Celebrate Rainbow Day and the Rainbow Covenant with all Life!
The first covenant in the Torah, when Noah leaves the ark, is a covenant with all creatures, and a covenant with the Earth itself, not just with humanity. There are so many ways you can teach about this covenant, the rainbow covenant, on the day it was established!
What is Rainbow Day?
On the 27th day of the second month, Noah, his family, and all the animals that were with them left the ark (Genesis 8). Exactly one lunar year and ten days before—one complete solar year—the flood began on ...
1. God’s original dietary lawAnd 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 1:29God did not permit Adam and his wife to kill a creature to eat its flesh. Only every green herb shall they all eat together.Rashi’s commentary on Genesis 1:29You are permitted to use the animals and employ them for work, have dominion over them in order to utilize their services for your subsistence, but must not hold their life cheap nor slaughter ...
And that which is left thereof [from the meal-offering] shall Aaron and his sons eat; it shall be eaten without leaven in a
holy place; in the tent of meeting they shall eat it. . . . it is most holy as the sin-offering and the guilt-offering. Leviticus 6:9.10When the Jewish people were in the wilderness before they entered the land of Israel, the consumption of meat was associated with holiness. Every piece of meat consumed came from an animal sacrificed in the Mishkan (Sanctuary), an act meant to bring ...
LIVING AS A JEWISH VEGAN
In this book, I have attempted to present evidence that the world is in the throes of a climate catastrophe. Selfreinforcing positive feedback loops (vicious cycles) are moving the climate system toward irreversible tipping points. If we fail to act rapidly and decisively, these will bring massive climate disruptions, with calamitous results for all life on Earth.
Because animal agriculture is a major cause of global warming, a shift toward veganism is key to the effort to avert this climate catastrophe. Such a shift is becoming ...
Relating Biblical Teachings to Current Environmental Threats
Eco Bible: Volume 1: An Ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus
Editors and lead contributors: Rabbi Yonatan Neril and Rabbi Leo Dee
Publisher: The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development
No price indicate
As one who has long been advocating that Jewish values be applied in efforts to resolve current critical threats, I eagerly anticipated reading Eco Bible: Volume One: An Ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus. Was this the book that would help end ...
The titles of the articles are:
Freeing Ourselves at Passover From Diets That Hurt Us and the Planet
2. Applying Passover Messages Can Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet
3. Passover and Vegetarianism or Veganism
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Freeing Ourselves at Passover From Diets That Hurt Us and the Planet
Jews commendably go to extraordinary lengths before and during Passover to avoid certain foods, in keeping with Torah mitzvot. But at the same time, many continue eating other foods that, by Torah standards, are hardly ideal.
On Passover, ...
Richard H. Schwartz, Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, RevitalizingJudaism. Brooklyn, NY: Lantern Publishing, 2020. xxxiv +230 pages.$20.00 softcover.
This review appeared in the March/April online Quaker Publication, "Peaceable Table."
This is now one of the basic books on veganism and Judaism for thegeneral reader. With the passion of a convert--Schwartz becamevegetarian Jan. 1 1978 at the age of 41 and vegan in 2000--the authorpresents a convincing case for Jewish observance of a plant-baseddiet.
Along with the passion, he is always ...
“I consider it an honor and a mitzvah to commend Professor Richard Schwartz’s work and all his endeavors to bring Jewish teachings on diet, health, the environment, and related issues to public attention, especially to those of us who seek to lead a religiously observant lifestyle, in keeping with the precepts and goals of the Torah. May his efforts merit Divine blessing and success.”—Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland; President for Israel of the International Jewish Vegetarian Society“Few books have ever been more timely or more needed than this ...
View this email in your browserMarch 4th, 2021 | 20th Adar Dear Richard,(If you want to go straight to info on The Shmita Prizes - click here.) But first, I want to put these prizes in context, beginning with a word about shabbat, shmita’s temporal Jewish sibling. The world needs shabbat right now. We need boundaries. We need rest. We need time when we switch off electronics. We need at least one day that we don’t buy stuff. We need at least one day that we spend with family and friends. After a boundary-less year of covid, our need for some kind of ...
Dancing in God’s Earthquake: The Coming Transformation of Religion
Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow
Orbis Books, 2020
US $25
I looked forward eagerly to reading Rabbi Arthur Ocean Waskow’s latest book, Dancing in God’s Earthquake, for two reasons. First, as one who has long argued that Jews should be doing far more to apply Jewish teachings in response to current environmental and other threats, I was intrigued by the book’s subtitle, “The Coming Transformation of Religion.” Second, I have been reading many ...
