A VEGETARIAN VIEW OF THE TORAH (For those who are interested)

[Guest guest]

Shalom! Although not everyone on this list is Jewish (and as I

mentioned before, EVERYONE is welcome here), I thought some of you

might be interested about an article I found on being Jewish and

Vegetarian.

(Don't worry, this will be a cooking club with recipes and not a

discussion about religion and faith, however I found this article

very interesting.)

Gabriella

 

 

A VEGETARIAN VIEW OF THE TORAH

And G_d said: " Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed

which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-

yielding fruit--to you it shall be for food. " (Gen.1:29)

 

G_d's initial intention was that people should be vegetarians. The

famous Jewish Torah commentator, Rashi (1040-1105), states the

following about God's first dietary law:

 

G_d did not permit Adam and his wife to kill a creature and to eat

its flesh. Only every green herb shall they all eat together. [1]

 

Many other Torah commentators agree with this assessment, including

Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092-1167), Maimonides (1135-1214), Nachmanides

(1194-1270), and Rabbi Joseph Albo (died in 1444). Later scholars,

such as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888), Moses Cassuto (1883-

1951), and Nehama Leibowitz (1905-1997), concur. Cassuto, for

example, in his commentary From Adam to Noah (p. 58) states:

 

You are permitted to use the animals and employ them for work, have

dominion over them in order to utilize their services for your

subsistence, but must not hold their life cheap nor slaughter them

for food. Your natural diet is vegetarian... [2]

 

The above opinions are consistent with the Talmud, which states that

people were initially vegetarians: " Adam was not permitted meat for

purposes of eating. " [3]

 

The great 13th century Jewish philosopher Nachmanides stated that the

reason behind this initial dietary law was:

 

Living creatures possess a moving soul and a certain spiritual

superiority which in this respect make them similar to those who

possess intellect (people) and they have the power of affecting their

welfare and their food and they flee from pain and death. [4]

 

According to the Jewish philosopher Rabbi Joseph Albo, the reason is

that " In the killing of animals there is cruelty, rage, and the

accustoming of oneself to the bad habit of shedding innocent

blood... " [5]

 

G_d's first dietary law is a unique statement in humanity's spiritual

history

 

It is a spiritual blueprint of a vegetarian world order. Yet how many

millions of people have read this Torah verse (Gen. 1:29) and passed

it by without considering its meaning?

 

After stating that people were to adhere to a vegetarian diet, the

Torah next indicates that animals were not to prey on one another but

were also to have only vegetarian food:

 

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to

every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living

soul, [i have given] every green herb for food. (Gen. 1:30)

 

Immediately after giving these dietary laws, G_d saw everything that

he had made and " behold, it was very good " (Gen. 1:31). Everything in

the universe was as G_d wanted it, with nothing superfluous and

nothing lacking, a complete harmony. [6] The vegetarian diet was

consistent with G_d's initial plan.

 

There are other indications in early chapters of Genesis that people

originally were to be sustained on vegetarian diets:

 

And the Lord G_d commanded the man, saying: " of every tree of the

garden, thou mayest freely eat... " (Gen.2:16)

 

" ...and thou shalt eat the herbs of the field. " (Gen. 3:18)

 

Chapter 5 of Genesis tells of the long lives of people in the

generations of the vegetarian period from Adam to Noah. Adam lived

930 years; Seth (Adam's son) lived 912 years; Enosh (Seth's son)

lived 905 years; Kenan (Enosh's son) lived 910 years; and so on,

until Methuselah, who lived 969 years, the longest time of life

recorded in the Torah. After the flood, people lived for much shorter

periods. Abraham, for example, lived only 175 years.

 

Why the tremendous change in life spans? Before the flood, people

were forbidden to eat meat; after the flood it was permitted (Gen.

