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Judaism’s Mission Today
What a wonderful path Judaism is!
Judaism worships a God who is the Father of all humanity, Whose attributes of kindness, mercy, compassion, and justice are to serve as examples for all our actions.
Judaism teaches that every person is created in God's image and therefore is of supreme value.
Judaism asserts that people are to be co-workers with God in preserving and improving the earth. We are to be stewards of the world's resources and to see that God's bounties are used for the benefit of all. Nothing that has value can be wasted or destroyed unnecessarily.
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Should Jews Be Vegetarians? – a Debate
Richard H.Schwartz, PhD's debate with Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, which appeared years ago in the Jerusalem Report
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Introduction:
In addition to its benefits for health, animals, and the environment, vegetarianism may be called for by some of Judaism's most cherished tenets. Is it time to reconsider our dietary traditions?
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, Rabbinic Coordinator of the Kashrut Division of the Orthodox Union in New York, debates Richard H. Schwartz, author of “Judaism and Vegetarianism” and Professor Emeritus at the College of Staten Island.
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A Potentially Game-Changing Rabbinic Statement on Vegetarianism
Jewish Veg
Rabbinic Statement
“Judaism’s way of life, its dietary practices, are designed to ennoble the human spirit. It is therefore a contradiction in terms to claim that products that come through a process that involves inordinate cruelty and barbarity toward animal life can truly be considered kosher in our world. In our world today, it is precisely a plant-based diet that is truly consonant with the most sublime teachings of Judaism and of the highest aspirations of our heritage.”
Rabbi ...
Sukkot and Vegetarianism
by Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.
~The Sukkot holiday, including Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, is known as the "Season of Rejoicing", because people's worries about the success of the harvest are over. Since one must be in good health in order to fully rejoice, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are less harmful than animal-based diets to the environment, hungry people, and animals are factors that can enhance rejoicing. There are many other connections that can be made between vegetarianism and these joyous Jewish festiva...
The Custom of Kappparot (Kaporus) in the Jewish Tradition
Rabbi Yonassan Gershom is co-author of this article.
Every year, before Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), some Jews perform the ceremony of kapparot. The following, in question and answer format, is a discussion of the ritual and its relation to the treatment of animals.
What is kapparot [in Ashkenazic Hebrew or Yiddish, kapporos or shluggen kapporos]?
Kapparot is a custom in which the sins of a person are symbolically transferred to a fowl (or a substitute object—as discussed below). First, selections from Isaiah 11:9, Psalms 107:10, 14, and 17-21, and Job ...
Why Perform a Rite that Involves Killing Chickens as a Way to Seek God’s Compassion.
During the ten-day period starting on Rosh Hashanah and ending on Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, Jews seek God's compassion and ask for forgiveness for transgressions during the previous year so that they will have a happy, healthy, peaceful year. Yet, many Jews perform the rite of kapparot (in Ashkenazic Hebrew kappores or in Yiddish, shluggen kappores) in the days before Yom Kippur, a ritual that involves the killing of chickens.
Kapparot is a custom in which the sins of a person are symbolically transferred to a fowl. First, selections from Isaiah 11:9, Psalms ...
Yom Kippur and Vegetarianism and Veganism
by Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.
~Yom Kippur, the culmination of the Aseret Y’mei Teshuva (the Ten Days of Repentance) that begins on Rosh Hashanah, is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. On this day, Jews refrain completely from food and water and spend many hours in synagogues, examining their deeds, vowing to repent for past transgressions, and seeking God’s blessings for a coming year of good health and positive outcomes. Yet, after Yom Kippur, most Jews return to animal-based diets that are arguably inconsistent with the values of Yom Kippur and Judaism in ...
Our 2017 (5777) Collection of Earth Etudes for Elul
Introduction by Susan Levine~
Elul is the month before Rosh Hashanah, a time when we review our lives and think about how we will live the coming year. And during Elul this year, we have seen three category 4 hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, and Maria) wreak havoc in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and several other Caribbean islands. The scientists have blamed increased ocean temperatures for the high winds and rising floodwaters. What other evidence do we need to believe that climate change is real? Our earth etudes actually connect our earth with the spirit of Judaism--Tikkun ...
Shana Tova — May You Have a Good Year
by Rabbi Katy Allen • photos by Gabi Mezger
~As you journey through these the Yamim Noraim, Days of Awe, may you find yourself more able to remain present in the moment, may you find meaning in unexpected places, and my your heart open ever wider.
May you search among the needles for the gifts of seeds.
May you find beauty among that which at first glance seems no longer needed, but which in fact is vital.
May your gaze turn upward toward vistas without end.
May you notice gifts that pop up quickly in unexpected places.
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The Importance of Teshuva during the High Holidays
The Jewish high holidays are around the corner...
During the 10 days of repentance, our prayers and forgiveness carry significantly more weight than any other time during the year.
Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz (the Shelah Hakadosh) said that our behavior during each day of the 7 days between Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur has the potential to correct our sins made during each of those days in the past year, and can affect the rest of the same days next year (Sunday corrects Sundays, Monday corrects Mondays etc).
So how do we make the most out of those days and make sure ...
The Human Impacts on Global Warming
Global Warming is perhaps the biggest concern our generation is experiencing. Its’ effects are obviously frightening and dramatically urgent. Even though often debated in global politics and the media, we can’t deny that the causes and effects of global warming are real, global and calculable.
