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A trend or a mitzvah? On the connection between Judaism and vegetarianism Israel today

2022-10-07T04:38:49.038Z


Do animals have free choice? • Why is a reduction in meat consumption linked to left-wing views? • Is it possible to celebrate Jewish holidays without animal products? • And in the era of the climate crisis, why don't religious leaders call for switching to veganism? • The trend of vegetarianism in Judaism is gaining momentum


Rabbi Avraham Stav is a surprising rabbi.

He is young, 36 years old, his face is gentle, beardless, he even has two children.

The large dome on his head and his smooth sideburns tucked behind his ears became his hallmark.

He often smiles, his smile is careful, his eyes are smart.

He is known to the knitting public for his weekly column in the Makor Rishon newspaper, where he analyzes popular culture from a Jewish perspective.

He is not afraid to take everything seriously, including Noa Kirel or Disney movies.

In everything he finds depth and matches it with the principles of Judaism.

Whoever writes such a column may be suspected of populism, but you are not.

Why are you writing it?

"I am a student of Rabbi Lichtenstein (head of the Har Etzion yeshiva, where Stav studied for 13 years), who was a doctor of English literature, and from whom I learned that the meeting can violate both parties.

When I studied in yeshiva I never took my nose out of the book.

I studied from 6:30 in the morning until 12:30 at night without stopping.

The thought that a day would come when I would watch movies, let alone write about them, was far-fetched.

"Then I enlisted in the army, and during the beret journey, the commander got lost on the way. The journey was long, we ran out of water and I became dehydrated. I ended the journey collapsing and couldn't even stand the beret distribution ceremony. Since then, a period began when I couldn't function, concentrate or study. I went to every possible doctor, conventional and not Conventionally, I even asked for medical treatment from doctors and callers, but nothing helped and for many months my head was really dizzy and I couldn't concentrate."

He used that period to bridge cultural gaps, especially in the field of cinema.

"I completed a film education many years ago. Today I am fine and have returned to study and teach, but I was already exposed to the popular cultural space as an adult whose world is a world of Torah learning. From this place I found many patterns, meanings and analyzes that I can present."

Then one day Avraham's students at the Neve Hana Studio in Gush Etzion were getting ready to go watch the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast".

Avraham was asked to give them a lesson before the movie.

"Instead of teaching them Passover laws, we analyzed the work together. I wrote and published what I taught there, and then I discovered the possibilities of touching this world with the addition of a Torah point of view. An analysis of a film appeals to a wider audience than an analysis of a paragraph from the Ramb's 'Morah Nabukim' M.

But the value world can be expressed in both places.

Man expresses himself in all kinds of ways."

"At first I treated it as something fantastic."

Rabbi Stav, photo: Sharia Diamant

Between whimsy and significant identity

But we are not here to talk about "Beauty and the Beast", in fact we came to talk about animals in general and Rabbi Avraham's new book that was recently published - "Jewish Vegetarianism".

We would expect a devout vegetarian to write such a book, but he is not.

Stav himself did not completely avoid eating meat, but only reduced his consumption, and this was also a change that happened while writing the book.

He believes in the value of vegetarianism, but has not adopted it as an identity and in his eyes there is difficulty in this definition.

"The statement about vegetarianism has challenging sides. This identity can come at the expense of other values, for example gentleness towards people, consideration of others' feelings, or even arrogance. It is common to think that the Nazis - apart from millions of differences - advocated vegetarianism. This is a grotesque example of this gap, between Compassion for animals and cruelty to humans. I think the claim about the vegetarianism of the Nazis is a bit exaggerated, but yes, this element is present in them and in other Israel haters who adopted the values ​​of vegetarianism. It may be that this is how they calmed their conscience and in this way they could continue to tell themselves that they are moral."

Stav emphasizes that the value of vegetarianism can lower a person to the level of an animal, but can, alternatively, elevate a person to higher moral levels.

"In general, hard values ​​almost always come at the expense of something else. We have enough hard values ​​in Judaism. When you add to the existing ones, it is better if they are more flexible."

This is how the rabbi begins to touch on the differences between Jewish vegetarianism and ordinary vegetarianism.

And there are many differences.

