Author: Richard Schwartz

                                Review of Animal Theologians       Animal Theologians, edited by long time British animal rights activists Andrew and Clair Linzey, has the potential to help shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path. Why? It can help move people, especially religious ones, to plant-based diets at a time when the world is rapidly heading inward a climate catastrophe and a major societal change to such diets is essential to efforts to avert a climate catastrophe.          Such a shift would sharply reduce emissions from cows and other ruminants of methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times as potent as CO2 per unit weight in heating up the atmosphere during the 10 – 15 years it is in the  atmosphere. Even more importantly, it would enable the reforestation of much of the over 40% of the world’s ice-free land that is currently used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals. That would result in the sequestering of much atmospheric CO2, reducing it from its current very dangerous level to a safe one, helping provide a habitable, healthy, environmentally sustainable world for  future generations.          By providing inspiring essays by longtime animal rights activists (Jewish, Unitarian, Christian, transcendentalist, Muslim, Hindu, Dissenting, deist, and Quaker), about 24 of the world’s leading theologians who promoted the end of animal abuses, Animal Theologians can inspire many current religious. Leaders to shift to plant-based diets and to urge their congregants to do so as well, potentially starting a groundswell that would help reverse climate change.          The Linzeys are very well qualified to edit this book. Andrew Linzeyis director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and has been a member of the Faculty of Theology in the University of Oxford for twenty- eight years. He is the author or editor of more than thirty books, including Animal Theology, Why Animal Suffering Matters, and The Global Guide to Animal Protection,               Clair Linzey is the deputy director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. She is a professor of animal theology at the Graduate Theological Foundation, and is the author of Developing Animal Theology. She is coeditor with Andrew Linzey of several books, including Animal Ethics for Veterinarians, The Ethical Case against Animal Experiments,  and Ethical Vegetarianism and Veganism.          Among the theologians discussed in the book are Mohandas K. Gandhi, Andrew Linzey, John Ruskin, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, and Albert Schweitzer. In there introduction, the Linsey’s give concise summaries of how each of the 24 theologians contributed to the advancement of animal rights. Actually, not every person discussed in the essays is a theologian, but they all use religious teachings to promote better conditions for animals.            The essays are all very well documented with a total of 1,473 footnotes, an average of over 61 footnotes per essay. Most of the essays have a conclusion section and all provide many sources in bibliographies. The chapter on Rabbi Kook, for example, how 112 sources, including my 2001 book, Judaism and Vegetarianism. Making the book even more valuable is its 12 page index.                        Since I am president emeritus of Jewish Veg and author of Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism, I will focus in this review on the three Jewish activists for animals included in the book; Martin Buber, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, and Isaac Bashevis Singer.            Martin Buber (1878– 1965) addresses the nature of spiritual encounters and relationships with non-human animals, based largely on his experience as a 11 year old stroking a horse. Although he was more concerned with relations between humans than those between people and animals, he opened up the possibility of an “I-Thou” rather than an “I -It”.relationship between people and non-human animals. He had a special fondness for cats.             Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865– 1935) was affectionally known as Rav Kook and was the first chief rabbi of pre-state Israel. His vegetarian views were based on biblical values. They appear in  “A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace,” which was edited by his disciple Rabbi David Cohen, based on two of Rav Kook’s essays.” It. was the first systematic Jewish treatise on human– animal relations. Rav Kook believed that God’s permission for people to eat meat (Genesis 9:3 -5) was a temporary concession to human weakness after the great flood in the time of Noah, but that God’s initial vegan dietary regime (Genesis 1:29) would be restored in the idea time to come (the days of the Messiah) that he thought the world was on the brink of, when, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb … the lion shall eat straw like the ox … an no one shall hurt nor destroy in all of God’s holy mountain (Isaiah 11;6 – 9). He stressed that cruel treatment of animal was inconsistent with Jewish teachings, including that God’s compassion is over all of God’s Creations” (Psalms 145:9).  He regarded the taking of milk from cows as theft since that milk was meant for the calves. He felt that the Jewish dietary laws would lead Jews back to the vegan dietary regimen that God prescribed in the Garden of Eden. .        Isaac Bashevis Singer ( 1904 – 1991) was a Nobel Prize mlaureate in literature and was well known for his vegetarianism. Many of his writings had vegetarian messages, including two discussed in detail in the essay: “The Slaughterer, ” which very forcefully expressed his horror at animal slaughter, and “The Slave.” On being asked once why he was a vegetarian, Singer responded: “For health reasons – the health of the chicken.”            As the Linzeys point out in their introduction, the

Below are my 4 articles on restoring and transforming the ancient. Jewish New Year for Animals. They were written several years ago, so I plan to write a new article updating the situation. Their titles are: An Audacious Initiative to Restore the Ancient New Year for Animals Top Ten Reasons for Restoring and Transforming the Ancient New Year for Animals Restoring and Transforming an Ancient Jewish Holiday Related to Animals An Overlooked Mitzvah: Tsa’ar Ba’alei Chaim  ———————————————- An Audacious Initiative to Restore the Ancient New Year for Animals The conditions under which animals are raised for food today are completely contrary to Jewish teachings about compassion to animals: ·      While Judaism teaches that “God’s compassion is over all His works” (Psalms 145:9), egg laying hens are kept in cages so small that they can’t raise even one wing and they are debeaked without anesthetic to prevent them from harming other birds due to pecking from frustration in their very unnatural conditions. Male chicks fare even worse as they are killed almost immediately after birth, since they can’t lay eggs and have not been genetically programmed to produce much flesh;·      While Judaism asserts that “the righteous person considers the life of his or her animal (Proverbs 12:10), dairy cows are artificially impregnated annually on “rape racks,” so that they will be able to continue ‘giving’ milk, and their babies are taken away almost immediately, often to be raised as veal under very cruel conditions;·      Judaism mandates the avoidance of tsa’ar ba’alei chaim (causing harm to animals), but ten billion animals in the U.S. alone are raised under very cruel conditions on modern factory farms, where all of their natural instincts are thwarted. To increase awareness of these inconsistencies, Jewish Vegetarians of North America, of which I am president, is spearheading a coalition of groups (list in formation at the end of this article) that is making an audacious proposal: that the ancient Jewish New Year for animals, a day originally involved with the tithing of animals for sacrifices, be restored and transformed. The coalition believes that just as Tu Bishvat, a day initially intended for tithing fruit trees for Temple offerings, was reclaimed in the 16th Century by mystics as a day for healing the natural world, it is important that Rosh Hashana La’b’heimot  (New Year’s Day for Livestock Animals) become a day devoted to increasing awareness of Judaism’s powerful teachings on compassion to animals, and to considering a tikkun (healing) for the horrible ways that animals are treated today on factory farms and in other settings. Another important reason for renewing the New Year for Animals today is that modern intensive animal-based agriculture contributes to many current threats: ·      While an estimated 20 million people die of hunger and its effects annually worldwide and almost a billion of the world’s people are chronically hungry, over 70 percent of the grain produced in the United States and about 40 percent of the grain produced worldwide is fed to animals destined for slaughter;·      In an increasingly thirsty world, a person on an animal-based diet requires up to 14 times as much water as a person on a vegan diet;·      A 2006 report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” indicated that animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than is emitted by all the cars, planes, ships, and all other means of transportation worldwide combined. In a cover story, “Livestock and Climate Change,” in a 2009 issue of World Watch magazine, two environmentalists associated with the World Bank argued that he livestock sector is responsible for at least 51 percent of greenhouse gases. A major reason for this huge contribution to climate change is the large amounts of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas, emitted by cattle and other animals.·      Making the above points even potentially far worse is that, while the world population reached an estimated seven billion people in 2011, there are currently over 70 billion farmed animals and this number is projected to double in 50 years; In view of the above, a major societal shift to plant-based diets is essential if the world is to have even a chance to avert the many current potential disasters. The case is even stronger for Jews, since animal-based diets and agriculture violate Jewish teachings about preserving human health, treating animals with compassion, protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, and helping hungry people. It is well known that one is not to yell fire in a crowded theater. Unless there really is a fire! Well, metaphorically, the world is on fire today. Almost daily reports of severe, sometimes record-breaking, heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods, in addition to polar icecaps and glaciers melting far faster than worse case projections of climate experts, are leading climatologists to fear that the world is heading toward a climate catastrophe. There are also indications that the planet may soon face major scarcities of food, water, and available energy. In addition, there are many other environmental threats, including deforestation, soil erosion, rapid species losses, desertification, acidification of oceans, and air and water pollution. Hence, it is essential that dramatic steps be soon taken to alert society of the dangers and the need to take immediate actions. Despite the above points, there is currently much denial, apathy, and lack of awareness among Jews and others about the need to make the saving of he planetary environment a major focus of life today. Along with most other people, Jews are generally “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,” as we head toward a giant iceberg. Hence, the coalition plans to use the renewed New Year for Animals to increase awareness of the necessity of major societal changes, including a shift away from animal-based diets, in order to avoid the current potential disasters. The reestablished holiday occurs on Rosh Chodesh Elul, the first day of the Hebrew month of Elul. In 2012, this is from sunset on Saturday, August 18 to sunset on Sunday, August 19. This

