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How Celebrating Passover Can Help Heal Our Planet…
1. Applying Passover Messages Can Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet 2. Passover and Vegetarianism and Veganism 3. Inconsistencies in Passover Eating 4. Freeing Ourselves at Passover From Diets That Harm Us and the Planet —————- 1. Applying Passover Messages Can Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet There are many Passover-related messages that can be applied to help shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path: 1. Today’s environmental ...
An Open Letter to Rabbis
Dear Rabbi, News of war and conflict are the order of the day, but something far worse looms over us. I am writing you because you have the potential to help avert a climate catastrophe and leave a sustainable world for future generations. There is a very strong consensus composed of almost all climate experts, all the major science academies, and over a thousand peer-reviewed articles in respected science journals that climate change poses an existe...
WhichCame First, the Chicken or the Egg? – A Purimspiel
eb Henna taught: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Clearly, the chicken. How do we know this? We learn from the Book of Esther that when Mordecai asked Esther to go before King Ahashveros to plead for the Jewish people, she was ‘chicken,’ fearing for her life. Only when Mordecai ‘Egged’ her on, telling her that perhaps she was enabled to be queen for just this EGGcelent purpose, did she muster the courage and ‘scrambled’ to ...
Purim and Veganism
The joyous festival of Purim shares many connections with veganism. According to the Talmud (Megilla 13a), Queen Esther, the heroine of the Purim story, refrained from eating meat while she lived in the palace of King Achashveriosh. She was thus able to avoid violating the kosher dietary laws while keeping her Jewish identity secret. During Purim it is a mitzvah to give mat’not evyonim (charity to poor people). In contrast to these acts of ...
Purim Lessons That Can Help Avert a Climate Catastrophe
There is increasing evidence that the world is approaching a climate catastrophe. The hottest year in recorded history was 2024, breaking the record set just the year before. Amazingly, all 13 months from June 2023 to June 2024 broke monthly temperature records. All 25 years in the current century are among the 26 hottest years since temperature records have been kept worldwide. Because of the hotter temperatures, there has been a ...
My 8 Tu Bishvat-related articles
Their titles are: 1. Why Is This Night Different: Thoughts on Tu B’Shvat 2. Tu B'Shvat and Vegetarianism and Veganism 3. Preserving the Sacred Environment: A Religious Imperative – A Tu Bishvat Message 4. Lessons From Trees: a Tu Bishvat Message 5. Celebrating Tu Bishvat as if Environmental Sustainability Matters 6. Lessons From Trees that Can Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet 7. For Tu Bishvat: 36 Jewish Quotations About Trees ...
My invitation to a 2025 Tu Bishvat seder
Shalom, You are cordially invited to a Zoom Tu Bishvat Seder on Tu Bishvat, Wednesday, February 12, from 8 to 930 PM Israel time (1:00 to 2:30 PM US Eastern time) You can attend at https://tau-ac-il.zoom.us/j/88447791056 The link for the ten pages of source sheets that will be the basis of the Zoom seder is https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k9V0a02e2M7lJXY1MTMxYLwmavqEHdT0/view?usp=sharing:. They will be screen-shared. I have conducted many ...
My message to rabbis urging them to stress the importance of shifts to plant-based diets in efforts to avert a climate catastrophe
Shalom, dear rabbi, As a respected community leader, you are in an excellent position to help create a habitable, healthy, environmentally sustainable world for future generations in a way that will promote Jewish teachings and significantly enhance the image of Judaism worldwide. It has become increasingly apparent that the world is rapidly approaching a climate catastrophe. In early November, 2024 was already declared the hottest ...
My six Chanukah-related articles
The titles are: Chanukah and Vegetarianism and Veganism 2. Miraculously Stretching the Oil: Dietary Connections to Energy Use 3. Celebrating Miracles at Chanukah 4. Eight Reasons to Become Vegan During Chanukah 5. Chrismukah: Giving Thanks for Miracles! 6. Chanukah and Veganism ========================= 1. Chanukah and Vegetarianism and Veganism Many connections can be made between vegetarianism and ...
Chrismukah: Giving Thanks for Miracles!
This article was co-edited by Prof. Dan Brook (Bio at end) Christmas on December 25 and Chanukah on 25 Kislev periodically coincide and do so again in 2024 on Christmas Day, which is the first night of Chanukah. Some are calling it Chrismukah. Some are calling it another miracle! Hope springs eternal. Indeed, it’s always been an integral part of Jewish and American history, spirituality, and politics. Without hope, there ...