Avraham's father is Rabbi David Stav, the rabbi of the Yishuv Shamo and the chairman of the Tzahar organization. He is considered liberal in his halachic rulings, open and approachable even to the non-observant public, and for years he wrote the week's parashat column in this newspaper. He, his wife and their nine children eat meat on a regular basis. Abraham did not learn the values ​​of vegetarianism from there, but encountered them up close only after his marriage.

"Beitia, my wife, has been a vegetarian for nine years. I really appreciate her and it made me start thinking. When something is within the family, it is very difficult to underestimate it. And slowly our five children began to follow her. There is something about meeting children who intuitively choose not to eat meat that it shakes, unsettles, you can't remain indifferent to it."

Over time he noticed that his wife was not the only one: the values ​​of vegetarianism, which at first were mainly associated with secularism and leftism, began to penetrate the right-wing religious society as well.

He discovered that his friends and rabbis underestimated eating meat.

And as if all that wasn't enough, a question came from the audience: Passover was approaching, and one of the rabbi's students, who was vegan and Ashkenazi, asked him what protein she could eat on the holiday.

Her problem was real: while vegans do not eat animal protein - which removes meat, chicken, fish, dairy products and eggs from the menu - Ashkenazim do not eat legumes on Passover, which is the vegan source of protein, which leaves her without any protein at all for a week.

"And here came the real friction: do I see veganism as madness, a whim that can be overcome, or do I see it as a meaningful identity, meaning that I take it seriously. The halachic solutions, as in most halachic problems, will be technical, but the question itself shook me.

"And really, at first, when I came to give her a halachic solution, I treated it as something a little strange. But slowly I began to look for what the Torah really thinks about abstaining from eating meat. Here I was exposed to a sea of ​​sources that I was not aware of, that talk about vegetarianism and maybe also veganism As established Torah Jewish principles that have meaning and weight."

"In today's reality, vegetarianism has become a kind of luxury."

A demonstration in Tel Aviv for animal rights, photo: Gideon Markovich

A voice for the animals

Stav was surprised by the scope of the material - and was surprised that he was surprised.

He saw himself as someone who was familiar with the Jewish sources, and suddenly he discovered a whole subject that he did not know.

"I knew an essay by Rabbi Kook, in which he says that vegetarianism is a nice idea that is meant to exist in the distant future. This was the place of vegetarianism in the Torah for me. When I started opening books and researching, I realized that for the past thousands of years there has been extensive Jewish preoccupation with the issue. Rabbi Soloveitchik wrote an article very Very strongly against eating meat, compared it to murder, said it was only allowed in retrospect because humanity could not stand it morally.

"All the great men of Israel, including the Holy Ari and Yitzhak Karo, wrote about how problematic eating meat is and most of them said that it should be reduced, already today, and not as a doomsday vision like Rabbi Kook.

The Holy Rabbi said, for example, that one should eat meat only on Shabbat. Sages advise that only a talmidim who feels that he needs meat to study Torah is allowed to eat, but an ordinary person should not kill animals for his lust and should not eat meat at all."

But the world we live in today is completely different from the one in which the Sages acted and ruled. The consumption of meat has developed dramatically in recent years due to agricultural and technological conditions, which have made it available and cheap. The Sages' approach to eating meat is not always relevant today, but the values ​​underlying it were these that motivated the research of young Stav.

The Torah describes situations in which it was forbidden to eat meat, such as the first Adam in Eden, or the Israelites in the desert.

True, they ate quail, but the Torah considers birds to be inferior to mammals.

Stav: "Even in the days of creation, the birds were created on the fifth day and the animals were created on the same day that man was created, on the sixth day. They have more intelligence, and the birds are seen as something less developed. It's not that they were completely abandoned, there are many laws concerning the way in which birds are slaughtered, but in the desert There was an intermediate situation where they ate poultry but did not eat sheep and cattle."

and fish?

How does the Torah treat them?

"Fish is also a story. Even in the vegetarian world, these shades exist. There are those who only eat poultry and not animals and some who eat only fish, and some who eat none of them, and these shades are very appropriate to Judaism, which also has these steps. For example, in the laws of slaughter You don't have to slaughter a fish in a certain way, it is considered a little less alive."

All this is broken the moment you read a fairy tale where the fish opens its mouth and speaks.