Tikun Olam. What a wonderful Hebrew phrase! Once again, my very dear friend Richard Schwartz has imbued the saying with more potent meaning than I think I have ever seen. This 20th anniversary edition of Judaism and Global Survival elevates that concept—the “Healing of the World”—to its most relevant position in the history not only of our people but of humanity in general. As we move from the Holocene to the Anthropocene era we face challenges never before experienced in our planet’s history as humanity itself drives the world we live on a relentless pathway to destruction. But this book is not just another litany of woe and doom. It offers hope and guidance as we struggle to come to terms with our overwhelming impact on this fragile and undeniably imperiled world.  I reiterate what I said in the first edition to this book. There are woefully few examples of lone individuals like Richard Schwartz who bravely rose up to identify the underlying causes of problems that plague nations, societies, the environment and the course of geological time in order to bring about the kind of healing that might restore harmony and balance to our world before it really is too late. But there is no time left. The hands of the clock now indicate less than a minute to midnight. Can we do it? Will we do it? If we take heed of Richard’s words we may still be able to salvage what is not already lost. This book is a major blueprint, an operating manual if you like, to guide us in our custodianship of what we inherited from our forefathers and all those who came before us.  Soundly basing his views, explanations and examples on cold, hard, empirically provable science and on the profound teachings of the Torah and the wisdom and compassion of our ancient faith, he reminds us that we can still perform our duty as a “Light unto the nations.” Judaism and Global Survival is essential reading for every Jew on this planet but it should also be required reading for everyone, regardless of faith, identity, ethnicity and background. We’re all in this battle for our souls and the continued survival of our planet together and, once again, I applaud Richard as a maverick and as a tzaddik, a truly righteous man in every sense of the word. He is one of the few individuals who gives me a sense that there is still hope if we act now to reverse the trends that are pushing us over the brink.”—Lionel Friedberg, Emmy Award-winning producer, director, writer, and documentarian; producer of A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World

Shalom dear rabbi,     I have been fortunate to be involved with many rabbis in my 89 years, and I have always found you all to be the most dedicated people, committed to getting as many Jews as possible to live committed Jewishlives, filled with mitzvot and tikkun olam.     Because of this I very respectfully address this message to you. Your response could have an enormous and. Powerful effect on the future of Judaism and on our imperiled planet.     Recognizing and acting in response to the following three realities is the key to shifting our world onto a sustainable path: 1. Earth is rapidly approaching a climate catastrophe. 2. Although it is very seldom discussed in mainstream media, the primary cause of increasing climate threats is animal-based diets and agriculture.. 3. Animal-based diets and agriculture seriously violate at least six basic Jewish mitzvot.     There is a very strong consensus, composed of 97% of climate experts, all the major science academies that have taken a position on the issue, and most importantly, over a thousand peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals, that climate change is largely caused by human activities and is a major threat t/o humanity.      Every decade since the 1970s has been hotter than the previous decade and the past eight years have been the hottest since at least 1880, when temperature records were first recorded worldwide. Glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost are rapidly melting, seas are consistently rising, and lakes and rivers are drying up in many regions. There has been a very significant increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, floods, and other climate events, as is clearly shown by current headlines everywhere. June 2023 was the hottest June in recorded history and July is shaping up to be even hotter, with temperature records broken almost daily. For. Example, Phoenix Arizona had temperatures over 110 degrees F (43 degrees C) on 20 consecutive days and that was expected to continue for many more days.      Israel is especially threatened by climate change because the Mediterranean area is warming up much faster than the world average, the hotter and drier Middle East that climate experts are projecting makes instability, terrorism, conflict, and war more likely, and a rising Mediterranean Sea could inundate the coastal plain that contains much of Israel’s population and infrastructure.      While it is generally overlooked even by most climate experts, the main cause of climate change is animal-based agriculture, for two important reasons. First, cows and other ruminants emit methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times as potent per unit weight as CO2 during the  10 – 15  years it is in the atmosphere. More importantly, over 40% of the world’s ice-free land is now used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals. This has resulted in the destruction of about half of the world’s estimated six trillion trees that existed  millennia ago. Largely because there are so fewer carbon-sequestering trees, atmospheric CO2, which was 285 parts per million (ppm) at the start of the industrial revolution, has now reached 420 ppm, far above the 350 ppm climate experts consider a threshold value for climate stability.      This is why, dear rabbi,  your role is so very important in helping educate our communities regarding the need to sharply reduce meat consumption, in addition to other lifestyle changes that reduce energy use, if the world is to have a chance to avert a climate catastrophe. This should be an important focus for you in any case because animal-based diets and agriculture seriously violate at least six fundamental Jewish teachings. Please consider:                                                                                      1. While Judaism mandates that we should be very careful about preserving our health and our lives, numerous medical studies in respected peer-reviewed journals have linked animal-based diets to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. The widespread production and consumption of meat and other animal products also make future pandemics, with their many negative health effects, much more likely. 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 transported, slaughtered, andconsumed.      For example, contrary to several Torah teachings, dairy cows are artificially impregnated annually on what the industry calls “rape racks’ and their calves are taken away immediatelyafter birth, causing severe trauma to both, so that the milk that was meant for the calves can be sold commercially. At egg-laying hatcheries, male chicks are killed shortly after birth because they can’t lay eggs and have not been genetically programmed to have much flesh, The hens are kept in cages so small that they can’t raise a wing and all their natural instincts are completely thwarted. This causes the hens to peck at each other in frustration, causing great harm to other hens. Instead of improving conditions for the hens, the industry cruelty cuts off their beaks, a very panful procedure, and it does so without any painkillers.  3. While Judaism teaches that “the earth is the Lord’s” (Psalms 24:1) and that we are to be God’s partners and co-workers in preserving the world, modern intensive animal-based agriculture contributes far more than plant-based agriculture does to climate change, soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, destruction of tropical rainforests and other habitats, and other forms of environmental destruction. As indicated above a shiftto plant-based diets is essential to efforts to avert aclimate catastrophe. 4. While Judaism mandates bal tashchit,

    A Tisha B’Av Message: How Do the Warnings Today Differ From Those of Jeremiah? Over 2,600 years ago, Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah about the importance of changing their ways, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, one of many tragedies that occurred on that day, including the destruction of the second Temple as well.      There are comparisons between the warnings and threats in Jeremiah’s lifetime and those today that can provide insights that can be valuable in responding to current threats. 1. There are no prophets today like Jeremiah warning of the potential dangers. Instead, we are getting increasingly dire warnings from climate scientists. A strong consensus, represented by 97 percent of climate experts, all the world’s science academies that have addressed the issue, and almost every one of over a thousandpeer-reviews articles on the issue in respected science journals agree that climate change is real, is largely caused by human activities, and poses great threats to humanity. All the almost 200 nations at both the December 2015 Paris and the November 2021 Glasgow climate change conferences agreed, based on recommendations by their climate experts, that immediate steps must be taken to combat climate change.  Recent warnings have been so dire that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called the situation a “Code Red for Humanity, and said that “delay means death.” 2. Unlike in the time of Jeremiah, the world is getting many wake-up calls today that reinforce the warnings.        Every decade since the 1970s has been hotter than the previous decade and all of the 23 hottest years since temperature records were kept in 1880 have been since 1998. The previous eight years are the hottest eight years in recorded history, with temperature records broken or tied in 2014,  2015, 2016, and 2020.       Polar icecaps and glaciers worldwide have been melting rapidly, faster than scientific projections. This has caused an increase elevation in oceans worldwide with the potential for major flooding. Permafrost is also starting to melt, releasing several greenhouse gases, increasing future climate threats.      There has been an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods. California has been subjected to so many severe climate events recently that its former governor, Jerry Brown, stated that, “Humanity is on a collision course with nature.” 3. While Jeremiah warned about threats to the Temple in Jerusalem, today it is the entire world that is threatened. In the summer of 2022, there were simultaneous or almost simultaneous severe, sometimes record breaking heat waves in Israel and in many parts of the US, Europe, and Asia. At the same time, largely because of the high temperatures and very dry conditions, there were major, sometimes record breaking wildfires in many parts of the US, several European countries, China, and Australia. Many areas of the world also experienced major flooding during this period. 4. The Jewish community recovered after the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem. After the first Temple was destroyed, Jews moved to Babylonia where the Babylonia Talmud was created and then many returned to Israel. After the second Temple was destroyed, Jews were dispersed to many other countries, but Judaism continued because the rabbis stressed that prayer, study, and good deeds could replace the Temple sacrifices.     By contrast,  climate threats could result in human extinction and the extinction of all life on Earth. An outrageous exaggeration? Unfortunately, no. Please consider.      Given the above considerations, it is essential that we don’t repeat the mistake made by our ancestors who failed to heed Jeremiah’s warnings, but that we make averting a climate catastrophe a central focus of civilization today, in order to leave a healthy, habitable, environmentally sustainable world world for future generations.       However, while climate change is an existential threat to Israel, the United States, and, indeed, the entire world, there has not been sufficient attention to it by most people. Unfortunately, “denial is not just a river in Egypt,” and most people today are, in effect, “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, as we head toward a giant iceberg.”      When I hear of friends’ children or grandchildren getting married or having grandchildren or grandchildren, I wonder how the lives of the new couples and grandchildren will be affected by our rapidly warming world, with its rising oceans and increasingly severe storms. This is especially relevant to me as since I made Aliyah in 2016, my wife and I have been blessed with four grandchildren getting married and the births of six greatgrandchildren.      To reduce climate threats, every aspect of life should be considered. We should shift to renewable forms of energy, improve our transportation systems, produce more efficient cars and other means of transportation, and do everything else possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.      As president emeritus of Jewish Veg and author, most recently,  of Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism,  I want to stress that the most important  component of efforts to avert a climate catastrophe is a major shift to plant-based, animal-free diets. This would not only sharply reduce emissions from cows of methane, a greenhouse gas about 80 times as potent as CO2 per unit weight in heating the atmosphere. Most importantly, it would also enable the reforestation of the vast areas now used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals, resulting in the sequestering of much atmospheric CO2, reducing it to a safer level.       A utopian dream? Not if people recognize that the climate situation is a “Code red for humanity” and that there are now many plant-based substitutes with the appearance, texture, and taste so close to the animal products that even long time meat-eaters can’t tell the difference.          It is essential that this time we listen to the warnings and succeed in reducing climate threats.