9:3). A partial explanation, therefore, may be that it was the change

in diet that contributed to the change in life spans. This view was

held by the Jewish philosopher and Bible commentator Maimonides. [7]

Recent evidence linking heavy meat consumption with several diseases

reinforces this point of view. Of course, a shift to sensible

vegetarian diets will not increase life spans to anywhere near those

of early people, but recent medical evidence indicates that it would

lead to an increase in the average span and quality of life.

 

The strongest support for vegetarianism as a positive ideal anywhere

in Torah literature is in the writing of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen

Kook (1865-1935). Rav Kook was the first Chief Rabbi of pre-state

Israel and a highly respected and beloved Jewish spiritual leader in

the early 20th century. He was a mystical thinker, a forceful writer,

and a great Torah scholar. His powerful words on vegetarianism are

found primarily in his A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace (edited by

Rabbi David Cohen, 'The Nazir').

 

Rav Kook believes that the permission to eat meat was only a

temporary concession; he feels that a G_d who is merciful to his

creatures would not institute an everlasting law permitting the

killing of animals for food. [8] He states:

 

The progress of dynamic ideals will not be eternally blocked. Through

general, moral and intellectual advancement, " when they shall teach

no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother saying,

Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them

unto the greatest of them " (Jeremiah 32:34) shall the latent

aspiration of justice for the animal kingdom come out into the open,

when the time is ripe. [9]

 

People are not always ready to live up to God's highest ideals. By

the time of Noah, humanity had degenerated greatly. " And G_d saw the

earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their

way upon the earth " (Gen. 6:12). People had sunk so low that they

would eat a limb torn from a living animal. As a concession to

people's weakness, [10] permission to eat meat was then given:

 

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; as the green

herb have I given you all. (Gen. 9:3)

 

According to Rav Kook, because people had sunk to an extremely low

level of spirituality, it was necessary that they be given an

elevated image of themselves as compared to animals, and that they

concentrate their efforts into first improving relationships between

people. He felt that were people denied the right to eat meat, they

might eat the flesh of human beings due to their inability to control

their lust for flesh. He regards the permission to slaughter animals

for food as a " transitional tax " or temporary dispensation until

a " brighter era " is reached when people would return to vegetarian

diets. [11]

 

R. Joseph Albo indicates that in the era before the flood people

developed the mistaken belief that the reason that they were not

permitted to eat meat was that human beings and animals were on the

same moral level and therefore that human beings were no more

responsible for their actions than were animals. Albo believed that

such a view led to moral degeneracy and ultimately the flood. After

the flood, the prohibition against eating meat was lifted so that

human beings would realize that they were on a higher level than

animals, and that they therefore have a greater degree of

responsibility. [12] However, the laws of kashrut later greatly

limited people's permission to eat meat.

 

Isaak Hebenstreit was a Polish rabbi who wrote Kivrot Hata'avah (the

Graves of Lust) in 1929. He states that G_d never wanted people to

eat meat, because of the cruelty involved; people shouldn't kill any

living thing and fill their stomachs by destroying others. He

believed that G_d temporarily gave permission to eat meat because of

the conditions after the flood, when all plant life had been

destroyed. [13]

 

Just prior to granting Noah and his family permission to eat meat,

G_d states:

 

And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of

the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all wherewith the

ground teemeth, and upon all the fish of the sea: into your hand are

they delivered. (Gen. 9:2)

 

Now that there is permission to eat animals, no longer do people and

animals work together in harmony, but living creatures fear and dread

human beings. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, an outstanding nineteenth-

century Torah commentator, stated that the attachment between people

and animals was broken which initiated a change in the relationship

of people to the world. [14]

 

The permission given to Noah to eat meat was not unconditional. There

was an immediate prohibition against eating blood:

 

" Only flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall

ye not eat. " (Gen. 9:4)

 

Similar statements are made in Leviticus 19:26, 17:10,12 and

Deuteronomy 12:16,23,25, and 15:23. The Torah identifies blood with

life: " ...for the blood is the life " (Deut. 12:23). Life must already

have departed from the animal before it can be eaten.

