling industry and to date has yet to formulate an official policy on the contentious issue, but it is certain to join the anti-whaling bloc.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev confirmed the American request and said, "Israel is responding to concerns of friends and allies."
Stewart Tuttle, the U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv, said the U.S. ambassador made a personal appeal to Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. A formal request also came from the U.S. representative to the whaling commission to the Israeli environment minister, he said.
"The U.S. believes that countries such as Israel can help make a difference in ensuring the long-term conservation of whale species and opposing attempts to weaken or minimize regulations for future whaling operations," Tuttle said.
Petsuya Mori, a spokesman for the Japanese Embassy in Tel Aviv said he would have not comment unless Israel formally joins the coalition.
Valerie Brachya, an Israeli Environment Ministry official, said whaling had previously not been high on Israel's agenda. But Israel is committed to global conservation efforts and will support "anything that we would see in a positive light from an environmental point of view," she said.
"Israel is active in international forums and sees itself as part of the global community for the protection of the environment," Brachya said.
Tuttle said Israel's input would be appreciated in the global body.
"Even in the absence of critical marine issues in Israel, the country can export its principles and sound environmental ethic to the IWC to effect change that will be seen for generations to come," he said.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society welcomes Israel and applauds their
conservation objectives. Sea Shepherd’s Founder and President Captain Paul Watson said, “Israel may be getting some bad press in other areas but today this nation is a friend of the whales and any friend of the whales is a friend to us.”
Captain Paul Watson
Founder and President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (1977-
Co-Founder - The Greenpeace Foundation (1972)
Co-Founder - Greenpeace International (1979)
Director of the Sierra Club USA (2003-2006)
Director - The Farley Mowat Institute
Director - www.harpseals.org
www.Seashepherd.org
Tel: 360-370-5650
Fax: 360-370-5651
Address: P.O. Box 2616
Friday Harbor, Wa 98250 USA
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9. Jewish Vegans Demonstrate Against Genocide in Sudan
On April 30, 2006, Jewish vegans demonstrated that a compassionate world that takes to heart Jewish teachings will take a stand against violence and cruelty, when inflicted on animals and on humans alike, as part of the rally in Washington, DC calling for action to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
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10. Update on the Recent Ban on Foie Gras in Chicago
Forwarded message from Karen Dawn of dawnWatch:
On Wednesday, May 3, both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times have articles on the recent ban on foie gras in Chicago and the intention of expanding the ban to other areas and perhaps to other cruel practices.
The New York Times article, (Pg F 3) is headed, "Organizing for an Indelicate Fight." It opens:
"Fresh from a victory in Chicago, where the City Council voted last week to ban the sale of foie gras, animal rights activists have set their sights on Philadelphia, where they are collecting signatures on a petition to ban the delicacy there."
And we learn, "Their influence on Whole Foods Market has led a foie gras producer to file a lawsuit against the natural-food grocery chain....
Whole Foods told Grimaud Farms last fall to stop processing and distributing Sonoma's ducks and foie gras or the grocer would no longer do business with the company. Grimaud, which sells ducks to Whole Foods, will terminate its contract with Sonoma at the end of this month."
"Events like these have spurred the foie gras industry, which estimates its sales were $20 million last year, to organize and to take on its opponents." The industry has hired a public advocacy and lobbying group.
We read:
"Until now, producers, wholesalers, retailers and restaurateurs have not been organized, and they have been ineffective in countering the messages of their opponents, which include videos of the force-feeding of the birds, advertisements that include Pope Benedict XVI's position on force-feeding, and celebrities speaking out against the process."
A chef in California, where foie gras is banned from 2012, is quoted:
"If force-feeding a duck is cruel, then packing chickens in a cage is cruel, and then the veal and the beef. We are all going to be vegetarians soon if they have their way. We should probably start converting now.''
Then we read:
"Mr. Keller might have been joking, but animal activists are not. Their opposition to the force-feeding of ducks and geese is just the beginning of a campaign against what they consider inhumane farm practices.
'''It's only a matter of time before practices like cramming nine hens into an 18-by-20-inch wire mesh cage for their entire lives is made illegal,' said Bruce Friedrich, a PETA official."
You'll find the whole article on line
The Los Angeles Times article, on the cover of the food section (F1) is headed, "Chicago says no to foie. The city bans foie gras, but chefs refuse to give in quietly. California awaits the same fate."