A Review of Hope Bohanec’s Book, “The Humane Hoax” Hope Botanec’s wonderful book, “The Humane Hoax: Exposing the Myth of Happy Meat , Humane Dairy, and Ethical Eggs,” which  exposes the many lies and misrepresentation of these industries, is essential reading today for many reasons. Most importantly, it is urgent that there be a societal shift toward vegan diets because there is very little, if any, chance to avert a climate catastrophe without a major shift toward animal-free diets. Two reasons:  First, cows and other ruminants emit methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times. as potent per unit weight as CO2 in heating up the atmosphere. Second, and even more importantly, over 40% of the world’s ice-free land is used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals. Because of the huge decrease in carbon-sequencing trees – from six trillion to three trillion – atmospheric CO2 has risen to very dangerous levels, causing many severe climate effects.       Climate experts are issuing dire warnings that the world may soon reach a tipping point when climate spins out of control with disastrous effects and there has been a major increase in the frequency and severity of climate events.      In addition to their contribution to climate threats, animal-based diets and agriculture involve the massive mistreatment of animals, are major factors behind the current epidemic of life threatening diseases and the very inefficient use of land, energy sources, and water, and make future pandemics far more likely.       Because of the great importance of shifts to animal-free diets, it is essential to counter arguments of those who find rationalizations to continue to eat meat, such as that they only eat animals that are humanely raised.      The engaging and thought-provoking18 essays in Hope Botanec’s book effectively demolish such  arguments. She is superbly qualified to edit her book since she has been an animal protection and environmental activist for 30 years and is author of the acclaimed book, The Ultimate Betrayal: Is There Happy Meat? In addition, .she is the Executive Director of Compassionate Living, host of the Hope for the Animals Podcast, co-founder of the Humane Hoax Project, the Ahimsa Living Project, and  a worker for the national non-profits United Poultry Concerns and In Defense of Animals. Importantly, she has personally seen and documented the many examples of animal cruelty and marketing lies exposed in this book.      The 18 essay authors feature leading, very knowledgeable vegan activists including Bohanec; Karen Davis, founder and president of United Poultry Concerns, a nonprofit organization promoting the respectful treatment of domestic fowl, and author of several books, including Prisoned Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry Industry and For the Birds: From Exploitation to Liberation; Sailesh Rao, founder and director of Climate Healers, an organization dedicated to reducing climate threats; Carol J. Adams, author of several books, including The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory, and Never Too Late To Go Vegan: The Over-50 Guide o Adopting. And Thriving On a Vegan Diet; and Joanne. Kong,  author of If You’ve Ever Loved An Animal, Go Vegan and editor of Vegan Voices: Essays By Inspiring Changemakers.        Botanec’s book counters the many marketing lies by convincingly showing that “humane “meat is far from humane, that it is not.healthier, and it is not better for the environment. In her introduction, Hope. Bohanec points out., “There are countless inherent cruelties that are ubiquitous in the production of meat, milk, and eggs –  no matter the label or the size of the farm.”   She very eloquently exposes the “the animal industry’s marketing efforts that employ euphemistic rhetoric conveying fraudulent narrative of the purported  ‘humane’ treatment and ‘sustainable’ management of farmed animal operations.      Are “cage-free” chickens better off than those raised in battery cages where they are crammed into spaces so small that they can’t raise even one wing? Only slightly if at all. Male chicks are still killed at the egg laying hatcheries because they can’t lay eggs  and have.not been genetically programmed as the chickens. Bred for meat are to produce much flesh. Most chickens in cage-free egg facilities live  in miserable, filthy , overcrowded conditions in massive windowless buildings. Their throats and eyes still burn from the ammonia from their wastes that they are forced to live with.  they never feel the sun nor have their basic desires fulfilled, like satisfying dust baths. And they still go to a brutal death at a very young age, far younger than is natural. So the perception that. “cage free“ hens are significantly better off is a false one.      The cost to the environment from “humane” meat is often greater than from conventionally produced meat. For example, cattle raised from eating grass contribute more climate-warming greenhouse gases than cattle kept in conventional “concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)” because they emit more methane when fed on grass than grain; it can take twice as long to reach profitable slaughter weight, so they live longer and therefore emit methane over a longer period of time; and, most importantly, they occupy more land that could otherwise be reforested or used to grow food for humans. Also, more cows would be needed, since grass-fed cattle are slaughtered at a lower weight and therefore feed less people, another factor increasing greenhouse gas emissions.      Many  more examples are provided in the book about the negative effects on animals, the environment, and society in general from so-called humane, free-range,  cage free, grass-fed, organic, and other supposedly better approaches to raising animals.      Among the many valuable conclusions in the book are the following: *. For the animal-food industry to maintain an adequate profit margin, only minimum ‘improvements” are possible. * Perpetuating the “humane hoax” is he only hope of the animal food companies for survival. * Animal agriculture, no matter how it is done, has a massive ecological footprint.      The lack of

       A Review of Glen Merzer’s Latest Book “America Goes Vegan!”           I reviewed Glen Merzer’s previous book, “Food Is Climate,” and it changed my outlook toward veganism. While I had previously been a vegetarian. and later a vegan for over 40 years, before reading that book, I did not realize the extent of animal agriculture’s leading role in causing climate change. It convinced me that animal-based agriculture is by far the leading cause of climate change for two very important reasons.       First, cows and other ruminants emit methane, a greenhouse gas over 120 times as potent per unit weight as CO2 in heating up the atmosphere during the 10 – 15 years it is in the atmosphere. Second, even more importantly, over 40% of the world’s ice-free land is used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals. Because of the decrease in carbon-sequestering trees – from six trillion to three trillion – atmospheric CO2 has risen to very dangerous levels, causing many severe climate effects. Reforesting the vast areas used for animal agriculture could reduce atmospheric CO2 to a safe level. Based on a published peer-reviewed analysis by systems engineer Dr. Sailesh Rao, Merzer reports that animal agriculture is responsible for at least 87% of annual greenhouse emissions, largely due to the missed climate opportunity cost of not reforesting.      I found “Food Is Climate” so valuable and potentially transformative in showing an approach that could avert the looming climate catastrophe that I compared it to such groundbreaking books as “Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carson, “Diet For a New America“ by John Robbins, and “Diet For a Small Planet“ by Francis Moore Lappe,      Because I found “Food Is Climate” so insightful, I looked forward to reading and reviewing Merzer’s recently published “America Goes Vegan!” I was not at all disappointed in this continuation and expansion of his cogent analysis in his previous book.     While, as the title implies, “Food Is Climate” focuses on how shifts toward meat-free dies could greatly reduce climate threats, “America Goes Vegan!” also discusses other reasons that people should become vegans, including reducing diet-related diseases and the massive mistreatment of animals.      Both books have been published at a very important time, as climate threats are becoming more and more apparent. Climate experts are issuing increasingly dire warnings, indicating that the world may soon reach a tipping point when climate spins out of control, and there has been a significant increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called the climate situation a “Code Red for humanity” and stated that”delay means death.” While the intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an organization composed of leading climate experts from many nations, warned in 2018 that the world may have only until 2030 to make “unprecedented changes” in order to have a chance to avert a climate catastrophe, CO2 levels have continued to rise annually since then.      As in his previous book, Merzer is sharply critical of environmental organizations including the IPCC and leaders like Al Gore who correctly assess some climate threats and urge major steps to take care of them, but focus on reducing emissions from cars and factories, while ignoring “the cow in the room,” that our only chance to avert a climate catastrophe depends on sharply reducing animal-based diets so that the vast areas now used to produce meat and other animal products can be reforested.        The book is very readable because of  Merzer’s humorous style and his willingness to strongly criticize realities of animal-based diets. For example, he points out that hamburger “is nothing but a greasy, unhealthy, artery-destroying sandwich with the decaying muscle tissue of a dead cow at its center” and is unpatriotic, because it “makes so many millions of Americans fat and diabetic and gives them heart attacks and strokes.”       To help people shift to healthier, delicious plant-based diets Merzer provides many practical suggestions and culinary expert Tracy Childs provides many food preparation tips and recipes for healthy, delicious whole-foods, plant-based vegan versions of all the classic American dishes, providing for a potentially joyous transformation for all Americans.     To help leave a habitable, healthy, environmentally sustainable world for future generations, I urge you to read the book and to share its message widely. That could help make the vision of America going vegan into a reality for the whole world. This is essential because there is no Planet B nor effective Plan B.