Global warming is primarily a problem of excess of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere—which acts as a blanket or a cloak, by trapping heat and warming the planet. As we burn fossil fuels for energy or cut down and burn forests to create pastures and plantations, carbon ...
Earth Etude for Elul 29 – Farmers of Our Souls
by Molly Bajgot~
something that the earth knows well
is our attempts to conquer, manipulate, and control her.
in this High Holy season,
in the return to oneself,
we are asked to abstain from the conquering,
manipulating and controlling —
that it may lead to understanding our impulses for doing so:
to each other, the earth, other beings, and our own soul.
we have a task, this Holy season,
to do teshuvah —
to relinquish, however micro or macro we can -
the impulses and ways we farm our subconscious and conscious minds
with seeds ...
Elul: A Time to Start Shifting Our Imperiled Planet Onto a Sustainable Path
by Richard Schwartz~
Elul is here. It represents an opportunity for heightened introspection, a chance to consider teshuva, changes in our lives, before the “Days of Awe,” the days of judgment, the “High holidays" of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The shofar is blown every morning (except on Shabbat) in synagogues during the month of Elul to awaken us from slumber, to remind us to consider where we are in our lives and to urge us to consider positive changes.
How should we respond to Elul today? How should we respond when we hear reports almost daily of severe, ...
Earth Etude for Elul 28 – Another Blue Day
by Thea Iberall, Ph.D.
~I have a picture of my mother Helene with Heidi Klum, the blonde supermodel and TV star. We were in Heidi’s trailer on the Warner Bros lot in Burbank watching her prep for a commercial shoot. Heidi and her makeup entourage gathered around my mother who was wearing her “Kiss Me I’m 100” T-shirt. They wanted to know her secret to aging well. My mom laughed and told Heidi about the gin-soaked raisins she eats every morning to ward off arthritis. Then she talked about the raw apple cider vinegar she takes before every meal to overcome gas. ...
Earth Etude for Elul 27 – Re-Connecting to the Land
by Rabbi Lawrence Troster
~On a recent vacation to my home town of Toronto, as I drove around the countryside and saw the many places I knew so well from my childhood, I reflected again on how the landscape in which I lived affected who I am and how I see the world. I was born in Toronto which is in an area that was covered by glaciers over 10,000 years ago and the land still is shaped by that ancient event: spoon shaped hills called drumlins, ridges called eskers which are the remains of the river beds that flowed from the retreating ice. And lakes: I spent many of ...
Judaism, Vegetarianism, and Health
The material below is a slightly modified version of chapter 3 from the 3rd edition of my book, "Judaism and Vegetarianism," which was published in 2001 by Lantern Publications.
"You may not rob yourself of your life nor cause your body the slightest injury....Only if the body is healthy is it an efficient instrument for the spirit’s activity....Therefore you should avoid everything which might possibly impair 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 transgressions".—...
Earth Etude for Elul 26 – Three Levels of Holiness
by Rabbi David Seidenberg~
In the Torah, three things are called "shabbat shabbaton" – the seventh day, Yom Kippur, and Shmitah (the Sabbatical year).
Agnon, in his book The Days of Awe, shares a teaching from Rabbi Tzvi Hakohen of Rymanov about this. The rabbi was asked, if both Yom Kippur and the Sabbath itself are called "shabbat shabbaton", how is Yom Kippur more special? And he answered, the seventh day is called "shabbat shabbaton l’adonai" – a sabbath of sabbaths for God. Yom Kippur is called "shabbat shabbaton lakhem" – a sabbath of sabbaths for all of ...
Earth Etude for Elul 25 – Practicing Teshuvah
by Maxine Lyons~
I lost a lot of azalea bushes this past winter. The space looks stark and bare, and I am deciding what to place there to fill that void that a harsh Boston winter destroyed in my garden. The weight of the snowfall broke branches. I was at first very upset looking at the spot where azaleas once flourished in the springtime, and angry that the snow’s destructive force did this when I was not home for two months (to brush them off and relieve the pressure of the snow’s weight). I used a combination of practices from Mussar (using the soul-trait ...
Earth Etude for Elul 24 – Water Down the Wall
by Carol Reiman~
from www.thinkcds.org/category/policy/
Borne
on the water
that etches
the rock
(of tablets
and of temples),
the breath of life
glistens
as it falls
down
and down
and
down
the wall,
pooling below, in blue green deep,
a balm for bathers, to wash away
the ash of grief and tired day;
turning on,
the waters pass slowly here,
clotted
by the blood of battle,
iron arms lapped
in reeds--
land of dust and stone
sealed off to some--
left in pieces,
separated parts.
Eicha...
Earth Etude for Elul 23 – Collective Versus Personal Action in the Jewish Bible
by Andy Oram~
Environmental activists are constantly juggling between the personal and the political. Do we devote our efforts to using our cars less, substituting vegan meals for meat, and recycling? Or do we canvas our friends and neighbors to pressure governments and businesses to adopt more planet-friendly technologies? We know that we need to do both the personal and the political, but those of us who have taken the environment as our cause have found ourselves swinging between them in a way that is frustrating and distracting. And as we prepare for the High ...