It opens:
"Chicago's ban on the sale of foie gras has left chefs in the one-time big-shouldered hog butcher to the world shaking their heads and wondering what the next forbidden menu item will be.
"Last Wednesday, the Chicago City Council drew headlines by outlawing the sale of the luxury ingredient. The ordinance, which was proposed by Alderman Joe Moore, passed on a voice vote. It takes effect in mid-June. A similar measure was approved by the California Legislature in 2004, but doesn't take effect until 2012. That law will also prohibit production of foie gras.
"Animal rights groups have long criticized the making of foie gras — fattened duck or goose liver — as cruel because to produce the delicacy, the fowl must be force-fed for two weeks before slaughter.
"'My biggest fear is what's next,' says Grant Achatz, chef at the cutting-edge restaurant Alinea. 'Veal? Then rabbit? Squab? Let's face it, you can take apart just about any commercially grown animal and find some flaw in the raising process. It just depends on how far people want to push it.'
"Paul Kahan, chef at Blackbird and Avec, agrees. 'The implications are so far-reaching,' he says. 'Do we want politicians deciding what we can and cannot eat? I feel it's incredibly hypocritical because there are so many things people eat every day that are raised in an inhumane way. The way chickens are raised, if people saw it … commodity pork, I could just go on.'"
Indeed we read that Farm Sanctuary, one of the groups behind the foie gras ban, is "trying to educate people to the cruelty of factory farming." Their campaign manager, Meghan Beeby is quoted: "People just aren't aware of the psychological torture animals undergo in modern agriculture. What we are mostly concerned with is the cruelty involved in factory farming, and foie gras is one of the cruelest of the industries."
You'll find the whole Los Angeles Times article on line.
Both articles offer great opportunities for letters about the plight of animals raised for food. A great source of information is www.FactoryFarming.com.
The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com
The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters@latimes.com
And why not keep an eye out for this issue in your local media and send a letter to your editor when you see something about foie gras?
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.
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 http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)
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11. Animal-based Diets a Major Factor Behind Global Warming
Forwarded message:
Meat-Eaters Aiding Global Warming?
New Research Suggests What You Eat as Important as What You Drive
April 19, 2006 -- Your personal impact on global warming may be influenced as much by what you eat as by what you drive.
That surprising conclusion comes from a couple of scientists who have taken an unusual look at the production of greenhouse gases from an angle that not many folks have even thought about. Gidon Eshel and Pamela Martin, assistant professors of geophysics at the University of Chicago, have found that our consumption of red meat may be as bad for the planet as it is for our bodies.
If you want to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, they conclude in a report to be published in the journal Earth Interactions, become a vegetarian.
In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that both researchers are vegetarians, although they admit to cheating a little with an occasional sardine. They say their conclusions are backed up by hard data.
Eshel and Martin collected that data from a wide range of sources, and they examined the amount of fossil-fuel energy — and thus the level of production of greenhouse gases — required for five different diets. The vegetarian diet turned out to be the most energy efficient, followed by poultry, and what they call the "mean American diet," which consists of a little bit of everything.
There was a surprising tie for last place. In terms of energy required for harvesting and processing, fish and red meat ended up in a "virtual tie," but that's just in terms of energy consumed. When you toss in all those other factors, such as bovine flatulence and gas released by manure, red meat comes in dead last. Fish remains in fourth place, some distance behind poultry and the mean American diet, chiefly because the type of fish preferred by Americans requires a lot of energy to catch.
Eating Red Meat Like Driving an SUV?
Can changing your diet really have much of an impact?
"It is comparable to the difference between driving an SUV and driving a reasonable sedan," said Eshel, who drives a Honda Civic, and only when he has to.
Eshel, who grew up on a farm, has always been interested in ecology and the impact we have on the planet. He got into this research, he says, because "now that I'm a professor of geophysics, I have tools in my tool kit that I can apply much more quantitatively and rigorously to evaluate what we do."
It's probably safe to say that both he and Martin figured the vegetarian diet would come out on top, but demonstrating that wasn't easy.
The first hurdle, Eshel says, was coming up "with those semirealistic diets." We don't all eat the same way, of course, so how do you figure out the accumulative impact of our widely varied diets?
The researchers began with data from the U.S. Department of Energy that quantifies the "food disappearance" rate.
"What they are referring to is the rate at which food disappears from supermarket shelves," Eshel said. On the basis of that data, they were able to construct the five semirealistic diets.
