Yom Kippur in Israel is a unique day.
When you promote a car-free day in the world, for example, you reach a reduction of a few percent in travel.
Yom Kippur?
Almost complete cessation of car traffic.
The rate of fasting among Jews in Israel exceeds 60%, and includes millions who define themselves as traditional and secular.
The Day of Atonement creates a religious movement, of connecting personal values with a collective religious act.
The prohibition of eating and drinking is connected to the common prayer for mercy and signing for a good life in the new year.
Such a connection can also exist in our everyday life.
There is a connection between our measurements in general, and nutrition in particular, and our collective destiny.
The most important example of this is a vegan diet.
If there is one decision for the year 2018 that can bring about a change for the better - it is our decision to switch to veganism, or at least significantly reduce the consumption of animal food.
I have been a vegetarian since I was 17, and a vegan for the past decade.
My personal veganism is moral, above all.
I believe in Rabbi Kook's vision of vegetarianism, which states that the corrected human condition for which we were created is not to harm animals.
The more humanity progresses and the closer we get to the days of Messiah, the more the urge to consume animal food will become.
In my opinion, we do not have the right to take another life unnecessarily.
The moral challenge is to recognize and understand where my meal comes from, and how much suffering it entails.
If I prefer that the slaughterhouses, barns and coops produce my food behind the screen, and spare me details about abuse and killing - this is probably an immoral act.
In the last decade, it became clear that the animal food industry is responsible for about half of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.
These are the industries that consume our green lungs.
In the Amazon, about 20% of the forests have been cut down for the animal food industry.
Producing a pound of beef requires 50 times more water than a pound of grain, and 15 times more water than a pound of plant protein.
We can't go on like this on Earth.
Those who insist that there is no choice but to eat animal food, are acting in complete opposition to all the research in recent years.
It is not only about morality and the environment, but also about our health.
The World Health Organization has determined that processed meat is in the most carcinogenic category, like cigarettes.
New nutritional studies show how regular consumption of meat, eggs and cow's milk causes health damage.
The American Association of Dietitians has determined that a vegan diet is suitable and healthy for any age, gender and health condition.
This is not preaching.
We are in a free country.
The law should reduce the industrial harm to animals, but we already have a choice: to be complicit in harming them and ourselves - or to avoid it.
I am optimistic.
Israel is one of the leaders in the Western world in vegan nutrition.
About 5% of us are vegans, and about 5% are vegetarians.
We have won a huge variety of culinary options for vegans, and organizations that promote vegan culture such as "Vegan Friendly".
Albert Einstein was right when he said: "My view is that the vegetarian lifestyle will bring the greatest benefit to humanity as a whole."
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