From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Subject: Re: Kosher to veggie (was Re: RECIPES: sandwich spreads)
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 18:54:40 GMT

Bill Maddex writes:
[...]

>I don't buy most of the arguments about kashrut having anything to do w/food
>preservation or any of that, but Rambam must be right about sacrifice being
>a concession to the Israelites desire to imitate the religions around them.


Bill, it is interesting to note that legislation was once introduced 
by Mordecai Ben Porat in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) proposing
to outlaw meat-eating!  Can you imagine any other country that
had enough political support to venture such a bold proposal?
Unfortunately, the legislation did not passed; unfortunate
because this would indeed have been an interesting social
experiment and Israel could indeed stand head and shoulders above
all nations in its respect towards animals.

The recent chief rabbi of Israel, Scholomo Goren, is a strict
vegetarian and so was the first chief rabbi of the modern state
of Israel, Abraham Issaac Kook.  Kook's successor, the late Isaac
ha-Levi Herzog, wrote:

    Jews will move increasingly to vegetarianism out of their own
    deepening knowledge of what their tradition commands. . .
    Man's carnivorous nature is not taken for granted or praised
    in the fundamental teachings of Judaism. . . . A whole galaxy
    of central rabbinic and spiritual leaders . . . has been
    affirming vegetarianism as the ultimate meaning of Jewish
    moral teaching.

There are several Jewish organization currently working to
promote vegetarianism.  "The International Jewish Vegetarian
Society" publishes a five page quarterly called the JEWISH
VEGETARIAN, and has offices or chapters worldwide included the
U.S. Canada, Australia, Britain, Israel, etc.  There is also the
"Jewish Vegetarians" in Baltimore who say:

We feel ourselves to be part of an ancient people and a living
tradition -- one whose ethical principles, we believe, point
towards vegetarianism.

Roberta Kalechofsky, head of Micah Publications and Jews for
Animal Rights, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, publishes various
works on Judaism and animal welfare.  Among these is her HAGGADAH
FOR THE LIBERATED LAMB, which serves as a guide for "a vegetarian
(Passover) Seder that celebrates compassion for all creatures".

Just to help add further to your discussion, here are just a few
more interesting statements and quotes from the Jewish tradition
that is of relevance here.  The following quotes I found them
cited in from Lewis Regenstein's scholarly work:

    "REPLENISH THE EARTH: A HISTORY OF ORGANIZED RELIGION'S
        TREATMENT OF ANIMALS AND NATURE -- INCLUDING THE BIBLE'S
        MESSAGE OF CONSERVATION AND KINDNESS TOWARD ANIMALS,
        1991.

 Many more citations and interesting passages are dealt with by
Regenstein in his chapter, "The Jewish Tradition of Kindness".

                            ted



According to Rabbi Sidney Jacobs, author of the THE JEWISH WORD
BOOK,

    The bottom line is that there can be no "humane" procedure
    when slaughter is involved, nor can factory farming ever be
    made merciful.  Ironically, the dilemma of Jewish ritual
    slaughter could be resolved by switching to a vegan diet, the
    grain-based diet set forth in Genesis
            [from "A Jewish voice for Animals" published in THE
            ANIMALS' VOICE, 1989 (Aug): 48-9]
            

From THE NINE QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK ABOUT JUDAISM by Dennis Prager
and Rabbi Telushkin:
    
    Keeping kosher is Judaism's compromise with its ideal
    vegetarianism.  Ideally, according to Judaism, man would
    confine his eating to fruits and vegetables and not kill
    animals for food.
            

According to Rabbi Simon Glazer's GUIDE TO JUDAISM:

    It appears that the first intention of the Maker was to have
    men live on a strictly vegetarian diet.  The very earliest
    periods of Jewish history are marked with humanitarian
    conduct towards the lower animal kingdom . . . It is clearly
    established that the ancient Hebrews knew, and perhaps were
    the first among men to know, that animals feel and suffer
    pain
    

From the ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA:

    According to rabbinic tradition, interpreting the Biblical
    record, mankind was not allowed to eat meat until after the
    Flood. . . Once permitted, the consumption of meat remained
    surrounded with many restrictions.  According to the rabbis,
    the Hebrew word for "desireth" in the verse, "when the Lord
    thy God shall enlarge thy border and thou shalt say: `I will
    eat flesh,' because thy soul desireth to eat flesh" (Deut.
    12:20), has a NEGATIVE connotation; hence, although it is
    permitted to slaughter animals for food, this should be done
    in moderation. (emphasis mine)

According the ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, 1974.

    Moral and legal rules condemning the treatment of animals are
    based on the principle that animals are part of God's
    creation towards which man bears responsibility.  Laws . . .
    make it clear not only that cruelty to animals is forbidden
    but also that compassion and mercy to them are demanded of
    may by God . . . In later rabbinic literature, . . .  great
    prominence is also given to demonstrating God's mercy to
    animals, and to the importance of not causing them pain.
    . .. The principle of kindness to animals . . . is as though
    God's treatment of man will be according to [people's]
    treatment of animals"  [p. 6-7]


According to the UNIVERSAL JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1939.

    The Jewish attitude toward animals has always been governed
    by the consideration that they, too, are God's creatures . .
    . [and] the obligation to respect and consider the feelings
    and needs of these lower creatures . . . The non-canonical .
    . . writings strongly urge kindness toward animals, declaring
    that one who harms an animal harms his own soul" [1:330]


According to Professor Richard Schwartz (author of JUDAISM &
VEGETARIANISM):
    
    In Judaism, one who does not treat animals with compassion
    cannot be regarded as a righteous individual
        [from JUDAISM & ANIMAL RIGHTS]

According to the CODE OF JEWISH LAW:

    . . . it is forbidden, according to the law of the Torah, to
    inflict pain upon any living creature.  On the contrary, it
    is our duty to relieve the pain of any creature, even if it
    is ownerless or belongs to a non-Jew.

According to the medieval Hebrew work SEFER CHASIDIM:
    
    Be kind and compassionate to all creatures that the Holy One,
    blessed be He, created in this world.  Never beat nor inflict
    pain on any animal, beast, bird, or insect.  Do not throw
    stones at a dog or a cat, nor kill flies or wasps.
    
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