 

A modern rabbi, Samuel Dresner, commenting on the dietary laws

indicates:

 

The removal of blood which kashrut teaches is one of the most

powerful means of making us constantly aware of the concession and

compromise which the whole act of eating meat, in reality, is. Again

it teaches us reverence for life. [15]

 

Biblical commentator Rabbi Moses Cassuto states:

 

Apparently the Torah was in principle opposed to the eating of meat.

When Noah and his descendants were permitted to eat meat this was a

concession conditional on the prohibition of the blood. This

prohibition implied respect for the principle of life ( " for the blood

is the life " ) and an allusion to the fact that in reality all meat

should have been prohibited. This partial prohibition was designed to

call to mind the previously total one. [16]

 

Immediately after permission was given to eat meat, G_d states, " And

surely, your blood of your lives will I require " (Gen. 9:5). The

rabbis base the prohibition of suicide on these words. [17] But

coming directly after flesh is allowed, a vegetarian might reason

that this passage hints that eating meat is a slow form of suicide.

Perhaps G_d is warning us: " I prefer that you do not eat meat. But,

if you must eat meat, there will be a penalty--your life blood will I

require. " [18] That is, your life will be shortened by eating

something that you were not meant to eat. In other words, if people

choose to live in violence, by slaughtering and eating animals, they

must pay a penalty.

 

Note that this speculation is consistent with the decrease in

biblical life spans that occurred after permission to eat meat was

given and also with modern research in health and nutrition.

 

According to Isaac Arama (1420-1494), author of Akedat Yitzchak, and

others, after the Israelites left Egypt, G_d tried to establish

another non- meat diet, manna. [19] The Torah introduces the story of

the manna with the following Divine message which Moses was to convey

to the Israelites in response to their concern about what they would

eat in the desert:

 

G_d said to Moses, " Behold! I shall rain down for you food from

heaven; and the people shall go out and gather a certain portion

every day . . . " (Exod. 16:4).

 

Manna is described in the Torah as a vegetarian food, " like coriander

seed " (Num. 11:7). The rabbis of the Talmud stated that the manna had

whatever taste and flavor the eater desired at the time of eating. It

must also have had sufficient nutrient value because Moses stated

that " It is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat " (Exod.

16:15).

 

Rabbi J. H. Hertz comments on the manna: " G_d in His ever-sustaining

providence fed Israel's host during the weary years of wandering in

His own unsearchable way. " [20]

 

The manna taught the Children of Israel several lessons, which are

significant from a vegetarian point of view.

 

(1) G_d provides for our needs; manna was available for each day's

requirements. In the same way, vegetarian diets could result in

enough food for all.

 

 

What Diet Does G-d Prefer for People?

The most basic line of demarcation in the realm of Halacha is the one

between the permitted and the forbidden. Yet, in the realm of the

permitted, we also find a further line between the accepted and the

ideal. At this point, we do not simply ask what does G-d allow but

what does G-d prefer.

 

Within this context, it is essential that we not only ask which foods

G_d permits but that we also consider the diet that G_d prefers for

us. The following arguments are submitted in furtherance of my view

that G_d's preference for people is vegetarianism. My hope is that

this presentation will start a respectful dialogue on this important

issue.

 

Argument #1: People were originally vegetarian.

 

G_d's first dietary law was strictly vegetarian: " And G_d

said: 'Behold I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon

the face of the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a

tree yielding seed - to you it shall be for food' " (Genesis 1:29).

That G_d's first intention was that people should be vegetarians was

stated by Jewish classical Biblical commentators, such as Rashi,

Abraham Ibn Ezra, Maimonides, and Nachmanides, and later scholars,

such as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Moses Cassuto, and Nehama

Leibowitz. It is significant that after giving these dietary laws,

G_d saw everything that He had made and " behold, it was very good. "

(Genesis 1:31).

 

Argument #2: G-d's allowance to eat meat was only a concession.