Tisha B’Av, which we commemorate starting in the evening of July 26 in 2023, reminds us that over 2,600 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah about the importance of changing their ways. This resulted in destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, one of many tragedies that occurred on that day, including the destruction of the second Temple also.       Today there are’t prophets like Jeremiah to issue warnings, but there are. increasingly dire warnings from climate experts that it is not just Jerusalem but the entire world that is threatened today by climate change. A strong consensus is represented by 97 percent of climate experts, all the world’s science academies that have addressed the issue, and almost every one of thousands of peer-reviews articles on the issue in respected science journals.  They all agree that climate change is largely caused by human activities, and poses great threats to humanity. All the almost 200 nations at both the December 2015 Paris and the November 2021 Glasgow climate change conferences agreed that immediate steps must be taken to combat climate change and most pledged to make such changes.  Recent warnings have been so dire that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called the situation a “Code Red for Humanity, and said that “delay means death.”      And, unlike in the time of Jeremiah, the world is getting many wake-up cals that reinforce the warnings.        Every decade since the 1970s has been hotter than the previous decade and all of the 23 hottest years since temperature records were kept in 1880 have been since 1998.       Polar icecaps and glaciers worldwide have been melting rapidly, faster than scientific projections. This has caused an increase elevation in oceans worldwide with the potential for major flooding. There is already “sunny. Day flooding” due to higher tides in some coastal cities. Permafrost is also starting to melt, releasing several greenhouse gases, increasing future climate threats.      There has been an increase in the frequency and severity of droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods. Because of the severity of the droughts, wildfires have become increasingly frequent and severe. California has been subjected to so many severe climate events recently that its former governor, Jerry Brown, stated that, “Humanity is on a collision course with nature.”     There are several important reasons why future climate conditions are likely to become far worse:      Given the above considerations, it is essential that we don’t repeat the mistake made by our ancestors who failed to heed Jeremiah’s warnings, but that we make averting a climate catastrophe a central focus for civilization today, in order to leave a healthy, habitable, environmentally sustainable world world for future generations.       However, while climate change is an existential threat to Israel, the United States, and, indeed, the entire world, there has not been sufficient attention to it by most people. Unfortunately, “denial is not just a river in Egypt,” and most people today are, in effect, “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, as we head toward a giant iceberg.”      When I hear of friends’ children or grandchildren getting married or having grandchildren, I wonder how the lives of the new couples and grandchildren will be affected by our rapidly warming world, with its increasingly severe storms and rising oceans. This is especially relevant to me as since I made Aliyah in 2016, my wife and I have been blessed with four grandchildren getting married and the births of six great grandchildren.      To reduce climate threats, every aspect of life should be considered. We should shift to renewable forms of energy, improve our transportation systems, produce more efficient cars and other means of transportation, and do everything else possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.      As president emeritus of Jewish Veg and author, most recently,  of Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism,  I want to stress that the most important  component of efforts to avert a climate catastrophe is a major shift to plant-based, animal-free diets. This would not only sharply reduce emissions from cows of methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times as potent as CO2 per unit weight in heating the atmosphere. Most importantly, it would also enable the reforestation of the vast areas now used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals, resulting in the sequestering of much atmospheric CO2, reducing it to a safer level.       A utopian dream? Not if people recognize that the climate situation is a “Code red for humanity” and that there are now many plant-based substitutes with the appearance, texture, and taste so close to the animal products that even long time meat-eaters can’t tell the difference.          It is essential that this time we listen to the warnings and succeed in reducing climate threats. There is no Planet B or effective Plan B.

     There are significant inconsistencies between basic Jewish values and the diets of the vast majority of Jews. Please consider: 1. While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful about preserving our health and our lives, numerous medical studies in respected peer-reviewed journals have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many forms of cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. Animal-based diets also make future pandemics, with their many negative health effects, far more likely. 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 consumed.Keep WatchingWNBA player visits Sheba Medical Center00:00/01:05 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 far more than does plant-based agriculture to climate change, soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, destruction of tropical rainforests and other habitats, and other forms of environmental destruction.  4. While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value, nor use more than is needed to accomplish a purpose, the production of meat and other animal products is built on an extremely wasteful pyramid of resources (compared to plant protein production): overuse and waste of grain, land, fresh water, energy (most of it “dirty”), and other resources. 5. While Judaism stresses that we are to provide for the poor and share our bread with the hungry, about 70% of the grain grown in the United States is very inefficiently funneled through animals in order to produce meat, milk, and eggs while an estimated nine million people worldwide die each year from hunger and its effects and almost ten percent of the world’s people are chronically malnourished.. If we produced fewer animals, we could share so much more food’ with the world’s hungry people. 6. While Judaism teaches that we must seek and pursue peace, and that violence can result from unjust conditions, diets high in animal protein monopolize resources, creating a shortage of affordable land, food, water, and energy for the poor, especially in the underdeveloped world. This exacerbates the tension between haves and have-nots and may fuel social unrest, violence, and war. One could say “dayenu” (it would be enough) after any one of these arguments.  Each one by itself constitutes a serious conflict between Jewish values and current practice that should encourage every conscientious Jew to seriously consider adopting a vegan diet.  Combined, the six arguments make a very compelling ethical case. ADVERTISEMENT So, since animal-centered diets violate and contradict each of these important Jewish mandates: to preserve human health, to attend to the welfare of animals, to protect the environment, to conserve natural resources, to help feed the hungry, and to pursue peace, it is an important mitzvah for committed Jews (and others) to replace as much of the animal food in their diets, as they can. We can do this with nutritionally superior plant alternatives: tofu, stir fried vegetables, and veggie burgers, baked beans, and chickpea curries, as well as lush salads and a variety of fruit, nuts, and seeds.        These arguments and other Torah teachings related to veganism and related issues are presented in more detail in my books Judaism and Vegetarianism and Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism, and in my over 250 articles and 25 podcasts of my talks and interviews, which can be found online at www.JewishVeg.org/Schwartz.       Shifts toward vegan diets are especially important today as the world rapidly approaches a climate catastrophe, for two important reasons. First, it would result in far less emissions from cows and other ruminants of methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times as potent as CO2 per unit weight in heating the atmosphere during its 10 – 15 years in the atmosphere. Even more importantly, it would enable the reforestation of much of the vast areas currently used for the grazing of animals and growing feed crops for them. That would result in the sequestering of much atmospheric CO2, reducing it from its current very dangerous level to a much safer level.     It is urgent that rabbis and other Jewish leaders increase awareness of the above factors, helping to shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path and leaving a habitable, healthy world for future generations. There is no Planet B.