Shalom
Please do me a big, important favor that would take you just a few minutes, cost you nothing, and have a potentially transformative positive impact on our imperiled planet/MANY thanks/KOL tuv/Richard (schwartz)
Please forward the PDFs of the complete text and the cover picture of my latest book, VEGAN REVOLUTION: SAVING OUR WORLD, REVITALIZING JUDAISM, to all your contacts, or at least those you think would be interested in it, perhaps along with this message. [You can get the Pdfs by emailing me at VeggieRich@gmail.com.] Also, please consider using ...
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, was a vegetarian while she lived in the palace of King
Achashverosh. 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 (added charity
to poor and hungry people). In contrast to these acts of sharing and
compassion, animal...
we face a new geological and evolutionary doorway - where humanity is the main force shaping the atmosphere and consequently the geology of the earth (for example: depletion of natural resources and climate change leading to extreme weather patterns). In this age, where man is perceived as a real "force of nature", Buber's belief that we, as Jews, are forbidden to 'leave the world to its own devices' and his call to embrace the world in our arms as much as we can, seem more relevant than ever. Moreover, Buber urges us not to separate religion from politics, or our perception of the essence of the world and our role in it, from its actual realization.
“I consider it an honor and a mitzvah to commend Professor Richard Schwartz’s work and all his endeavors to bring Jewish teachings on diet, health, the environment, and related issues to public attention, especially to those of us who seek to lead a religiously observant lifestyle, in keeping with the precepts and goals of the Torah. May his efforts merit Divine blessing and success.”—Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland; President for Israel of the International Jewish Vegetarian Society
“Few books have ever been more timely or more needed ...
Tu Bishvat Tu Tu Tu Tu with Ms. Eve baby shark tune !
Join Ms. Eve 🌟 and let's get ready to celebrate Tu BiShvat 🍃🌳🌺 singing and moving to the tune of baby shark in English, Hebrew, and Spanish!
Únete a Ms. Eve y recibe Tu BiShvat 🌱🌲🌻 cantando en español, hebreo e inglés!
https://youtu.be/LAlolqGM7jk
A message from Jonathan Schorsch:
Dear Friend,I would like to introduce you to my initiative, the Green Sabbath Project (www.greensabbathproject.net). In brief, the Green Sabbath Project sees a weekly green sabbath or earth day as a day on which we strive to minimize our environmental impact as much as possible -- leaving things alone, “doing nothing” -- based on the biblical command to “do no work of any kind,” which was elaborated in the rabbinic concept of the 39 types of forbidden labors. Whether commemorated as a secular, spiritual or ...
Vegan Revolution, Saving our World, Revitalizing Judaism by Richard H. Schwartz is primarily directed toward a Jewish audience, but its message is for everyone in the world.
In Vegan Revolution, Richard Schwartz proves from both the Hebrew Bible and other texts, and scientific evidence that a vegan lifestyle saves the whole of God's creation, and that it has been God's intent since the beginning. He shows how a vegan livestyle not only saves billions of animals, but also saves human lives by preventing many diseases, and by feeding the hungry of the world, and ...
■ REGULAR READERS of The Jerusalem Post may have last Friday read the review of the latest book by Richard Schwartz, PhD, Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism.
Just in time for Tu Bishvat which is a celebration of nature and its bounty, Schwartz has initiated an international campaign to “Celebrate Tu Bishvat as if Global Survival Matters.”
A fervent vegan, Schwartz believes that Tu Bishvat, the most vegan and the most environmental Jewish holiday, should become a Jewish Earth Day and that Tu Bishvat Seders should be used, among other ...
Celebrating Tu Bishvat as if global survival matters
By Abigail Klein Leichman
TU BISHVAT, the Jewish new year for trees– beginning this year at sundown on January 27 – has become a sort of Jewish Earth Daycomplete with its own Seder celebrating the produce and wines of the Land of Israel.
For environmental and vegan activist Prof. Richard H. Schwartz, Tu Bishvat presents a perfect opportunity to promote plant-based diets and environmental stewardship as expressions of traditional Jewish values.
The retired college professor plans to lead a Tu Bishvat ...
