444 results for author: Richard Schwartz

Five articles related to the Jewish fall holidays

by Richard Schwartz See below for the five op-ed articles related to the Fall Jewish holidays: Should Jews Become Vegetarians or Vegans at Rosh Hashanah?Rosh Hashanah Message: Is God’s “Very Good” World Now Approaching An Unprecedented Catastrophe?Why Perform a Rite That Kills Chickens as a Way to Seek God’s Compassion?Yom Kippur and Vegetarianism and VeganismSukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah and the connection to Vegetarianism and veganism ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Should Jews Become Vegetarians or Vegans at Rosh Hashanah?   Rosh Hashanah is the time when Jews ...

My strategy ideas to help get veganism and environmental sustainability onto Judaism’s agenda and society’s agenda/Suggestions are very welcome

Victor Hugo famously said, “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” Well, there is increasing evidence that the time has come to get veganism onto the Jewish agenda and, indeed,  onto society’s agenda, in order to avert a climate catastrophe and help shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path. Here are some reasons why this is so: 1. Our arguments are irrefutable. The most recent evidence of this is that my article, Why Jews Should Be Vegans,” was the cover story in the August 9 issue of the Jerusalem Report. It can be read at https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10226011542743924&set=pcb.10226011547944054 ...

My podcast interview with Glen Merzer, author of the potentially transformative book, “Food Is Climate,” which argues that the only way to avert a climate catastrophe is through a societal shift to vegan diets.

https://youtu.be/H3Oge4tF46k

An upcoming Zoom event that will help promote veganism.

Please share widely. The Compassion Consortium is proud to feature the free Jewish Veg documentary A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World, and Dr. Richard Schwartz’s new book Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism, for your consideration. So, check out the film (links below) and read the book. Then join us at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 15, 2021 via Zoom as Dr. Schwartz and Lionel Friedberg, the film’s writers and producers, discuss the book and film and the historical and contemporary issues on Judaism, environmentalism, and animal rights. A Sacred Duty can be viewed at: www.asacredduty.com ...

Invitation to three Zoom events about restoring and transforming the ancient Jewish New Year for Animals

Shalom,      You are cordially invited to attend any or all of three Zoom events that will consider restoring the ancient Jewish New Year for Animals and transforming it into a day devoted to increasing awareness  of Jewish teachings about compassion for animals and how far current realities for animals are from these teachings.      The teach-ins will consider how animal-based diets and agriculture seriously violate basic Jewish teachings about preserving human health, treating animals with compassion, protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, helping hungry people, and pursuing peace, and why ...

Plans for activities for restoring the ancient Jewish New Year for Animals and transforming it into a day devoted to improving conditions for animals.

     I am working with other Jewish veg activists to organize many events in an historic, potentially transformative initiative to restore the ancient New Year for Animals and to transform it into a day devoted to increasing awareness  of Jewish teachings about compassion to animals and how far current realities are from these teachings. The events will also consider how animal-based diets and agriculture seriously violate basic Jewish teachings about preserving human health, treating animals with compassion, protecting the environment, conserving natural resources, helping hungry people, and pursuing peace, and why shifts to ...

“A New Year for Animals?” article by Abigail Klein Leichner in the August 9 Jerusalem Report

[This article discusses my efforts to restore the ancient Jewish New Year for Animals and to transform it into a day devoted to increasing awareness of judaism's teachings on compassion to animals and how far current realities are3vfrom these teachings.] A New Year for Animals? By Abigail Klein Leichman Just as Tu BiShvat was reinvented from a Temple-centric day marking the start of the fruit and nut tithing cycle into an ecologically conscious Jewish New Year for the Trees, the New Year for Animals on the first of Elul – when animal tithes were assessed for Temple sacrifice -- could be revived as a day to study how factory farming ...

Article by Professor Yael Shemesh in the August 9 Jerusalem report, “Judaism does not allow the abuse of animals,” supporting my cover story, “Why Jews Should Be Vegans,” in the same issue

Prof. Yael Shemesh, Bible Department, Bar-Ilan University I have read the words of Prof. Richard Schwartz, an observant Jewish vegan who dedicates his life to promoting the vegetarian-vegan idea in accordance with Jewish values, as well as the words of Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld clearly demonstrating that he is a non-vegetarian. He even asks not to be preached to about stopping to consume meat. I will begin with my bottom line impression – both are right. Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is right that Judaism is not a vegetarian religion and does not require its adherents to be vegetarians; however, Prof. Schwartz is right that a vegetarian-vegan diet fits ...

My cover story in the August 9, 2021 Jerusalem Report on “Why Jews Should be Vegans”

https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/heres-why-jews-should-be-vegans-675135 Since you may not be able toopen the link because you are not a Jerusalem Report subscriber, I have pasted the article below.                 Why Jews Should Be Vegans                                            Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D I am proud to live in Israel, the eternal home of the Jewish people and arguably the vegan capital of the world, with a high percent of vegans and a leading role in developing ...