     Dr. Lisa Kemmerer has made it her mission to help people to recognize that core religious teachings in every faith require that we rethink our diet and how we treat animals more generally. Toward this end, she has authored “Animals and World Religions.” She is also the author of “Eating Earth, Environmental Ethics and Dietary Choices,” and “Sister Species: Women, Animals, and Social Justice” and over 100 related articles and anthology chapters. As professor emeritus of philosophy and religious studies (Montana State University, Billings) and an internationally acclaimed scholar on ethics and animals, she has worked for decades on behalf of animals, the environment, and marginalized people.      As part of her work, Dr. Kemmerer produced “The Traveling Banner Exhibit,” an exhibit of items and writings related to the teachings of various religions about animals that is suitable for display at schools, religious institutions, museums, and conferences. (To learn more about the exhibit, please visit lisakemmerer.com) Now she is working on an “Animals and Religion Website” that explores animal ethics in eight world religions and several indigenous traditions, including the ethics of what people eat. Dr. Kemmerer is also writing relatively short books to supplement the exhibit and support the website a, and I have had the pleasure of reading two of these books: “Animals and Judaism” and “Vegan Ethics: AMORE — Five Reasons To Choose Veganism.” In her research, Dr. Kemmerer works closely with people inside each religious tradition, and I have had the pleasure of reading and commenting on the Judaism portion of the website. As president emeritus of Jewish Veg and author of three editions of Judaism and Vegetarianism and, most recently, Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism, I was very pleased to read the powerful case Dr. Kemmerer makes for Jews to be vegan, using a wide variety of key quotations from Jewish sources. Her website and the resultant book, Animals and Judaism, is very well documented, with 259 endnotes. If Animals and Judaism can be taken as an indication, her upcoming books should be a powerful impetus for religious people to work toward a more compassionate way of being, including a vegan diet, complete with the many resultant benefits to animals, human beings, and our imperiled planet.     In her other recent publication, Vegan Ethics, Dr. Kemmerer gives five reasons to “choose vegan” (indicated by the five-letter acronym, AMORE): A is for animals, and this chapter discusses the horrendous ways that animals are treated on factory farms. (Dr. Kemmerer uses “anymals” instead of “non-human animals” to stress that humans are also animals.)  M is for medicine. This portion of the book discusses the strong connections, as indicated by many peer-reviewed articles in respected medical journals, between animal-based diets and several life-threatening diseases.  O is for oppression—human oppression—and this chapter discusses how animal-based diets contribute to current and widespread world hunger, and other problems, such as how slaughterhouses endanger workers, most of whom are underprivileged and marginalized. R reminds of religion, and the religion chapter presents and discusses strong teachings about compassion. to animals in each of the world’s major religions. E represents environment. This important chapter reminds that animal-based agriculture is the leading cause of all of the world’s major environmental problems, including climate change. (For example, if we shift, vast areas now being deforested for grazing and growing feed crops can be reforested to sequesteratmospheric CO2.) It is increasingly clear that the world is approaching a climate catastrophe, that animal- based diets and agriculture are the main causes of this disaster, and that shifting to a vegan diet is essential if we are to avert this horrific calamity. There is no Planet B.      Dr. Kemmerer’s arguments in each area are very powerful, so much so that I believe that any open-minded person would find it hard to continue eating meat, dairy, or eggs after reading her work. It is urgent that her research and writing reach willing readers to help encourage humanity to shift to a sustainable path, to help all of us to commit to leaving future generations a habitable, healthy world by choosing vegan. Grab a copy (http://lisakemmerer.com/publications.html) and see what you think.

    Clearly human beings are not carnivores, but are we omnivores or herbivores? Actually we are both. We are omnivores in practice, with most people eating from both the plant and animal kingdoms. However, physiologically and emotionally  we are herbivores as explained below. The difference between our eating habits and our natural conditions and inclinations are why so many people are suffering and dying from heart disease, cancer, and other life-threatening diseases.     The following comparisons support the conclusion that humans are meant to be herbivorous: 1. Our small and large intestines, like those of primates, are four times longer than those of omnivores. Because of the long intestines, meat passes very slowly through the human digestive system; it takes about 4 days during which the disease-causing products of decaying meat are in constant contact with the digestive organs. Vegan food takes only about 1 1/2 days, and this is sufficient for the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to be absorbed. 2. Unlike omnivores, humans do not have claws that can rip flesh, but hands for picking vegetables, fruits, leaves, flowers, seeds, etc. 4. Our saliva is alkaline like that of the higher species of apes; it contains ptyalin to digest carbohydrates. Omnivores’ saliva is acidic. 5. Unlike omnivores, humans do not have long, hard, dagger like teeth for biting into flesh. Our so-called canine teeth are not truly canine like the dog’s.  6. Omnivores have proportionally larger kidneys and livers than humans have; they need these larger organs in order to handle the excessive nitrogenous waste of a flesh diet. 7 The stomach acids of omnivores are 20 times stronger than that of human beings. 8. Humans are not constituted to prey upon animals, rip apart their bodies, or bite into their flesh. While the gorge of a cat, for instance, will rise at the smell of a mouse or a piece of raw flesh, but not at the aroma of fruit, we shudder at the thought of pouncing upon a bird or other small animal, tearing its still living body apart with our teeth, and eating it.  On the other hand, a bunch of luscious grapes makes our mouth water, and even in the absence of hunger, we will eat fruit to gratify taste.      Based on the above, there would be a major reductions in diseases if people shift from animal-based diets to plant-based diets. This would have many additional benefits including reductions in climate change, other environmental problems, the current massive mistreatment of farmed animals, hunger, and the very inefficient use of land, energy, water, and other resources.       Some scientists disagree with the above analysis. They assert that people’s natural diet is omnivorous, consisting both flesh and vegetarian foods. They point to the many years that our ancestors have eaten meat and the fact that primates, the animals whose systems are closest to ours, have been observed to eat meat. In response: 1. Certainly people have eaten meat for many years. According to the Bible, after first giving people a vegan diet (Genesis 1:29), as a concession to human weakness, God gave people permission to eat meat after the devastating flood in the time of Noah (Genesis 9:3). Just as an automobile will travel on a fuel which is not most suitable to it, people can live on a diet that is not ideal. The issue is not what people eat now and have eaten in the past, but the diet that is healthiest for people and is most consistent with our anatomy, physiology, and instincts. It should also be noted that a significant portion of people throughout history either ate no meat at all or ate it only on rare occasions. In addition, meat contains no essential nutrients that cannot be obtained from plant sources or, in some cases, by supplementation, made necessary by the heavy use of pesticides in modern agriculture. . 2. With regard to primates eating meat, this issue has been hotly debated. Some species have never been observed to do so. Primatologist Jane Goodall’s studies of apes showed that meat eating incidents are extremely rare, and they are unusual and atypical of the species in general, occurring in un-chimplike surroundings. The staple diet of primates is vegan.      Even if people were omnivorous, that would mean that we have a choice as to whether or not to eat meat. It would leave all the ethical arguments – compassion for animals, helping the hungry, protecting the environment – on the side of vegetarianism and veganism.  Also, if we consider the diet that is best for our health, there is abundant evidence that veganism is our ideal diet.      So, while human beings are capable of ingesting a wide range of foods, including meat, and while they have been eating meat for many years, modern research shows that we do best on a diet with no animal protein and fat, our ‘natural’ diet.

Since maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of       God . . . ,  one must avoid that which harms the body and       accustom oneself to that which is helpful and helps the body become       stronger. (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot 4:1)      Contemporary western medicine has generally focused on the treatment of diseases, rather than on their prevention. Medical schools teach that prescription drugs are the most powerful tools doctors have for treating disease; diet and other lifestyle changes are seldom stressed as therapeutic tools. The generally accepted medical response to many diseases today is to prescribe medications first and perhaps recommend lifestyle changes as an afterthought.      Judaism’s historic approach is fundamentally different from that of modern medicine. While treating sick people is certainly a Torah obligation, Judaism puts a priority on the prevention of disease.      The foundation for the Jewish stress on preventive medicine can be found by considering the verse in the Torah where G-d is described as the rofeh — healer — of the Israelites:     “And God said: ‘If you will diligently harken to the voice of the Lord,       your G-d, and will do that which is right in His sight, and will give       ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none       of these diseases upon you which I put on the Egyptians; for I am the       Lord, your healer’”. (Exodus 15:26)      Rashi’s commentary on this verse notes that this means:      “I am the Lord, your healer, and I teach you the Torah and the com      mandments in order that you may be saved from these diseases – like       a physician who says to a person: “Do not eat this thing lest it will       bring you into danger from this illness.’”      What are the implications for modern medicine? Just as God’s healing role in the above Torah verse is to prevent illness, so too a physician should emulate the Divine role by stressing disease prevention. For we are obligated to “follow in G-d’s ways” (Deuteronomy 11:22; Sotah 14a).      The following anecdote about Maimonides is instructive. During the period when Maimonides served as the royal physician of the Sultan of Egypt, the Sultan never became ill. One day the Sultan asked Maimonides:      “’How do I know that you are an expert physician, since during the period that you have been here, I have never been ill, and you have not had the opportunity to test your skills?’ Maimonides replied, ‘In truth, the great and faithful physician is the Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it is written, ‘I am the L-rd, your healer.’ And this Great and Faithful Physician was able to promise his people that because He is their Physician, He will be able to protect them from all the illnesses that were put on Egypt.’ Maimonides concluded, ‘Therefore, we learn that the ability of a physician to prevent illness is a greater proof of his skill, than his ability to cure someone who is already ill.’” (Yalkut Lekach Tov, Shmot, B’Shalach)      According to the above, it would seem that physicians should put far greater emphasis on preventive medicine, advising their patients about dangers related to smoking, high-fat diets, and other lifestyle choices.      It should not be assumed that the Torah places the entire responsibility of maintaining good health on physicians. In fact, Jewish sages have stated that the major responsibility falls on the individual. To take care of one’s health is a mitzvah, mandated in the words, “take heed to thyself and take care of your lives,” (Deuteronomy 4:9) and, again, “be extremely protective of your lives.” (Deuteronomy 4:15)      Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the outstanding 19th century German rabbi, expands on the mitzvah of guarding our health:      “Limiting our presumption against our own body, God’s word calls to       us: ‘Do not commit suicide! Do not injure yourself! Do not ruin your      self! Do not weaken yourself! Preserve yourself’! You may not . . .       in any way weaken your health or shorten your life. Only if the body           is healthy is it an efficient instrument for the spirit’s activity…. There      fore you should avoid everything which might possibly injure your       health. . . . And the law asks you to be even more circumspect in      avoiding danger to life and limb than in the avoidance of other trans      gressions.”      Judaism regards life as the highest good, and we are obligated to protect it. An important Jewish principle is pikuach nefesh, the duty to preserve a human life. The Talmudic sages applied the principle “You shall therefore keep my statutes and ordinances, which if a man do he shall live by them” (Leviticus18:5) to all the laws of the Torah. Hence as Rabbi Hirsch’s statement above indicates, Jews are to be more particular about matters concerning danger to health and life than about ritual matters (Chulin 9a; Choshen Mishpat 427; Yoreh De’ah 116).       Biblical medicine is unique because of its many regulations for social hygiene. Of Judaism’s 613 commandments, 213 are of a medical nature (Encyclopedis Judaica, Vol. 11, p. 1179). Hygiene and prophylaxis became religious mandates designed for the preservation and well being of the nation. To keep military camps clean, latrines were established outside their bounds, and soldiers were equipped with spades with which they were to dig holes and cover their excrement (Deuteronomy 23: 13-15). Lepers and others who might spread serious diseases were excluded from the camp for specific quarantine periods (Leviticus 15:1-15; Numbers 5:1-4).      The rabbis also emphasized the importance of public measures to protect people’s health. The Talmud states that no tannery,

