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Ten Reasons for Restoring and Transforming the Ancient New Year for Animals
Recently there have been efforts to restore and transform the ancient and largely forgotten Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana L’Ma’aser BeHeima (New Year's Day for Tithing Animals) into a day devoted to considering how to improve our relationships with animals. The holiday occurs on the first day of the month of Elul and was initially devoted to counting domesticated animals intended for sacrificial offerings (Mishna, Seder Moed, Tractate Rosh Hashana 1:1).
Below are ten reasons why renewing this holiday as a Rosh Hashanah LaBeheimot (a New Year for Animals) is ...
What A Wonderful Path Judaism Is!
The following is an excerpt from my recently published book, "Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judiasm and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet."
What A Wonderful Path Judaism Is!
· _Judaism proclaims a God who is the Creator of all life, whose attributes of kindness, compassion, and justice are to serve as examples for all our actions.
· _Judaism stresses that every person is created in God’s image and therefore is of supreme value.
· _Judaism teaches that people are to be co-workers with God in preserving and improving the world. ...
My Vision for Judaism in this Time of Multiple Crises
The following is an excerpt from my recently published new edition of "Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet."
To be a Jew is to see the world through the eyes of God, to be unreconciled to the world as it is, to be discontented with the status quo, and to be unafraid to challenge it.
To be a Jew is to be a co-worker with God in the task of perfecting the world, to know that the world remains unredeemed and that we must work with God to redeem it.
To be a Jew is to feel deeply the harms done to ...
Relating Tisha B’Av to Today’s Environmental Crises
Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) reminds us that over 2,000 years ago Jews failed to heed the warnings of the prophet Jeremiah, with the result that the first Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, one of the many negative things that occurred on that day, including the destruction of the second Temple as well.
Today there are many “Jeremiahs” warning us that now it is not only a temple in Jerusalem, but the entire world that is threatened by climate change and its effects, species extinction, soil erosion, destruction of tropical rain forests and other ...
Tisha B’Av and Vegetarianism
There are many connections between vegetarianism (and veganism) and the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av:
1. Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av) commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem. Today the entire world is threatened by climate change, and modern intensive livestock agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
2. In Megilat Eichah (Lamentations), which is read on Tisha B'Av, the prophet Jeremiah warned the Jewish people of the need to change their unjust ways in order to avoid the destruction of Jerusal...
Go Back to School and Be Green
With many area schools beginning their fall semester between mid-August and early September, many students and their parents will be heading to the stores for back-to-school supplies. Your back-to-school purchases make a huge difference. Here's why:
14 billion pencils are produced every year, many made with wood from ancient forests. Americans use about 31.5 million tons of printing and writing paper each year, requiring 535 million trees (most from virgin tree fiber) and 12 billion gallons of oil to make. The average American consumes about 660 pounds of paper ...
Energy Conservation for your Home: Summer Edition
The weather may be hot and humid, but summer is still a good time to be mindful of the importance of protecting God’s creation, the Earth, by reducing energy waste in your home. Below are a few simple suggestions to get you started. These tips will both help reduce waste and reduce costs.
Green Lighting Tips:
Do not place lamps near a thermostat. The thermostat senses the heat produced by the lamp which can change how often the air conditioner will run.
Use dimmers, motion detectors, and timers on indoor and outdoor lighting
Use CFL lightbulbs wherever ...
Lighting a (Renewably-Fueled) Fire in my Stomach
The biggest thing I have ever learned as an adult is to take personal responsibility; to do what I can, and to do it the best I can. When I hear about large scale fracking and the incredible harm it causes, and the enormous harm caused by industrial agriculture, I ask myself: what can I do to make change? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but I am motivated to take action through advocacy, action, and education.
I have to admit, I find the whole concept of changing the government's fracking and fossil fuel policies daunting. I find just as daunting the idea of getting ...
10 Top Reasons to Read “Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet”
Who Stole My Religion?:
1. Generates interest and discourse on the future of Judaism and our imperiled planet because of its challenging analyses.
2. Delivers a critical analysis of Orthodox Judaism’s views on climate change and politics.
3. Argues that vegetarianism, and especially veganism, is the diet most consistent with Jewish teachings and is essential to efforts to avert a climate catastrophe.
4. Offers a possible viable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
5. Provides a radical approach to reducing terrorism.
6. Discusses how to ...
Throw Out the Cookie Jar …. And Save the Planet
As a lifetime Weight Watcher, I have learned a few tricks.
The most helpful to me was this one: Banish red light food from your home...and keep healthy food cut up and ready to eat at the front of your refrigerator in plastic see-through containers. Now what does that have to do with saving the planet? Well, a whole lot.
Fracked gas is not healthy for people or the climate. Neither is nuclear-powered electricity. These are red-light energy products, the healthy alternatives being solar and wind energy. Even knowing this, companies profiting from red light dirty ...