My letter in the July 28, 2021 Jerusalem Post on climate threats

Whither the weather?  Kol hakavod for your editorial “A bigger step needed” (July 27), which cogently argued that “Israel should step up its game” in responding to climate change.  Your article “Summer of disaster: Extreme weather wreaks havoc worldwide as climate change bears down,” (July 25) should convince everyone that the world is already suffering greatly from climate change.  It seems like there are almost daily reports of severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, floods and other effects of climate change. Within about a week, there were reports of deadly floods in Western Europe, China, and ...

My Draft of a Haggadah for a Restored and Transformed New Year For Animals Event

Shalom, Below is my very preliminary draft for a Haggadah’ for a future ‘Seder’ for a renewed and transformed New Year for Animals. It is presented mainly to get people thinking about possibilities for future observances of the restored ancient Jewish holiday. We may end up with an approach or approaches very different from the one I am suggesting in this draft. And that would be fine with me. I would very much welcome your input on this and suggestions for other possible approaches. In reviewing this, please do not be concerned with the wordage, the grammar, or the spelling. The concepts is what is most important at this stage. ...

My three articles about restoring the ancient New Year for Animals

Shalom My three articles about restoring the ancient New Year for Animals are: Restoring and Transforming an Ancient Jewish Holiday Related to AnimalsTen Reasons for Restoring and Transforming the Ancient New Year for AnimalsAn Often Overlooked Mitzvah: Tsa’ar Ba’alei Chaim   Restoring and Transforming an Ancient Jewish Holiday Related to Animals The current widespread mistreatment of animals on factory farms is very inconsistent with Judaism’s beautiful teachings about compassion to animals. One way for Jews to respond to these inconsistencies is to restore and transform the ancient, and largely forgotten, Jewish holiday ...

How Tisha B’Av relates to current environmental and climate threats published in the Jewish Journal

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/338498/a-tisha-bav-message-will-we-again-fail-to-heed-the-warnings/

My interview of Noam Bedein, founder in 2015 and director of the Dead Sea Revival Project

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XnE9I_37Z7K8XDQwUYQjn7QkjtP_h1cO/view?usp=sharing

Jewish Quotations About Animals and How Animals Are Treated Today

   Jewish Quotations About Animals and How Animals Are Treated Today A. Attitude Toward Animals 1. “A righteous person regards the life of his or her animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”    ~Proverbs 12:10 2. The Lord is good to all and His tender mercies are over all His creatures.” ~Psalms 145:9 3. The tzaddik (righteous person) acts according to the laws of justice; not only does he act according to these laws with human beings, but also with animals.       ~The Malbim 4. “Living creatures possess a soul and a certain spiritual superiority which in this respect make them similar to ...

A Tisha B’Av Message: Will We Again Fail To Heed the Warnings?

Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) which we commemorate this year on July 17 - 18, 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. That failure resulted in the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem, one of the many tragic things that occurred to Jews on that day, including the later destruction of the second Temple.       Today there are no prophets like Jeremiah to issue warnings, but we are receiving increasingly dire warnings from climate scientists that now it is not just Jerusalem, but the entire world, that is ...

Four-page review of my latest book, VEGAN REVOLUTION: SAVING OUR WORLD, REVITALIZING JUDAISM, in the semi-annual journal of the Central Conference of American rabbis (CCAR), a publication that goes to US reform rabbis

The Vegan Revolution by Richard Schwartz (Brooklyn, NY: Lantern Publishing and Media, 2020), 272 pp. I’ve been a vegetarian for forty years. Inspired by a college boyfriend, I then fully committed to it the year I was at HUC-JIRJerusalem, walking down the meat aisle of the Old City Shuk with its hanging animal carcasses. I married a man who was already a vegetarian (thank goodness no “training” required!) and we raised three vegetarian children who now, as adults, have all retained their commitment to it. In true family dynamics, two of our kids are more strict than we are, not touching fish, and one is a vegan....

Honors thesis on the beginnings of Jewish environmental and vegetarian activism in the 1970s and 1980s

Renewing and Recycling: The Formation of American Jewish Environmentalism in the 1970s and 1980s Gabrielle Plotkin Advisor: Keith Woodhouse B.A. Thesis for Honors in History Northwestern University May 3, 2021 ii Abstract Few environmental historians have considered how American Jews interacted with the postwar environmental movement. Those that have, often characterize American Jews as “urban” and separate from nature. However, I demonstrate that American Jewry’s involvement in left-leaning politics and inclination to both assimilate and remain committed to Judaism primed the community for partici...

My interview of Jeffrey Spitz Cohan, director of Jewish Veg, formerly Jewish Vegetarians of North America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdsQSVQE6LU

Video of amazing Earth Day teach-in that involved talks by 22 fabulous speakers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ck72NqkUAA      Earth Day teach-in I aranged (on Earth Day, April 22, 2021), which involved 22 fabulous speakers .      The  theme was "Applying Religiouis Values To Help Save the World."      Here is the list of speakers the order of their appearance. Richard Schwartz : President emeritus of Jewish Veg and author of       “Judaism and Vegetarianism”and “Vegan Revolution” Rev. Fletcher Harper: Founder and director of GreenFaith, a       national interfaith environmental coalition. Rabbi David ...