 

What about G-d's permission, given to Noach and his descendants, to

eat meat? According to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, first Chief

Rabbi of pre-state Israel and one of the outstanding Jewish thinkers

of the twentieth century, this permission was only a temporary

concession to human weakness. He felt that G-d who is merciful to all

of His creatures would not institute an everlasting law which permits

the killing of animals for food.

 

The Torah connects further the consumption of meat with uncontrolled

lust (Deuteronomy 12:20), while vegetarian foods are looked on with

favor:

 

For the Lord thy G_d bringeth thee into a good land, a land of

brooks, of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys

and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and

pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey; a land wherein thou

shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack anything in

it... And thou shalt eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord thy G-d

for the good land which He hath given thee.

(Deuteronomy 8:7-10)

 

 

Rabbi Kook furthermore believed that the many laws and restrictions

related to the preparation and consumption of meat (the laws of

kashrut) supported this outlook. To Rabbi Kook, these regulations

implied a reprimand and served as an elaborate apparatus designed to

keep alive a sense of reverence for life, with the aim of eventually

leading people away from their meat-eating habit. This idea is echoed

by Torah commentator Solomon Refrain Lunchitz, author of K'lee Yakar:

 

What was the necessity for the entire procedure of ritual slaughter?

For the sake of self discipline. It is far more appropriate for man

not to eat meat; only if he has a strong desire for meat does the

Torah permit it, and even this only after the trouble and

inconvenience necessary to satisfy his desire. Perhaps because of the

bother and annoyance of the whole procedure, he will be restrained

from such a strong and uncontrollable desire for meat.

 

This argument is further supported by the belief of Rav Kook and

Rabbi Joseph Albo that in the days of the Messiah, people will again

be vegetarians. They base this on the prophecy of Isaiah:

 

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,.

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox,.

And none shall hurt nor destroy in all My holy

mountain.

(Isaiah 11:6-9)

 

 

 

Argument #3: Manna was the preferred food in the desert.

 

According to Isaac Arama, author of " Akedat Yitzchak " , G_d

established another non-meat diet, manna, when the Israelites left

Egypt. This would seem to further indicate G-d's preference for this

diet. Manna is clearly described in the Torah as a vegetarian

food, " like coriander seed " (Numbers 11:7). This diet furthermore

kept the Israelites in good health for 40 years in the desert.

 

We should also note that when the Jewish people cried for flesh, G_d

only reluctantly provided it (in the form of quails). A great plague

subsequently broke out and many people died. The place where this

occurred was named, " The Graves of Lust " , perhaps an early warning of

the negative health effects related to the consumption of meat.

 

These three primary arguments while presenting vegetarianism as an

ideal still accept the fact that Jews do have the choice to eat meat.

The following secondary arguments, outlining the effects of meat

consumption on other mitzvah concerns, limit, I believe, this choice

in our age.

 

 

 

Argument #4: Vegetarianism provides a healthier diet.

 

Judaism regards the preservation of health as a religious command of

the highest importance. The Talmud teaches that Jews should be more

particular about matters of health and life than ritual matters. If

it could help save a life, one generally must (not may) violate the

Sabbath, eat non-kosher foods, and even eat on Yom Kippur. The only

laws that cannot be violated to preserve a life are those prohibiting

murder, idolatry, and sexual immorality.

 

In view of these teachings, could G_d possibly want people to eat

meat, when such diets have been strongly linked to heart attacks,

strokes, various types of cancer, and other diseases? In this regard,

it is interesting to note that Chapter 5 of Genesis tells of the very

long lives of people in the generations of the vegetarian period from

Adam to Noach.

 

 

 

Argument #5: Modern livestock agriculture is cruel to animals.

 

Judaism has many beautiful teachings concerning proper treatment of

animals. Moses and King David were chosen for leadership, and Rebecca

was deemed suitable to be a wife for Isaac, because they were kind to

animals. Proverbs 12:10 teaches that The righteous person considers

the life of his beast. " The psalmist states that, " The Lord is good

to all, and His tender mercies are over all His creatures " (Psalms

145:9). Concern for animals is even expressed in the Ten

Commandments. Many Biblical laws command proper treatment of animals.