    People increasingly wish to adopt healthier diets. However, many are prevented from necessary changes because of myths about certain nutrients. For example, it is the common wisdom that one should eat ample amounts of meat in order to get adequate protein and consume large amounts of dairy products in order to get adequate calcium to avoid osteoporosis.       But, please consider the following: Countries with the highest consumption of dairy products, such as the United States, Israel, Sweden, and Finland, have the greatest per capita cases of osteoporosis. Eskimos, who consume the highest amounts of calcium of any of the world’s people, have the highest per capita number of cases of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis occurs infrequently in China, even though they consume very little milk or other dairy products.       The reason is that people on meat- and dairy- based diets are getting far too much protein, generally 2 to 3 times the amount required, and when the excess protein is excreted, calcium and other minerals are drained from the body. A study showed that people getting 1400 milligrams per day of calcium along with about 150 grams of protein had a negative calcium balance of 65 units while people getting only 400 milligrams of calcium per day with only 50 grams of protein had a positive calcium balance of 31 units.      The main problem is the consumption of animal protein; studies have shown that protein from non-animal sources has health benefits. So the answer to preventing osteoporosis is not to consume a lot of dairy products, but to reduce animal protein consumption through a balanced, nutritious diet ,centered on the “New Four Food Groups”: fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.      Researchers have found that the consumption of high-fat dairy products is a leading cause of atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes. While lower-fat dairy products represent an improvement, they are higher in protein, and this contributes to osteoporosis, kidney problems, and some forms of cancer. Dairy products are also the leading culprits in food allergies. Actually, milk is a wonderful product, but it was designed for rapid weight gain in calves. One might wonder if drinking milk is natural to human beings when we recognize that no other mammal on earth consumes the milk of another species or consumes it after a weaning period.      Many plant foods are good sources of calcium. Especially good sources are dark leafy greens (such as kale and mustard, collard, and turnip greens), broccoli, beans, dried figs, sunflower seeds, and calcium-fortified cereals and juices. Dairy products are good sources of calcium, but they also contain large amounts of fat and protein.      According to an American Dietary Association paper, vegans (who consume no animal products at all) can obtain the calcium they need from plant foods alone, and studies have shown that vegetarians can absorb and retain more calcium from foods and have lower rates of osteoporosis than non-vegetarians.      The question most frequently asked of vegetarians is “How do you get enough protein?” However, the amount of protein that a person needs (as a percent of total calories) is actually relatively low: 4.5%, according to the World Health Organization of the United Nations, 6%, according to the Food and Nutrition Board of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and 8%, according to the U. S. National Research Council. It is extremely significant that during infancy, the period when humans have the most rapid growth, mother’s breast milk provides only about 5% of its calories as protein.      Adequate protein can easily be obtained from vegetarian, even vegan (no animal products at all) diets. Protein is found in most plant foods as well as in animal foods. Potatoes, for example, have 11% of their calories from protein, and spinach has 49%.      While an average working man needs about 37 grams of protein per day. 3,000 calories of rice alone would provide 60 grams of highly usable protein (for 3,000 calories of potatoes, 80 grams of protein would be provided). It is almost impossible not to get adequate proteinon a plant-based diet, provided that one is getting enough calories and consumes a reasonable variety of foods. If this is true, how is it that we have gone so far wrong and so many people think that getting sufficient protein is a major dietary concern. The reason is that much of our nutrition information has come from experiments on rats, and rats require far more protein than humans do, as seen from the fact that a rat mother’s milk has almost 50% of its calories from protein.      Consuming excessive amounts of protein can seriously damage human health.  As indicated, it can result in a negative calcium balance and osteoporosis, because calcium and other minerals are lost in the urine, along with the excess protein.      Calcium lost due to high protein diets must be handled by the kidneys, which contributes to the formation of painful kidney stones. Excess protein causes destruction of kidney tissue and progressive deterioration of kidney function. Many people in affluent societies have lost 75 percent of their kidney function by the eighth decade of their lives. Extra kidney capacity enables the kidney to carry out its function in otherwise healthy people, but for people who suffer from additional diseases related to the kidney, such as diabetes, surgical loss, or injury from toxic substances, damage due to the excess protein may be fatal. When people with partial loss or damage to their kidneys are placed on low-protein diets, they are able to maintain much of their remaining kidney function.      People on animal-based diets not only get excessive protein, but also large amounts of hormones, fat, cholesterol, pesticides, antibiotics, and other harmful ingredients that place major burdens on the consumer’s kidneys, liver, and digestive system.      Do vegetarians have to “complement” proteins, that is, get a combination of different foods containing proteins, to

     There are two major health studies that have the potential to radically affect medical practice. They dramatically show how dietary and other lifestyle changes can prevent and in some cases reverse diseases.      The first study, the Lifestyle Heart Trial, was conducted by Dean Ornish, M. D. of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Salusito, California, and his medical colleagues. Its aim was to study if changes in diet, exercise, and stress levels can unblock clogged arteries and save lives, without the use of expensive surgical techniques or drugs.      Ornish’s initial study involved 48 patients with severe heart disease. He randomly divided them into two groups: 28 received his experimental regimen, and the other 20 were put into a control group, so that they could serve as a basis of comparison. The experimental group was put on a strict almost vegan diet, plus only egg whites and one cup daily of nonfat milk or yogurt. Their dietary fat content was a very low 10 percent of calories, and their cholesterol intake was only 5 mg per day. To control stress, they did stretching exercises, meditated, and performed other relaxation techniques. In addition, they walked for at least a half hour three times a week, and met as a support group twice weekly.      The results of the study were extremely positive. After one year, most of the experimental group indicated a complete or nearly complete disappearance of chest pains. Arterial clogging was reversed for 82 percent of the patients. Cholesterol levels decreased from an average of 227 mg/dL to an average of 172 mg/dL In one case, the change was especially dramatic. Werner Hebenstreit, a 75 year old retired businessman, who reported that before starting the program he could barely cross the street without chest pains, was able to hike for 6 hours in the Grand Tetons at 8,000 feet by the end of the program.      What makes the results even more spectacular is a comparison with the findings for members of the control group. They received standard medical care, following the recommendations of the American Heart Association: up to 30 percent fat in their diets; dietary cholesterol limited to 300 mg per day; no red meat, but chicken without the skin and fish were permitted; they did a moderate amount of exercise, but there were no set stress reduction activities. None of these patients got better, and in almost all cases, their arterial blockages worsened significantly, and they reported an increase in chest pains. Evidently, the standard recommendations of the medical establishment are not sufficient, at least with regard to reversing heart disease.      In a break from previous policies of medical insurers, that only reimbursed patients who underwent surgery or drug-related therapies, many insurance companies reimburse patients who receive the Ornish treatment. They find that of the patients motivated enough to adopt the Ornish approach, 90% stick with it, and of those, almost 80% avoided the much more expensive bypass surgery or angioplast. Also, patients using the Ornish approach very seldom need repeated medical interventions.      Since more Americans die from heart and blood vessel diseases annually than from any other cause,. Ornish’s results have the potential to revolutionize health care.      As important as Dr. Ornish’s study is, there is another study that has the potential for even greater changes in health practices. This is the China, Cornell, Oxford Study, a collaborative effort between Cornell University, represented by T. Colin Campbell, Ph. D., the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, the Chinese Academy of Medical sciences, and Oxford University, England, as well as scientists from the United States, Britain , France, and other countries. Unlike the Ornish controlled study, the China Study is an epidemiological study that looked at the eating habits and diseases of 6,500 people in 65 Chinese provinces.       The China Project differs from other scientific studies in several important ways: 1. It utilises the most comprehensive data base on the multiple causes of disease ever compiled; the Chinese government provided background data on 80 million Chinese people; 2. It examines relationships between health and diet in a holistic way, by considering ways in which complete diets and other lifestyle patterns affect health. By contrast, most contemporary studies focus on relationships between single nutrients or foods and single diseases; 3. China provided a “natural (living) laboratory” for the study of nutrition and disease that is unmatched anywhere else in the world; while people in most of the world’s countries frequently change their places of residence, and eat foods from many different regions of the world, most Chinese live their entire lives in one area, and eat the same kinds of locally grown food throughout their lives. Yet, diets and disease rates vary sharply from one area to another.      The China Project has received much critical acclaim. Jane Brody, nutrition editor of the New York Times, called it “the grand prix” of epidemiology, and stated that it produced “tantalizing findings” from “the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease.” The East West Journal called the study, “one of the most rigorous and conclusive (studies) in the history of health research”, one which has “unprecedented authority.”      Below are some of the “tantalizing findings” that can (and should) have a global impact. Unfortunately, after the study was conducted, many Chinese people have increased their meat consumption.  1. The Chinese diet, composed primarily of rice and other grains, vegetables, and legumes, such as soy products, is far healthier than the standard American diet. While Americans get an average of 37% of their calories from fat, Chinese get an average of 14.5%, with a range of about 6% to 24%, Chinese get only 10% of their protein from animal sources, while Americans get 70%. One result of their healthier diets is that the range of cholesterol levels in China vary from 70

