Review of “Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet

HOW JEWISH TEACHINGS CAN HELP SAVE THE PLANET

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Review in the Jewish Georgian, “the largest Jewish newspaper in the South,” by Lewis Regenstein, president of The Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature, and author of the book “Replenish the Earth: The Teachings of the World’s Religions on Protecting Animals and Nature.”

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Dr. Richard Schwartz, an expert on Jewish teachings on the environment, vegetarianism, and animals, has given us a preview of his new book, due out by early July 2016, on the environmental crisis we are facing.

“Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet,” Richard says, ” is meant to be a wake-up call – the most urgent that I can make- – to alert Jews and others that we must do all we can in applying Jewish values to help shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path.”

Its primary aim is to show that the world is heading toward a “perfect storm … of existential crises: sudden, catastrophic climate change; severe environmental degradation; devastating scarcities of food, water and energy; widening terrorism; and other critical threats to life as we know and value it,”

“Everything possible must be done,” Richard warns, “to avert such potential catastrophes, since they threaten humanity and all life on the planet.”

A main theme of this book, as Richard puts it, is that “in the face of today’s urgent problems, Jews must return to our universal Jewish values and to our missions: to be ‘a light unto the nations,’ a kingdom of priests and a holy people, descendants of prophets, champions of social justice, eternal protestants against a corrupt, unjust world, dissenters against destructive and unjust systems.”

“I hope that this book’s discussion of Jewish teachings on these critically important issues will help move our precious planet away from its present perilous path onto one that is more just, humane, peaceful, and sustainable.”

For more info on Richard and his book, check out his articles at JewishVeg.com/schwartz .

To offer suggestions or other help, please contact Richard at veggieRich@gmail.com

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