"True. These are important legends. The Halachahs do not unequivocally limit the eating of meat, but the stories often give a voice to the animals, and they create some kind of movement in our minds that sees our relationship and our relationship to the animals differently, even if there is no binding Halachah here. For example , the story of Rabbi Yehuda the President and the calf: 'Once a calf was being led to the slaughter, it went and hung its head on Rabbi's wing and was crying. He said to him: Go, for this is what you were created for. They said: Since he is not merciful - torment will come upon him.'

"This is a story that has a lot in it. Rabbi Yehuda sees a calf that is being led to slaughter. The calf runs away and hides inside the clothes of Rabbi Yehuda the President, who sends it away and tells him that this is why it was created. This powerful story raises many questions. On the one hand, it has great compassion and criticism You poke at Rabbi Yehuda, on the other hand - what is special about this calf? On the table of Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi were fattened calves brought to the table every day. So why was he punished because he did not have pity on him? There are many answers to this question, but I think that this story captures within it the The saying that we must not be indifferent. The other calves did not cry in his lap. The permission we received to eat meat must not make us completely impervious to any scenario."

You write about Mark Zuckerberg declaring that he won't eat anything he didn't butcher with his own hands.

"It sparked a very big discussion, is there a noble ideological act here or something cruel. It reminded me of a discussion that has arisen from time to time for two centuries, each time in a different country, that wants to ban the Jewish slaughter. Because there is something very seemingly cruel about the Jewish slaughter, very It is difficult to watch. Experts say that this slaughter is not necessarily more painful for the animal, but there is no doubt that it is shocking. And perhaps this is the essence of the slaughter, and this is a suggestion I make in the book. The story of the Jewish slaughter, similar to Zuckerberg's statement, is that we do not do it casually Something in this encounter produces an experience that may be a little traumatic, perhaps a scratch, but one that does not allow us to pass by eating meat without reaction. And this is something we have missed in the modern world where we buy schnitzels from processed meats.

"Until 30 years ago, the meat was salted at home, and the experience was of something a little alive that we kind of kill ourselves before we eat, but today we are already completely indifferent, which makes it easier. This also has advantages - that we don't get used to this cruelty, But there are also disadvantages in this, because we practice ignoring.

"In the past, the price was clearer. There is a midrash that says you should not eat meat from the market, but only 'you visit and find it.' , because this connection is shocking: for many years we didn't tell the children that we eat 'fish' but 'salmon' or 'tilapia', so that they won't be shocked; that it's not chicken, it's chicken."

The reality - and compromise

Abraham divides vegetarians into two: those who lower man to the level of an animal and thus create equality, and those who elevate him and thus demand that he be more moral.

The Jewish vegetarianism that emerges and becomes clear from the essay demands not to cancel the value of man compared to the beast, not to make itself an exclusive value, but to understand that it is part of a set of values.

She wants to accept the reality of other perceptions towards eating meat, that is, she wants a gentler vegetarianism.

Many believe that there is a connection between vegetarianism and leftism and secularism.

"In a certain sense, the connection is essential. In our world, there is a phenomenon of increasing compassion towards 'others': other races, other peoples, other genders or other zoological creatures. The openness to the other is truly shared by vegetarians and leftists. And here, too, I think it was Judaism that invented leftism : the concern for the neighbor, the morality of war, the attitude towards the disabled and the ethics of the relationship to different people in society.

Eating meat on the holiday is a custom that can be replaced with vegetables and roots.

Grilled vegetables, photo: GettyImages

"But there is something in Judaism that tries very hard to balance: even when you have to take care of your neighbor, you have to notice that the poor of your city come first, that the animals will not come at the expense of the people, and so on. Here sometimes today's vegetarianism and leftism take things one step too far."

In the book you refer to the concept of luxury belief.

"This term describes a phenomenon in which high-class people adopt values ​​to demonstrate their power and wealth. Vegetarianism can be a cheaper lifestyle than eating meat. Quinoa is cheaper than entrecote. But within our social-cultural context today, with meat consumption habits and with the chicken industry becoming cheap Extreme, we are in a situation where it is a bit of a luxury to be a vegetarian. It is expensive to be a vegetarian and to be careful about quality food and we need to be very careful about values ​​that become self-evident for one part of society and can be difficult for other parts of society. Slowly a situation is created in which one part of society The other part is looked upon as primitive and deserving of reproach, and this is another reason why the value of vegetarianism should be treated with caution."

You refer to the legal status of animals.

It sounds absolutely insane.