Shechitah, Jewish ritual slaughter, insures that when animals are

slaughtered for food, it is done in the swiftest and most painless

way possible.

 

Obviously, the argument that we must be concerned for animals can be

used to argue directly against the killing of animals for meat. Yet,

the very allowance of meat challenges such an extension. The modern

treatment of livestock in preparation for slaughter, though, may be a

further consideration. Animals are raised to ensure the highest

return on investment, without sufficient consideration for their

personal benefit. In view of the above stated arguments, would God

favor the consumption of flesh when it involves raising animals under

cruel conditions in crowded cells, where they are denied fresh air,

exercise, and any emotional attachments?

 

 

 

Argument #6: Vegetarianism favors the environment.

 

Judaism teaches that the earth is the Lord's and that people are to

be partners and co-workers with G_d in protecting the environment.

The Talmudic sages indicated great concern about reducing pollution.

While G_d was able to say, " It is very good " when the world was

created, today the world faces many environmental threats. Thus,

could God favor meat-centered diets which involve extensive soil

depletion and erosion, air and water pollution related to the

widespread production and use of pesticides, fertilizer, and other

chemicals, and the destruction of tropical rain forests and other

habitats?

 

Based on Deuteronomy 20:19, 20 which prohibits the destruction of

fruit-bearing trees in time of warfare, the Talmudic sages also

prohibited the waste or unnecessary destruction of all objects of

potential benefit to people. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch stated that

this prohibition (bal tashchit) is the first and most general call of

G-d: We are to " regard things as G-d's property and use them with a

sense of responsibility for wise human purposes. Destroy nothing!

Waste nothing! " He also stated that destruction includes using more

things (or things of greater value) than is necessary to obtain one's

aim.

 

Hence, could G_d favor flesh-centered diets which require up to 20

times more land, ten times more energy and water, and far more

pesticides, fertilizer, and other resources, than vegetarian diets?

 

 

 

Argument #7: The non-economical use of resources to support meat

consumption yields many negative repercussions for humanity.

 

Helping the hungry is fundamental in Judaism. The Talmud

states, " Providing charity weighs as heavily as all the other

commandments of the Torah combined " (Baba Batra 9a). Farmers are to

leave the gleanings of the harvest and the corners of the fields for

the poor. On Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, while

fasting and praying for a good year, Jews are told through the words

of the Prophet Isaiah, that fasting and prayers are not enough; they

must work to end oppression and " share thy bread with the

hungry " (Isaiah 58:6-7)

 

Hence, could G_d possibly favor a diet that involves the feeding of

over 70 percent of the grain grown in the U.S. to animals destined

for slaughter while 20 million people die annually due to hunger and

its effects? Could He support a diet that involves the importing of

beef (the U.S. is one of the world's leading importers) from

countries where people are starving, to satisfy the needs of fast-

food restaurants? Using grain and similar resources to directly feed

human beings rather than in the preparation of meat could greatly

offset these negative effects.

 

While not a pacifist religion, Judaism mandates a special obligation

to work for peace. While many commandments require a certain time

and/or place for their performance, Jews are to constantly " seek

peace and pursue it " (Psalms 34:15). According to the Talmudic sages,

God's name is peace, peace encompasses all blessings, and the first

words of the Messiah will be a message of peace. While the Israelites

did go forth to battle, they always yearned for the time

when " nations shall beat their swords into plowshares...and not learn

war any more. (Micah 4:3,4) "

 

Since the sages taught that one of the roots of war is the lack of

bread and other resources, could G_d support the notion of a diet

that involves the wasteful use of land, water, energy, and other

agricultural commodities, and thus perpetuates the widespread hunger

and poverty that frequently leads to instability and war?

 

The above arguments strongly indicate to me that vegetarianism is the

diet most consistent with Jewish values and G_d's preferences. I

invite the reader to further investigate these arguments and sources,

including other explanations and understandings that would defend

meat consumption as acceptable within the ideal diet for Jews. I

believe that my position would still remain strong. I feel, however,

that to complete my arguments, I should address some of the

challenges to my assertion that the ideal diet for Jews is

vegetarianism.