by Richard Schwartz, PhD   The consumption of meat and other animal products  and the ways in which they are produced today seriously conflict with Judaism in at least six important areas: 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. As one example, dairy cows are artificially impregnated annually on what the industry calls ‘rape racks,’ and then the calves are taken away shortly after birth, causing great emotional stress. 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 climate change, soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, extensive use  of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats, and other environmental damage. A 2006 UN Food and Agriculture report, “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” indicated that the livestock sector emits more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars, planes, ships, and all other means of transportation worldwide combined. 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 grain, land, water, energy, and other resources. For example it can take up to 13 times as much water per person, largely to irrigate land growing feed crops for animals, for a person on an animal-based diet than for a person on a vegan (completely animal-free) diet. 5. While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and share our bread with hungry people, about 70% of the grain grown in the United States is fed to animals destined for slaughter, while about ten percent of the world’s people are chronically hungry and an estimated nine million people worldwide die because of hunger and its effects each year. 6. While Judaism stresses that we must seek and pursue peace and that violence results from unjust conditions, animal-centered diets, by wasting valuable resources, help to perpetuate the widespread hunger and poverty that often lead to instability and war.      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, and since animal-centered diets violate and contradict each of these responsibilities, committed Jews (and others) should 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.     A shift to vegetarianism, and even more so veganism, is especially important today since animal-based diets are contributing to an epidemic of diseases and animal-based agriculture is a major  contributor to climate change and other environmental threats to humanity.       The above case is strengthened by the fact that God’s first dietary regimen was strictly vegan: “And God 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.’” (Genesis 1:29) This is consistent with modern scientific findings that humans are closer to  non-carnivorous animals than to carnivorous ones in terms of our hands, teeth, intestinal system, stomach acids, and other features. In addition, according to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook, first chief rabbi of pre-state Israel, and other Jewish scholars, the Messianic period will again be vegan, based on Isaiah’s prophecy (11:6 – 9): “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, . . . , the lion shall eat straw like the ox, . . ., and no one shall hurt nor destroy in all of [God’s] holy mountain.”   Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, College of Staten IslandAuthor of Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism; Judaism and Vegetarianism; Judaism and Global Survival; Mathematics and Global Survival; and Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet; and over 250 articles at JewishVeg.org/schwartzPresident Emeritus, Jewish Veg (www.JewishVeg.org); President, Society Of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV):Associate producer of A SACRED DUTY (www.JewishVeg.org/ASacredDuty);“Like” Jewish Veg on Facebook at www.facebook.org/JewishVeg

There is much evidence that vegan diets have many health benefits and can reduce and in some cases reverse several life-threatening diseases. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, formerly known as the American Dietetic Association, a valuable, respected source for health and nutrition information, states that, “well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, … are associated with a lower risk of death from heart disease, … [result in]  lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and lower rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes, … [and in]  lower body mass index and lower overall cancer rates.”  Their conclusions are reinforced by many types of scientific studies: Migration studies: When Japanese people migrate to the United States and shift to the standard American diet, their rates of chronic, degenerative diseases increase sharply. Wartime studies: When the meat supply was sharply reduced for Denmark during World War 1 and Norway during World War 2, the death rates due to diseases sharply decreased only to return to pre-war levels after the wars ended. Epidemiological studies: The China-Cornell-Oxford study, the largest epidemiological study in history, dubbed by the New York Times as ‘the grande prix of epidemiology, investigated the health and mortality conditions for 6,500 people in 65 Chinese communities, in each of which the diet conditions were relatively uniform. The researchers concluded that the more animal protein and fat in the diet the greater the risk for serious diseases. Other epidemiological studies reached similar conclusions.  Time-trend studies: Countries like China and Japan that have shifted toward animal-based dies in recent years have seen a sharp increase in life-threatening diseases. By contrast, Finland has sharply reduced its meat consumption and made other positive lifestyle changes, resulting in an 80% decrease in heart disease. Controlled studies: Dr. Dean Ornish, an American doctor from California, worked with patients with severe heart problems, 28 of whom went on a mainly vegan diet and 20 of whom served as a control group adopting the diet recommended by the U.S. medical establishment, up to 30% fat and permitting chicken without the skin and fish, with both groups randomly chosen. After one year, almost everyone on the vegan diet saw sharp decreases in coronary blockages and a complete or nearly complete disappearance of chest pains, while none of the people in the control group saw an improvement and some experienced increased heart problems. More recently, other doctors found comparable results from similar studies. Initially insurance companies would not reimburse people who were treated with the Dr. Ornish approach but later they recognised that it is far less expensive and more permanent and now do reimburse for it.  Based on a comprehensive review of such studies, Robert M. Kradjian, a breast cancer surgeon for thirty years, concluded that the main cause of breast cancer is animal-based diets. He argues that prevention, not early detection, is the best defense against the disease. His conclusions are in his potentially groundbreaking book, “Save Yourself from Breast Cancer: Life Choices That Can Help You Reduce the Odds.” Despite the very strong evidence from the studies mentioned above, very few people in the western world have vegetarian or vegan diets. A major reason involves the belief that major amounts of protein and calcium are needed for proper nutrition. Probably the most common question that vegetarians and vegans get is, ‘how do you get enough protein?” Yet, well-balanced, nutritious vegan diets easily provide enough protein. The incorrect thought that humans need a lot of protein is because initial protein research was based on experiments with rats. While a rat’s mother’s milk has almost 50% of its calories in protein, a human mother’s milk, ideal for an infant who will double his or her birth weight in about six months, has only six percent of its calories in protein. Many plant foods, including nuts, seeds, legumes, beans, and even some fruits, including melons, and vegetables, including spinach, have far more than that six percent and have positive health effects. But excessive animal protein in the diet has negative health effects. It is commonly believed that consuming large amounts of calcium, especially in the form of dairy products, is the best way to avoid getting osteoporosis. However, the countries that consume the most dairy products, including the United States, Israel, and Scandinavian countries, have the highest percentages of people with osteoporosis. Most Chinese people are lactose intolerant and thus consume far less dairy products, resulting in far less calcium in their diets.  Yet they get far less osteoporosis. One theory is that the high amounts of protein in dairy products and other animal-based foods acidify the blood and calcium is needed to buffer or neutralise the excess acidity. If there is not enough calcium in the blood it is drawn from the bones. Since the human body can absorb only a limited amount of protein, unlike the case for fat and carbohydrates, the excess protein is excreted along with calcium, leading to a negative calcium balance, even when large amounts of calcium have been consumed, increasing the risk of getting osteoporosis. Since the excreted protein and calcium passes through and strains the kidneys, kidney problems also often result from high animal-based diets. Fortunately, several plant-foods, including green, leafy vegetables and soybeans, are good sources of calcium. In summary, one can be properly nourished and very healthy on a vegan diet. However, to be extra safe, it is important to, as with other kinds of diets, have periodic medical checkups, including blood tests, to assure that all necessary nutrients are being obtained.