Richard Schwartz Interviewed by Charles Patterson about his book, “Who Stole My Religion?”
New edition “Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet, by Richard Schwartz (written with Rabbi Yonassan Gershom and Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz).
Interview conducted by Charles Patterson, author of Eternal Treblinka.
Charles Patterson: Who stole your religion?
Richard Schwartz: I have been a member of an Orthodox community for almost 50 years. I have found the members of this community to excel in acts of kindness, charity, and learning. Their dedication to Judaism is outstanding. However, they ...
“Who Stole My Religion?” has been published!
HERE'S WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS UPDATED BOOK
BY RICHARD SCHWARTZ.
The many endorsements below are included to show that it is not just the author, but also many other people – of various perspectives – who think their religion has been “stolen,” but who still believe that religious values have relevance to current issues. It is our hope that the voices of the people who submitted the statements below, as well as many more voices, will be raised to help revitalize Judaism and other religions and to apply religious values effectively in response to the ...
Interview About My Activism and My Forthcoming Book
INTERVIEW ON MY APPROACH TO APPLYING JEWISH VALUES IN EFFORTS TO HELP SHIFT OUR IMPERILED PLANET ONTO A SUSTAINABLE PATH. INTERVIEW BY BATZION SHLOMI
Batzion Shlomi: I understand you are making aliya soon! Mazal Tov! How did you come to this decision?
Richard Schwartz: My wife and I have been considering making aliyah for many years, largely because we have two daughters living in Israel with their wonderful husbands and our marvelous grandchildren, and they have been strongly urging us to join them for a long time. We want to join them in the wonderful adventure ...
Greening Your Travel: Part Two
Summer is here and what better way to honor the environment and the Jewish principle of baal tashchit (do not waste) than by planning your summer travels to be as eco-friendly as possible. Here are a few tips to help as you plan your summer getaway:
Use eco-friendly transportation as much as possible: Some options include doing a biking vacation and/or taking public transportation (such as train or bus) to get to your ultimate destination. These alternatives are often cheaper and also reduce your carbon footprint as opposed to travelling by car.
Bring your ...
Restoring Eden: Behar and Bechukotai
The loss of Eden near the beginning of Genesis sets in motion the entire saga of the Torah. In fact, the Torah can be read as one long quest to regain Eden. But what does a restored Eden look like?
One of Eden’s characteristics was that none of the animals ate each other, and, more specifically, human beings had no permission to eat any of the other animals. Instead, human beings and all the animals shared the plants for food. This motif of sharing and non-violence between species is used as a signal throughout Tanakh (scripture) to let us know when we are talking ...
The Rainbow Connection: Rainbow Day and Creation
Millennia before Kermit sang about the Rainbow Connection, the very first Rainbow Day marked the connection between God and all animals. The biblical flood began on the 17th of the second month, exactly one lunar year and 10 days (= one solar year) before Noah, his family, and all the animals that were with them left the ark, on the 27th day of the second month. But just before they left, God made a covenant with them that there would never again be a flood of water to destroy life on Earth. And just as today we sign contracts with our signatures, God signed our covenant ...
Kosher Palm Oil
Until recently I thought I understood the problem with palm oil. I thought palm oil meant unethical agricultural practices causing the destruction of equatorial rainforests, driving Orangutans to extinction and contributing significantly to climate change. I believed that products where palm oil was listed as an ingredient are worse than those where palm oil is not listed as an ingredient. I understood that environment groups advocated boycotting manufacturers that use palm oil until they substituted with an alternative.
And then I visited Melbourne Zoo where I listened ...
Review of “Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet
HOW JEWISH TEACHINGS CAN HELP SAVE THE PLANET
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Review in the Jewish Georgian, “the largest Jewish newspaper in the South,” by Lewis Regenstein, president of The Interfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature, and author of the book “Replenish the Earth: The Teachings of the World’s Religions on Protecting Animals and Nature.”
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Dr. Richard Schwartz, an expert on Jewish teachings on the environment, vegetarianism, and animals, has given us a preview of his new book, due out by early July 2016, on the environmen...
Shavuot and Vegetarianism
There are many connections between vegetarianism and the important Jewish festival of Shavuot:
1. Shavuot is described as "z'man matan Torateinu" (the season of the giving of our law (the Torah)). It is this Torah that has in its very first chapter God's original, strictly vegetarian, dietary regimen: "And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed - to you it shall be for food'" (Genesis 1:29).
2. To honor the Torah, many Jews stay up the entire ...
A Shavuot Message: Applying Torah Values To Our Diets
Since Shavuot is z'man matan Torateinu (the commemoration of the giving of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai), many dedicated religious Jews admirably stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to hear talks about and discuss Torah teachings.
Among these Torah teachings are that Jews should preserve human health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people, and pursue peace. By becoming vegetarians, and preferably vegans, Jews would be partaking in a diet that is most consistent with these basic ...