 

 

 

Counter-argument #1: Inconsistent with Judaism, vegetarianism

elevates animals to a level equal to or greater than that of people.

 

Response: Concern for animals and the refusal to treat them brutally

and slaughter them for food that is not necessary for proper

nutrition and, indeed, is harmful to human health, does not mean that

vegetarians regard animals as being equal to people. Also, as

indicated, there are many reasons for being vegetarian other than

animal rights, including concern for human health, ecological

threats, and the plight of hungry people.

 

Because humans are capable of imagination, rationality, empathy,

compassion, and moral choice, we should strive to end the

unbelievably cruel conditions under which farm animals are currently

raised. This is an issue of sensitivity, not an assertion of

egalitarianism with the animal kingdom.

 

 

 

Counter-argument #2. Vegetarianism places greater priority on animal

rights than on the many problems related to human welfare.

 

Response: Vegetarian diets are not beneficial only to animals. They

also improve human health, help hungry people through better sharing

of food and other resources, put less stress on endangered

ecosystems, conserve valuable resources, and reduce the potential for

war and violence. In view of the many global threats related to

today`s livestock agriculture, working to promote vegetarianism may

be the most important action that one can take for global survival.

 

 

 

Counter-argument #3. By putting vegetarian values ahead of Jewish

teachings, vegetarians are, in effect, creating a new religion, with

values contrary to Jewish teachings.

 

Response: Jewish vegetarians are not placing so-called vegetarian

values above Torah principles. They are saying that basic Jewish

teachings that mandate that we treat animals with compassion, guard

our health, share with hungry people, protect the environment,

conserve resources, and seek peace, point to vegetarianism as the

ideal G-d directed diet for Jews today. Rather than rejecting Torah

values, Jewish vegetarians are challenging the Jewish community to

apply Judaism`s glorious teachings.

 

 

 

Counter-argument #4. Jews must eat meat on Shabbos and Yom Tov.

 

Response: According to the the Talmud (T. B. Pesachim 109a), since

the destruction of the Temple, Jews are not required to eat meat in

order to rejoice in sacred occasions. Recent scholarly articles by

Rabbi Alfred Cohen and Rabbi J. David Bleich conclude that Jews do

not have to eat meat in order to celebrate the Sabbath and Jewish

festivals. The fact that several chief rabbis, including Shlomo

Goren, late Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Sha'ar Yashuv

Cohen, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Haifa, have been or are strict

vegetarians reinforces this argument.

 

 

 

Counter-argument #5. The Torah mandates that we eat korban Pesach and

other korbanos (sacrifices).

 

Response: The great Jewish philosopher Maimonides believed that G_d

permitted sacrifices as a concession to the common mode of worship in

Biblical times. It was felt that had Moses not instituted the

sacrifices, his mission would have failed and perhaps Judaism would

have disappeared. The Jewish philosopher Abarbanel reinforced

Maimonides' position by citing a midrash that indicated that the

Israelites had become accustomed to sacrifices in Egypt, and thus G-d

tolerated the sacrifices but commanded that they be offered only in

one central sanctuary in order to wean the Jews from idolatrous

practices.

 

Without the Temple, sacrifices are not required today. And, Rav Kook

felt, based on the prophecy of Isaiah, that there will only be

sacrifices involving vegetarian foods during the Messianic Period.

There is a midrash that states: " in the Messianic era, all sacrifices

will cease, except thanksgiving offerings (which could be non-animal)

which will continue forever " .

 

Even if sacrifices will be restored at that time, as many other

Jewish sages believed, this should not prevent people from adopting a

diet that has so many personal and societal benefits today.

 

 

 

Counter-argument #6. Jews have historically had many problems with

some animal rights groups which have often opposed kosher shechita

and advocated its abolishment.