Then they collected data from a wide range of sources, mostly available to anyone on the Internet, concerning the amount of energy required to grow, harvest and prepare the foods that make up those five diets.
The centerpiece is the "mean American diet." About 72 percent of the calories from that diet are plant-based.
"Of course, most of it is tomatoes and ketchup and potatoes and french fries, but none the less it is plant-based," Eshel said.
Of the remaining 28 percent, about half comes from meat, and the rest from dairy and eggs.
When they looked at only carbon dioxide emissions associated directly with energy consumption, they came up with the vegetarian diet far less damaging to the planet than the others.
However, the researchers admit that their findings can't be considered exact. Take fish, for instance.
"The seafood portion of American diets is heavily skewed toward what is called charismatic predator fish," Eshel said, which are harder to catch. "Sword, shark and tuna and so on require long-distance ocean journeys, and those efforts are not efficient. They require a lot of labor and a lot of fossil fuel."
Switching from red meat to fish won't necessarily help the planet, unless you can develop a taste for anchovies, which prefer to remain closer to shore and travel in large schools that can be easily caught and harvested.
Considering the fact that so much of our energy goes into such areas as transportation, is it realistic to think of lowering greenhouse gases by changing the typical American diet?
The researchers insist it is. The United States, Eshel says, accounts for about 28 percent of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions.
"The U.S. has five sectors of the economy that are large emitters," he said. "Those are transportation, industrial, commercial, residential and agriculture."
Energy used in agriculture has grown substantially in recent years, he says, and now stands at around 18 percent or 19 percent of the nation's energy use.
The researchers say their findings show that at least 6 percent of that use comes from the production of foods that are not energy efficient, like cattle and the food to feed them. Considering that the "mean American diet is responsible for an additional ton-and-a-half of greenhouse gas emissions a year from each of us," the savings could be substantial.
"It's a huge deal," Eshel said.
So do these two vegetarians want us to give up our hamburgers and tuna and eat cauliflower?
"I hate to sound preachy," Eshel said, but it wouldn't hurt to give a little.
"I say eat whatever works for you, but just keep in mind that the less animal-based food you eat, and the more you replace those calories with plant-based food, the better off you are, in terms of your health as well as your contributions to the health of the planet. Bring on the anchovies!
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
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12. Major Study Questions Health Benefits of Fish
Article forwarded by JVNA advisor Dan Brooks:
Major Scientific Review: Eating Fish May Be Unhealthy
A major review of the 89 best studies between 2002 and 2006-published in the March 24, 2006, issue of the British Medical Journal-finds that there is no evidence of health benefits from eating oily fish or taking fish oil supplements. Researchers from nine institutions analyzed the 89 most rigorous studies that looked at the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on various health issues. Researchers said that they found no strong evidence that fish consumption had an effect on overall deaths or the prevention of heart disease, cancer, or strokes. Mike Knapton, a director at the British Heart Foundation, even noted that "some studies have shown a slightly increased risk associated with eating very high amounts of oily fish, which is possibly related to mercury levels." The magazine New Scientist summarized the review: "An analysis of studies found little evidence that fish oil supplements cut the risk of heart problems and even suggests that they could increase risk of heart attack in men with angina."
Although the study's authors did not find the expected increase in cancer rates as a result of eating fish, the authors suggested that the harm from "[t]oxic compounds, such as fat-soluble methylmercury, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls . found in oily fish and fish oils . would be seen only after long-term [consumption]." They wrote that the "dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls increase the risk of cancer" and that the mercury in fish "may increase the risk of myocardial infarction and cause neurological damage." Most concerning, the authors wrote that "harmful effects of methylmercury could be cumulative."
Learn more about thehealth effects of the toxins in fish flesh.
Read the British Medical Journal study.
If you really want to improve your health, adopt a vegan diet rich in whole
grains, beans, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and soy. According to the American Dietetic Association, vegetarians have lower rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity than meat-eaters do. Read more about the health benefits of a
vegetarian diet. It's never too late to turn over a new leaf-you can take control of your health by going vegetarian. Request a free vegetarian starter kit today!
Eco-Eating: Eating as if the Earth Matters
www.brook.com/veg
The Vegetarian Mitzvah
www.brook.com/jveg
CyberBrook's ThinkLinks
www.brook.com/cyberbrook
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