Below are quotations from the scriptures
of Judaism and eminent Judaic
practitioners both past and present
concerning animal rights; the humane
treatment of animals and adopting a
vegetarian/vegan diet. This page is part
of a section about animal rights and
religious and philosophical belief,
it is the forerunner of an
in-depth
article concerning Judaism and animal
rights which I hope to include here in
due course. Also links to Judaic Vegetarian/vegan
websites and online communities.
For ease of reading all quotations appear in a
Purple Font
Please note: External links will open into a new window
You never soar so high as when you
stoop down to help a child or an animal
Jewish Proverb
Similar to many religions Vegetarianism
or Veganism is not a specific
requirement of Judaism but there is no
reason why an adherent should not adopt
a vegetarian or vegan diet, in fact
there are many reasons why he or she
should do so. And indeed a
significant number of Judaic devotees
are becoming vegetarian or vegan.
Quotations from Sacred text
Firstly a short commentary about the
sacred text of Judaism
Hebrew Bible
Also called the Tanakh
Judaism recognises the twenty-four books
of the Hebrew Bible as the Tanakh. They
correspond in content to the thirty-nine
books of the Christian Old Testament but in a
different order, with some books
combined such as 1 and 2 Kings, Chronicles
and Samuel.
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh has three parts, Torah, Nevi'im
and Ketuvim. The Torah, is the
Pentateuch, the first five books of the
Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy; the Nevi'im are the Prophets -
Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel
and the Twelve Minor Prophets; the
Ketuvim is the writings, including
Psalms and Proverbs, Esther and
Ecclesiastes, Daniel, Chronicles, Ruth,
and the love poetry of Song of Songs.
The Torah which in Hebrew means
"teaching" or "instruction" in
addition to the five books of Moses refers
also to the entirety of
Judaism's founding legal and ethical
religious texts. Text versions of the Torah,
Nevi'im & Ketuvim are available in
English with some useful further
information at :The
Tanakh
The Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of
mainstream Judaism, in the form of a
record of rabbinic discussions
pertaining to Jewish law, ethics,
customs and history. The Hebrew word
Talmud means study or learning.
Right from the beginning God's dietary
law was vegetarian
And 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 1:29
God made the same same treaties and
covenants with animals as he did with
human beings:
As for me," says the Lord, "behold I
establish My Covenant with you and with
your seed after you, and with every
living creature that is with you, the
fowl, the cattle, and every beast of the
earth with you; of all that go out of
the ark, even every beast of the earth.
Gen. 9:0-10
I will make a covenant on behalf of
Israel with the wild beasts, the birds
of the air, and the things that creep on
the hearths, that all living creatures
may lie down without living in fear.
Hosea 2:18
Ecclesiastes describes the similarity
between people and animals; both await
the same fate of death and man has no
superiority over animals
For that which befalleth the sons of
men befalleth beasts; even one thing
befalleth them; as the one dieth, so
dieth the other; yea, they have all one
breath; so that man hath no pre-eminence
above a beast; for all is vanity.
All go unto one place; all are of the
dust, and all return to dust.
Who knoweth the spirit of man whether
it goeth upward, and the spirit of the
beast whether it goeth downward to the
earth?
Ecclesiastes 3:19-21
And who gives food to every
creature. His love endures
forever.
Psalm 136:25
Gods tender mercies are over all His
creatures.
Psalm 145:9.
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I
will take no delight in your solemn
assemblies. Though you offer me burnt
offerings and your meal offerings, I
will not accept them; neither will I
regard the peace-offerings of your fat
beasts. Take away from me the noise of
your song; and let Me not hear the
melody of your psalteries. But let
justice well up as waters, and
righteousness as a mighty stream.
Amos 5:21- 4
To what purpose is the multitude of
your sacrifices unto Me?" says the Lord.
"I am full of the burnt offerings of
rams, and the fat of beasts; and I
delight not in the blood of bullocks, or
of lambs or of he-goats. . . bring no
more vain oblations... Your new moon and
your appointed feasts my soul hates; ...
and when you spread forth your hands, I
will hide my eyes from you; yes, when
you make many prayers, I will not hear;
your hands are full of blood.
Isaiah 1:11-16
He that kills an ox is as if he slew a
person.
Isaiah 66:3
Below is the vision of the Messianic
kingdom, life under the messiahs rule,
the Messianic Age of peace, a
perfect society of justice with the
end to evil, and warfare as the prophets
had predicted.