 

Response: Jews should consider switching to vegetarianism not because

of the views of animal rights groups, whether they are hostile to

Judaism or not, but because it is the diet most consistent with

Jewish values. It is the Torah, not animal rights groups, that

indicate how far the treatment of animals is from fundamental Jewish

values. The powerful Jewish teachings on proper treatment of animals

was eloquently summarized by Samson Raphael Hirsch:

 

Here you are faced with G_d's teaching, which obliges you not only to

refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help

and, when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you see an animal

suffering, even through no fault of yours.

 

 

 

It is essential that the Jewish community start to address the many

moral issues related to our diets. This is an issue of importance for

Torah and for the future of our endangered planet.

 

 

 

NOTES:

 

1. Commenting on Genesis 1:29 Rashi states: God did not permit Adam

and Eve to kill a creature and eat its flesh. Only every green herb

shall they all eat together. " The Talmud T. B. Sanhedrin) states:

Adam was not permitted meat for the purpose of eating. " Also see

Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Genesis , Jerusalem, World Zionist

Organization (3rd Edition), 1976, p. 77.

 

2. Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Deuteronomy, Jerusalem, World Zionist

Organization (3rd Edition), 1980, pp. 135-142.

 

3. Quoted in The Commandments and Their Rationale, Abraham Chill (New

York, 1974) p. 400.

 

4. Rav Kook, Olat Rayah, Vol. 1, p. 292; Also see Rabbi Alfred

Cohen, " Vegetarianism From a Jewish Perspective " , Journal of Halacha

and Contemporary Society, Vol.1, No. 2, Fall, 1981, p. 45.

 

5. Rabbi Elijah J. Schochet, Animal Life in Jewish Tradition, New

York, K'tav, 1984, p. 290. In his book, Masterplan - Judaism: Its

Programs, Meanings, Goals (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Academy Publications,

1991), Rabbi Aryeh Carmell, a contemporary Israeli Torah educator,

stated: " It seems doubtful from all that has been said whether the

Torah would sanction 'factory farming', which treats animals as

machines, with apparent insensitivity to their natural needs and

instincts. This is a matter for decision by halachic authorities. "

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (d. 1985), the most influential Orthodox

authority in the United States for many years, indicated in 1982 that

it is forbidden for Jews to raise calves for veal under current

intensive livestock agriculture conditions since it violates the

prohibition of tsa'ar ba'alei chayim (causing unnecessary pain to

animals). See Igrot Moshe, Even Haezer 4:92.

 

6. T. B. Chulin 9a; Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat, c. 427, and

Yoreh De'ah c. 116.

 

7. Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yesode HaTorah, chapter 5.

 

8. Encyclopedia Judaica, 1971, Volume 14, p. 1337.

 

9. T. B. Kiddushin 66b; T. B. Baba Batra 158b; T. J. Kiddushin 4:12;

T. J. Baba Batra 2:8,9.

 

10. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld,

translator (London: Soncino Press, 1962), Vol.2, p. 282.

 

11. Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, Sanction in Judaism for Peace, World

Religions and World Peace, Homer A. Jack, editor (Boston: Beacon,

1968).

 

12. Rabbi Alfred Cohen, " Vegetarianism From a Jewish Perspective " ,

Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Vol.1, No. 2, Fall, 1981.

 

13. Tradition, Summer, 1987.

 

14. Moreh Nebuchim 3:32.

 

15. Rabbi J. H. Hertz, The Pentateuch and Haftorahs (London: Soncino

Press, 1958), p. 562.

 

16. Ibid.

 

17. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld,

translator (London: Soncino Press, 1962), Vol.2, p. 292.

 

 

----

 

This article originally appeared in Nishma Journal (Volume Ten, 1996)

by Nishma, 3772 Bathurst Street, Suite #1, North York, Ontario,

M3H3H5, Canada; phone: 1 (800) 267-NISHMA; e-mail:

Nishma.

 

 

----

" The Schwartz Collection on Judaism, Vegetarianism, and Animal Rights "