Consumption Subscribe
A selection of initiatives, blogs, resources and communities on Jewcology which focus on consumption.
Blogs
My review of “Food Is Climate” By Glen Merzer, published in the October 11 Jerusalem Report
- October 5, 2021
Can a Climate Catastrophe Be Prevented? Food is Climate: A Response To Al Gore, Bill Gates, Paul Hawken, and the Conventional Narrative On Climate Change Glen Merzer ISBN: 9798507729623 Vivid Thoughts Press 2021; $10.95; Kindle copy, $5.95 Reviewed by Richard H. Schwartz Every once in a while there is a book, such as Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, Diet For a New America by John Robbins, and Diet For a Small Planet by Francis Moore Lappe, that has the potential of changing society’s thinking on ...
Five articles related to the Jewish fall holidays
- September 6, 2021
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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 ...
My strategy ideas to help get veganism and environmental sustainability onto Judaism’s agenda and society’s agenda/Suggestions are very welcome
- August 25, 2021
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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 ...
Earth Etude for Elul 12~Shmita: The Seven Year Switch
- August 19, 2021
by Mirele B. Goldsmith This Rosh HaShanah is also the start of the Shmita, the Sabbatical Year. The Torah’s Shmita focuses on land as the nexus of our relationship to Earth and demands that we let it rest from the damage caused by agriculture. To ensure that everyone can participate, all debts are released. During the Shmita year the produce of the land is shared so that everyone has what they need to survive. Today, Earth is threatened by the exploitation of fossil fuels that is causing damage that was unimaginable to our ancestors. But ...
An upcoming Zoom event that will help promote veganism.
- August 4, 2021
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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, environmen...
Invitation to three Zoom events about restoring and transforming the ancient Jewish New Year for Animals
- August 2, 2021
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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, ...
My cover story in the August 9, 2021 Jerusalem Report on “Why Jews Should be Vegans”
- July 28, 2021
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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 ...
My letter in the July 28, 2021 Jerusalem Post on climate threats
- July 28, 2021
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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 ...
My Draft of a Haggadah for a Restored and Transformed New Year For Animals Event
- July 21, 2021
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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 ...
My three articles about restoring the ancient New Year for Animals
- July 21, 2021
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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 ...
Jewish Quotations About Animals and How Animals Are Treated Today
- July 4, 2021
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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 ...
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
- June 1, 2021
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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 ...
Honors thesis on the beginnings of Jewish environmental and vegetarian activism in the 1970s and 1980s
- May 13, 2021
- 1 comment
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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 ...
Video of amazing Earth Day teach-in that involved talks by 22 fabulous speakers
- May 9, 2021
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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 &...
My Three Shavuot Articles Related To Vegetarianism and Veganism
- April 26, 2021
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Below are three Shavuot-related articles. They are: 1. A Shavuot Message: Time to Apply Torah Values To Our Diets 2. Dialogue on Shavuot Night About Veganism 3. Shavuot and Vegetarianism and Veganism ============= A Shavuot Message: Time to Apply Torah Values To Our Diets Shavuot is "z'man matan Torateinu,” the time of the giving of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. To honor the Torah, many dedicated religious Jews admirably stay up the entire first night of Shavuot to hear talks about and discuss Torah teachings. Yet, despite this ...
Unique, potentially transformative Earth Day zoom event scheduled
- April 21, 2021
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In commemoration of the 51st Earth Day on Thursday, April 22, there will be a zoom teach-in, with the theme, “Applying Jewish and Other Religion’s Values to Help Save the World.” The teach-in aims to increase awareness of the seriousness of climate and other environmental threats, and the urgency of applying religious Values to help shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path. It also aims to initiate the creation of a coalition of veg, animal rights, environmental, and other organizations and individuals that will work together to address the threats, ...
Jewish quotations about animals
- April 7, 2021
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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 ...
Parshat Tzav: How Meat Consumption Today Differs from The Time of the Mishkan (Sanctuary) in the Wilderness
- March 24, 2021
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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 ...