"It's interesting, because it sounds like a joke to me too, and then I remembered that there is a law that states that a tribunal of 23 judges is needed to kill an ox that has gored a person. 23 judges are only gathered when it comes to human rights law, one that deals with a person who murdered a person. And now we see that such a tribunal is also convened To pass judgment on the bull. This is interesting because it is clear that it is permissible to slaughter a bull for sacrifice or for eating, but here it is about killing a bull as a punishment.

"From this midrash a window opens to a lot of fascinating questions and ideas. For example, there is a great disagreement among the sages of the Middle Ages regarding the free choice of animals, reward and punishment for animals, and even about their own afterlife. I don't understand this, I don't know what it means reward and punishment for the husband Haim, I hardly know what exactly this means in relation to human beings, but I was exposed here to a very deep-rooted concept in Judaism, which also sees animals as standing before God as His handiwork, as those who give Him an account."

So after all that, how can you kill an animal to eat it?

"True. There are a great many commentators and sages who say clearly: There is murder here, a type of bloodshed that the Torah willingly allowed. The Torah of Israel is a Torah that is entirely based on compromises between ideal and reality, and sometimes these are very painful compromises. Not only animals, but also human beings People pay very heavy prices for them."

Every consumer has vicarious liability

Even within the framework of this compromise, Stav explains, there is a widespread practice of eating meat that tries to refine us, the eaters.

Vegetarianism in Judaism appears as part of a complex of eating ethics.

The laws accompanying it are the ones that oblige us to restraint: how we eat, when we eat, what we eat.

A significant part of kashrut laws deal with this and they are the ones that elevate a person to a higher moral level.

In Judaism there is an extensive practice of prohibiting cruelty to animals, but there are cases where it is allowed.

The arbitrators disagree when.

Some say that everything that is needed by humans is allowed and the only thing that is forbidden is only cruelty for its own sake.

Avraham seeks to bring another voice, just as important, that claims that animal cruelty should be proportionate.

"The problem is that it is difficult to define what is proportionate. It is something that requires us to think about the degree of necessity, the degree of pain and suffering caused to the animal, what are the alternatives. There is a strong voice among the arbitrators who say that not everything is permissible, and there is a high probability that the meat industry crossed the line of this proportionality."

Another fundamental issue that the book deals with is our responsibility, as consumers.

"We don't like to know what's in our hot dogs, and the question is whether we need to know, whether we have that commitment," explains Rabbi Stav.

"This is a big question in the world of consumerism, and it doesn't stop at vegetarianism, of course: Who are the Chinese children who make the products we order from Express? And more than that, are we obligated to ask these oppressive questions?

"So yes, in Judaism there is vicarious responsibility. When a person buys an object, he participates in its preparation. When a person asks another person to do deeds for him, he is responsible for them in some way. It's like I can't enjoy desecrating the Sabbath of others. The crimes and sins committed in the object are assimilated into it, surely When it's something ongoing. When we continue to encourage the producers to intensify the practicality of exploitation and cruelty, we cannot remove the responsibility from ourselves."

What is the connection?

Natural nutrition lecturer and homeopath Moshe Shamai clarifies that Judaism is not a vegan religion, and it does not preach veganism, but like many things, this is also subject to interpretation.

"It has elements that are clearly aimed at eating meat," Shamai says.

"However, in a deeper observation and especially in a future vision, there is a distinct side to it according to which eating meat and especially the desire to eat it are not desirable in the eyes of the Creator. For example, in the story of creation, the first commandment given to the first man, to eat only the fruits of the earth, is seen by some commentators as proof that we must Strive for veganism."

Shamai reinforces this statement and says that in fact the permission to eat animal food came after the flood, in the days of Noah, when the kosher laws were detailed.

"You can see an increase in the use of animal products only from the Exodus, the Passover sacrifice in which the people of Israel had to slaughter a lamb on the eve of the holiday."

In the writings of the Kabbalah and the Gemara, there is quite a lot about eating meat.

One of the famous Talmudic sayings is "There is no joy except in meat and wine", but some believe that the joy associated with eating meat is only relevant to the days of the Temple.

The presence of animal products on the holiday tables is also not mandatory. 

Rabbi Akiva Gersh, photo: Tamar Gersh

"Food was and still is a significant part of every celebration of every religious or ethnic group, as well as in the Jewish religion," Gersh adds.

