There is increasing evidence that the world is approaching a climate catastrophe. The hottest year in recorded history was 2024, breaking the record set just the year before. Amazingly, all 13 months from June 2023 to June 2024 broke monthly temperature records. All 25 years in the current century are among the 26 hottest years since temperature records have been kept worldwide.

Because of the hotter temperatures, there has been a significant increase in the melting of glaciers and Polar ice caps, causing sea levels to rise rapidly. There has also been a substantial increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods., 

Climate experts are issuing increasingly dire warnings, indicating that an irreversible tipping point may soon occur, when climate spins out of control, with disastrous consequences.

Israel is especially threatened by climate change because the hotter, drier Middle East projected by climate experts makes instability, terrorism, and war more likely. Also, a rising Mediterranean Sea could inundate the coastal plain that includes much of Israel’s population and infrastructure. 

Hence, everything possible must be done to avert a global climate catastrophe. 

Magillat Esther, read twice on Purim, tells how the Jews of ancient Persia were threatened with extinction and miraculously saved. Today, climate change threatens the entire world, and we must find a way to avert an unprecedented catastrophe.

Because they recognized the great threats to their future, the Jews of ancient Persia took major steps to save themselves. They fasted for three days, seeking God’s help, and Queen Esther risked her life by appearing before King Ahasuerus without being called by the king, something that could be punished by death at the king’s discretion.

Like the Jews of ancient Persia, the world’s people today must act to avert calamity. Every aspect of life should be considered in terms of reducing “carbon footprints.” Most importantly, we should shift toward plant-based diets to emulate Mordechai’s nonconformity and Esther’s not eating meat so that she could remain kosher while not revealing that she was Jewish. 

Such a shift has two significant benefits for reducing climate threats. First, there would be far fewer cows and other farmed animals emitting methane, a greenhouse gas with over 80 times the capacity to heat the planet as CO2 per unit weight during the 10 – 15 years it is in the atmosphere. More importantly, such shifts have the potential to dramatically reduce CO2 presently in the atmosphere by permitting reforesting of the over 40 percent of the world’s ice-free land that is currently being used for grazing and raising feed crops for animals. The additional  trees would sequester much atmospheric CO2, reducing it from its current hazardous level to a much safer one. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening, with forests continuing to be destroyed to meet the needs of animal-based agriculture. The world is committing slow suicide, eating our way to extinction.

Rabbis should eliminate and speak out against animal-based diets on Purim throughout the year because of the above points and because such diets violate basic Jewish teachings on protecting our health, treating animals with compassion, protecting the environment,  conserving natural resources, reducing hunger, and pursuing peace.

Fortunately, it is much easier to shift to plant-based diets today because, in addition to the wide variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds available, there are many plant-based substitutes with appearances, textures, and tastes very similar to those of meat. Applying Judaism’s teachings to our diets will demonstrate the relevance of Judaism’s eternal teachings to current problems and help shift our precious but imperiled planet onto a sustainable path.

There is no Planet B or effective Plan B