Can a Climate Catastrophe Be Prevented?
Humanity's most urgent issue is whether a climate catastrophe can be prevented. Alarming trends and recent extreme climate events suggest that the world is approaching a critical tipping point. In 2024, heat waves were so frequent and intense that by early November, the year was declared the hottest in recorded history—breaking the previous record set just one year earlier in 2023. Astoundingly, all 13 months from June 2023 to June 2024 set new monthly ...
Why Jews Should be Vegans or at Least Vegetarians
Veganism is the diet most consistent with fundamental Jewish teachings. Judaism emphasizes pikuach nefesh, that Jews should carefully preserve our health and our lives. Of the 613 Jewish mitzvot (commandments), 610 can be overridden if it might help save a life. The only three exceptions are the prohibitions against murder, idolatry, and sexual immorality. However, many scientific studies have linked animal-based diets to an increased risk of heart ...
Code Red for Humanity: A Jewish Response to the Climate Crisis
This article was co-authored by Michael Gribov. Director of Movement Building for Jewish Vegan Life. The world is at a tipping point. The United Nations has declared a “code red for humanity” in response to the accelerating climate crisis. From rising sea levels to extreme weather events, the planet is being pushed to the brink by human activity. As the effects of climate change become more pronounced, it is clear that we are running out of time to ...
Review of Animal Welfare in World Religion
Joyce D’Silva’s book Animal Welfare in World Religion; Teaching and Practice points out an anomaly that is the main reason that the world is rapidly approaching a climate catastrophe and facing other environmental threats. While about 80 percent of the world’s people belong to a religion and these religions have strong teachings about compassion for animals, the vast majority of the people have animal-based diets that involve great cruelty to ...
Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Shemini Atzeret, and Veganism
There are many connections between veganism and the Jewish festivals of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret (the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly), and Simchat Torah: 1. Sukkot commemorates the 40 years when the ancient Israelites lived in the wilderness in frail huts and were sustained by manna. According to Isaac Arama (1420-1494), author of Akedat Yitzchak, and others, the manna was God's attempt to reestablish a vegan diet for the Israelites. 2. On Simchat ...
Why Plant-Based Diets Are Essential to Averting a Climate Catastrophe
Michael Gribov, head of movement building for Jewish Vegan Life, is the co-author of this article. In a world grappling with the urgent realities of climate change, we often find ourselves searching for solutions—big ideas that can slow down, if not completely reverse, the damage we’ve done to our planet. One solution, however, is within our reach every single day: changing what we put on our plates. I, Richard, am partnering with a ...
An Innovative Initiative To Avert a Climate Catastrophe and Leave a Habitable, Healthy, Environmentally Sustainable World For Future Generations
Because climate threats are increasingly apparent, Jewish Vegan Life (JVL) has started a unique, potentially game-changing initiative to reduce them, called “Shofar for Change.” It involves a Zoom event featuring the blowing of the shofar at the Kotel on September 29, 11 AM US Eastern time (6 PM Israel time), followed by several talks on the seriousness of climate threats and how it can be prevented. JVL hopes the shofar blasts will awaken ...
initiative To Avert a Climate Catastrophe and Leave a Habitable, Healthy, Environmentally Sustainable World For Future Generations
Because climate threats are increasingly apparent, Jewish Vegan Life (JVL) has started a unique, potentially game-changing initiative to reduce them, called “Shofar for Change.” It involves a Zoom event featuring the blowing of the shofar at the Kotel on September 29, 11 AM US Eastern time (6 PM Israel time), followed by several talks on the seriousness of climate threats and how it can be prevented. JVL hopes the ...
Shofar for Change: Awakening the Jewish World to the Climate Crisis
As the shofar blasts pierce the air this Rosh Hashanah, they carry with them the ancient call for reflection, repentance, and renewal. But this year, a new sound will echo through the holiest site for our people – a call to action not just for the soul, but for the planet. On September 29, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, a nonprofit called Jewish Vegan Life (JVL) will host an extraordinary event as part of their groundbreaking Shofar for ...
An Open Letter to Jewish Trump Supporters
You likely support former President Donald Trump because he has done some positive things for Israel, including recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the US consulate there, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and helping form the Abraham Accords. This is certainly understandable. However, have you considered the two ways that Trump’s actions have greatly endangered Israel and, indeed, the entire world? First, ...