"In the past, meat was less accessible and more expensive, so on holidays people would go out of their way to celebrate them with meat. There were different customs for each community, and this was an interpretation that is still followed today. But this is not an obligation, nor a mitzvah. There are different symbols that can be used instead of products from the animal on every holiday. The mitzvah to eat meat is only in the temple, and today, as long as there is no temple, this obligation does not exist. It is only a custom that can be replaced with vegetables and roots."

"The spiritual part of Judaism that is most strongly connected to veganism is the emphasis on eating little and modestly," claims Shamai.

"Veganism is welcomed today by the Torah and Mitzvot observant public much more than 20, 30 or 40 years ago. There is clearly more awareness among the younger generation in this public that animal food is not physically and spiritually pure, and that it is possible to substitute without harming the spirit of Judaism."

For kosher keepers, the term "substitutes" has a serious meaning.

Rabbi Gersh: "This is a wonderful solution for a kosher kitchen because, among other things, it simplifies it - if you live a religious and vegan lifestyle, it means that the nuances of kosher on meat and milk simply do not exist for you."

Between joy and lust

Rabbi Akiva Garesh already switched to a vegetarian diet in the 1990s, and then to a vegan one, when he studied environmental studies and understood the close connection between the livestock industry and the climate crisis.

"Our goal is to bring the Jewish tradition into our lives," Gersh explains.

"Judaism is full of laws, many of which refer to maintaining the welfare of animals, maintaining our health and preserving natural sources, meaning - the earth and nature. Creation. All of these are a cluster of very important elements that strengthen the connection between a plant-based diet and Judaism."

Shamai backs up his words on the issue of appetite with an example from the sources: "Already very close to the Exodus from Egypt, there is a demand on the part of the people of Israel to eat meat - a demand that receives sweeping criticism from Torah commentators.

Later, at the first station of the people after the Mount Sinai stand, in an event known as the 'Grave of Lust', the Israelites receive heavy punishment and a particularly humiliating and humiliating treatment from the Creator for their lust for flesh.

This lust is seen as rebellion and as a favor to the Creator.

The Creator responds to the request with consent that is disgusting.

To Moshe our rabbi he says: 'Until it comes out of your nose and you have an ostrich in your sight because you have tired the Lord.

It is described that when the meat of the quail is between their teeth - the anger of the Creator intensifies, and he strikes a great blow at the greedy.

Many of those who lusted after meat died in this situation, and they were buried in a place named after their lust."

In the era of the climate crisis on the one hand and awareness of the suffering of animals on the other, why aren't there more Jewish spiritual leaders who adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet?

"Most of the rabbis represent a conservative line, and even though they are aware of what is happening on the ground in terms of animal abuse, they emphasize the public's need for animal food and from the beginning do not enter into a contrasting or different position on the issue of eating meat and fish, but compromise on possible permits," claims Shamai.

"Many are aware of the horrors of raising and transporting animals and justify the permits, partly by stating that if a Jew suffers monetary damage as a result of considerations of animal cruelty - then this does not involve animal cruelty. However, quite a few communities today do not accept the line This time, they do not trust the kosher of the modern slaughterhouse and organize private - and illegal - slaughterhouses under their own supervision."

"I think many use justifications to continue eating meat, without thinking about the process that happens behind the scenes - how the animal lives its life until the moment of slaughter," adds Rabbi Gersh.

"There are many things we don't want to know, and the reason is clear. A few decades ago people really could not know what was happening in the food industries, but today almost everyone knows that these animals go through journeys and lives of suffering. There are so many sources in the Torah that show that eating meat is not the ideal, and that humans were given permission to eat meat as a temporary solution. Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook taught that the future of humanity will return to a plant-based lifestyle that the Creator gave to man. The way meat is grown commercially today goes against the Jewish law of 'cruelty to animals'. But I have no answer Why don't we talk about it more? Maybe out of fear of extremism, out of fear of undermining something that is founded in our culture or maybe also out of love for the flesh. I hope to see more and more rabbis who will feel comfortable talking about these things. These days it's more important than usual.

"Recently, a vegetarian dish with beef-like cuts entered the menu of a catering in Bnei Brak. There are quite a few religious vegans. They are not activists, so you don't hear them, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I believe that if a survey is conducted on the subject, we will be in for a surprise."

shishabat@israelhayom.co.il

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