Why Jews Should Consider Vegetarianism
by: Craig Wiesner on June 30th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
In the July/August issue of Tikkun Magazine, which you can pick up at your favorite local independent bookstore or order from the Tikkun web store, Daniel Brook writes about why Jews should seriously consider becoming vegetarians. Rabbi Michael Lerner thought we should add a little something beyond Daniel Brook’s powerful writing and so we are presenting here two video segments provided by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
Our thanks to Philip Schein at PETA for helping us get these on the web.
While vegetarianism may be the route for some Jews, it is my opinion that it is not the route for most Jews, even for those of us who keep kosher. What is needed is a return to compassionate shkitah (slaughter) for those who choose to eat meat on occasion. In the old days we did not buy our kosher meat in the grocery story. We had a local butcher whose method of slaughter was well known to all who bought from him. If he cleaned his knife blade with his tears, so much the better. When he said the prayers that allowed him to perform the slaughter, we knew he did so with the proper khavannah. Today, the animals are killed by people who do not care about the suffering of the animal and how they can minimize it. Their prayers are but mere formality. Their inspections of the carcass are effected by whether the number of non-kosher carcasses will cause them a loss of profit.
We need to get back to a more localized shokkteem who will honor the animal for giving its life for our needs and away from these bottom line, profit based ethics.
As president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America, I am thrilled that you are publishing this article. I think it is scandalous that the Jewish community has generally been ignoring the many moral issues related to animal-based diets, including the argument that the production and consumption of meat and other animal products violate basic Jewish mandates to preserve human health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people and pursue peace. In addition, there are devastating effects on human health and the environment, with ‘livestock’ agriculture emitting more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than cars, trucks, planes, ships and all the other means of transportation worldwide combined. Why is the Jewish community unwilling to even consider the question, “Should Jews be Vegetarians?” For more information, please visit JewishVeg.com/schwartz, where I have over 140 articles and 20 podcasts of my talks and interviews, and please visit ASacredDuty.com to see our acclaimed documentary “A SacredDuty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World.”
Re the comment above, why not boycott meat until the change you success occurs?