Since Earth Day (April 22) is on Shabbat this year, I am working with others to make it an “Environmental Shabbat,” with rabbis all over the world encouraged to give a sermon or a class on that Shabbat about Jewish environmental teachings and how they can be applied today to reduce environmental threats, and/or to have another environmental event at their synagogue. Among the many rabbis supporting this initiative are Nathan Lopes Cardozo,  dean of the David Cardozo Institute and author of many Judaica books, including Jewish Law as Rebellion; Yitz Greenberg, President of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life; Yonatan Neril, founder and director of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and co-editor of Eco Bible, volumes 1 and 2; David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and now Director of International Inter-religious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee; Jonathan Wittenberg, leading UK Masorti rabbi; David Wolpe, leading US Conservative rabbi and author; and Shmuly Yanklowitz, founder and director of Uri l’Tzekek and Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy, and author of many Judaica books. Organizations that support the initiative include Aytzim, Ecological Judaism; the Green Sabbath Project;  Green Zionist Alliance; the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development; the Shalom Center, and Shamayim, Jewish Animal Advocacy.   Many activities suitable for an “Environmental Shabbat” are at the website of the Green Sabbath Project, https://www.greensabbathproject.net/sabbath-activities  My article, “Making Earth Day on 2023 Into an Environmental Shabbat,” published in the Times of Israel, can be read at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/making-earth-day-2023-an-environmental-shabbat/?fbclid=IwAR0yu3j3ZYjPe2EU2KMLabiFRucnm99oP5SFteJR-c3m4ftT0nOkmkzT25k This initiative is very important because of the increasingly dire warnings from climate experts that the world may soon reach an irreversible tipping point, when the climate spins out of control, with catastrophic consequences. Israel is especially threatened by climate change, because the Middle East is heating up twice s fast as the world’s average, the costal plane where most of Israel’s population and infrastructure are located may be inundated by a rising Mediterranean Sea, and the hotter and drier Middle East that climate experts are projecting makes instability, terrorism, and war more likely. For further information or to offer to help with the initiative, you can email me at . ———— Relevant material for an Environmental Shabbat:  Searches for Confei Nesharim and Tazria and for Confei Nesharim and Meteor will provide environmentally related divrei Torah for the 2 Torah portions on  the Environmental Shabbat My article, “Jewish Environmental teachings useful for the Environmental Shabbat,” published in the Times of Israel, can be read at https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jewish-environmental-teachings-useful-for-an-environmental-shabbat/?fbclid=IwAR02xQtG7saFPNZljxrOFpntovCtZN-eXj4fU1s_s9dXAg6GmuNhjQTDfCU The complete text of my book, Vegan Revolution:Saving Our World, Revitalizing  Judaism can be read at https://jewcology.org/2021/03/complete-text-of-my-latest-book-vegan-revolution-saving-our-world-revitalizing-judaism/ . It has a. chapter on Jewish environmental teachings and a chapter on climate threats. My book Judaism and Global Survival can be read at https://www.ginger.org.il/_files/ugd/481d0d_2a425f11215c45799116b3865bd86481.pdf . It also has a. chapter on Jewish environmental teachings and a chapter on climate threats. My co-authored (with Prof. Dan Brook) cover story in the Jerusalem Report, “Climate change: an existential threat to humanity and how we can survive,” can be read at.https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/climate-change-an-existential-threat-to-humanity-and-how-we-can-survive-643267 . An extremely comprehensive article on the seriousness of climate threats and how many people are dying due to severe climate events can be read at https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zahrahirji/climate-change-deaths-2021. ——————- List (in formation) of Jewish Organizations Supporting the Initiative to Make Earth Day in 2023 an “Environmental Shabbat” Aytzim: Ecological Judaism, Parent organization of: EcoJews, Green       Zionist Alliance, Jewcology.org, Jews of the Earth, Shomrei Breishit:       Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth (aytzim.org) Christian Vegetarian Association. (ChristianVeg.org) Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (chai.org.il)  EcoJews (jewcology.org/initiative/ecojews/) Hakol Chai (chai.org.il)  Green Zionist Alliance (aytzim.org/greenisrael)  Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (interfaithsustain.com) International Jewish Vegetarian Society (Jerusalem) Jewcology (jewcology.org)   Jewish Veg (JewishVeg.org) Jewish Vegetarian Society of the UK.   (jvs.org.uk)  Jews of the Earth (aytzim.org/jote)  Own Your Judaism (ownyourjudaism.org) The Plant-Based Thrive and Inspire Community – Inspiring Hopeful Cu      riosity for a new lifestyle. weDIDit.Health Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy (shamayim.us )  Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth (aytzim.org) ——————

This year, Earth Day (April 22) falls on a Saturday, providing an excellent opportunity to turn the day into an “Environmental Shabbat.” I am working with others to encourage rabbis all over the world to give sermons and/or classes on that day about Judaism’s splendid environmental teachings and how they can be applied to reduce current environmental threats.        Many relevant Jewish environmental teachings are presented below, but first here are some factors related to the planned Environmental Shabbat.      A list of supporting organizations is at the end of this article.       Among the many rabbis supporting this initiative are Nathan Lopes Cardozo,  dean of the David Cardozo Institute and author of many Judaica books, including Jewish Law as Rebellion; Yitz Greenberg, President of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life; Yonatan Neril, founder and director of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and co-editor of Eco Bible, volumes 1 and 2; David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and now Director of International Inter-religious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee; Jonathan Wittenberg, leading UK Masorti rabbi; David Wolpe, leading US Conservative rabbi and author; and Shmuly Yanklowitz, founder and director of Uri l’Tzekek and Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy, and author of many Judaica books.      Many activities suitable for an “Environmental Shabbat” are at the website of the Green Sabbath Project, https://www.greensabbathproject.net/sabbath-activities    Reinforcing this initiative, the Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA) is encouraging Christian clergy to give environmentally-related sermons and/or classes on the Sunday immediately after Earth Day.      Among Judaism’s many environmental teachings are the following: 1. “God took the man (Adam)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to guard/protect it” (Genesis 2:15). Based on this and other Torah verses, Jews are to be shomrei ha’adamah, “guardians of the earth, co-workers with God in protecting the environment. 2. In wartime, Jews are not to cut down fruit-bearing trees to build a battering ram to overcome an enemy fortification (Deuteronomy 20:19). The Jewish sages extended this prohibition into a general one (bal tashchit) against unnecessary destruction and wasteful use of resources. 3. Human beings were given dominion (Genesis 1:26). This verse has often been misinterpreted as giving people the right to freely exploit nature, but the Jewish sages interpreted it as mandating responsible stewardship, consistent with the two teachings above and other Torah teachings. 4. Shabbat is a reminder of creation, as it is said, “For in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, and on the seventh day, He rested.” (Genesis 2:1.2) 4. When God created the world, he was able to say, “It is very good.” (Genesis 1:31) Everything was in harmony as God had planned, the waters were clean, the air was pure. But what must God think about the world today? What must God think when the rain he sends to nourish our crops is often acid rain due to the many chemicals poured into the air by our industries? When the abundance of species of plants and animals that God created are becoming extinct in tropical rain forests and other threatened habitats? When the fertile soil that God provided is rapidly being depleted and eroded? When the climatic conditions that God designed to meet our needs are threatened by climate change? 5. Earth Day falls shortly after Passover in 2023, and today’s environmental threats can be compared in many ways to the Biblical ten plagues, which are considered at the Passover seder: 6. There is a midrash (rabbinical teaching) that, “In the hour when the Holy one, blessed be He, created the first person, God showed him the trees in the Garden of Eden, and said to him: “See My works, how fine they are; Now all that I have created, I created for your benefit. Think upon this and do not corrupt and destroy My world, For if you destroy it, there is no one to restore it after you” (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:28).        For many years, people must have wondered: is it really possible that the world could be destroyed?  Unfortunately, it is possible today due to increasing threats from climate change. Glaciers, polar icecaps, and permafrost are rapidly melting and there has been a very significant increase in the frequency and severity of heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms, floods, and other climate-related events. In addition, climate experts are increasingly warning that the world may reach an irreversible tipping point when climate spins out of control with disastrous consequences. Hence, it is essential that the Jewish teachings discussed above be applied in efforts to shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path. Making Earth Day 2023 an Environmental Shabbat, with sermons, classes, environmentally-conscious meals, and other environmentally-related activities can be an important step toward moving our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path and revitalizing Judaism. There is no planet B. List (in formation) of Jewish Organizations Supporting the Initiative to Make Earth Day in 2023 an “Environmental Shabbat” Aytzim: Ecological Judaism, Parent organization of: EcoJews, Green       Zionist Alliance, Jewcology.org, Jews of the Earth, Shomrei Breishit:       Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth (aytzim.org) Christian Vegetarian Association. (ChristianVeg.org) Concern for Helping Animals in Israel (chai.org.il)  EcoJews (jewcology.org/initiative/ecojews/) Hakol Chai (chai.org.il)  Green Zionist Alliance   Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (interfaithsustain.com) International Jewish Vegetarian Society (Jerusalem) Jewcology (jewcology.org)   Jewish Vegetarian Society of the UK.   (jvs.org.uk)  Jews of the Earth   The Plant-Based Thrive and Inspire Community – Inspiring Hopeful Curiosity for a new lifestyle. weDIDit.Health Own Your Judaism (ownyourjudaism.org) Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy (shamayim.us )  Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth (aytzim.org) ——————