And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the
kid;
And the calf and the young lion and the
falling together;
And a little child shall lead them
And the cow and the bear shall feed;
Their young ones shall lie down
together,
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox
. . . .
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all
My holy mountain...
Isaiah 11:6-9
But ask now the beasts, and they
shall teach thee; and the fowls of the
air, and they shall tell thee;
Or speak to the earth, and it shall
teach thee; and the fishes of the sea
shall declare unto thee;
Who knoweth not among all these, that
the hand of HaShem hath wrought this?
In whose hand is the soul of every
living thing, and the breath of all
mankind.--
Job 12:7-10
A righteous man regardeth the life of his
beast; but the tender mercies of the
wicked are cruel.
Proverbs 12:10
One who destroys a single life is
considered to have destroyed an entire
world, and one who saves a single life
is considered to have saved an entire
world.
Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:5
To relieve an animal of pain or danger
is a biblical law.
Talmud, Sabbath, 128b
Eminent Judaic Philosophers, Theologians and
Writers
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
While not a vegetarian, Rabbi Hirsch,
one of the most important Orthodox
rabbis of the 19th century, expressed
very eloquently and powerfully ideas
based on Torah values that are
consistent with vegetarianism and seem
to be inconsistent with realities of
modern intensive livestock agriculture
and the consumption of animal products.
One can only wonder what Rabbi Hirsch's
attitude toward vegetarianism would be
today, based on his strong views and
modern realities related to the
production and consumption of
animals.*1)
Quotations below are from Horeb,
Rabbi Hirsch's presentation of Jewish
laws and observances, with particular
emphasis on their underlying ideas.
Compassion is the feeling of sympathy
which the pain of one being awakens in
another; and the higher and more human
the beings are, the more keenly attuned
they are to re-echo the note of
suffering, which, like a voice from
heaven, penetrates the heart, bringing
all creatures a proof of their kinship
in the universal God. And as for man,
whose function it is to show respect and
love for God's universe and all its
creatures, his heart has been created so
tender that it feels with the whole
organic world . . .mourning even for
fading flowers; so that, if nothing
else, the very nature of his heart must
teach him that he is required above
everything to feel himself the brother
of all beings, and to recognize the
claim of all beings to his love and his
beneficence.
Horeb, Chapter 17, Verse 125
Here you are faced with God's
teaching, which obliges you not only to
refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain
on any animal, but to help and, when you
can, to lessen the pain whenever you see
an animal suffering, even through no
fault of yours.
Horeb,
Chapter 60, Section 416.
There are probably no creatures that
require more the protective Divine word
against the presumption of man than the
animals, which like man have sensations
and instincts, but whose body and powers
are nevertheless subservient to man. In
relation to them man so easily forgets
that injured animal muscle twitches just
like human muscle, that the maltreated
nerves of an animal sicken like human
nerves, that the animal being is just as
sensitive to cuts, blows, and beatings
as man. Thus man becomes the torturer of
the animal soul, which has been
subjected to him only for the
fulfillment of humane and wise purposes
. . .
Horeb, Chapter 60, Verse 415
As God is merciful, so you also be
merciful. As he loves and cares for all
His creatures and His children and are
related to Him, because He is their
Father, so you also love all His
creatures as your brethren. Let their
joys be your joys, and their sorrows
yours. Love them and with every power
which God gives you, work for their
welfare and benefit, because they are
the children of your God, because they
are your brothers and sisters.
Horeb,
Chapter 72, Section 482.
Rabbi Rashi
Rabbi Rashi was a medieval French rabbi
famed as the author of the first
comprehensive commentary on the Talmud,
as well as a comprehensive commentary on
the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible).
Initially God intended that people
should be vegetarians.
Concerning God's first dietary law Rabbi
Rashi states:
God 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 1:29
February 22, 1040 – July 13, 1105,
Babylonian Talmud -
is a collection of study teachings based
upon the Hebrew Bible and oral
commentaries of Jewish learning. The
Babylonian Talmud was transmitted orally
for centuries prior to its compilation
by Jewish scholars in Babylon about the
5th century CE
"Adam was not permitted meat for
purposes of eating."
Rabbi Nachmanides
Rabbi Nachmanides, 1194-1270 , was a
Spanish-born Jewish Kabalah scholar,
Philosopher, Physician, and mystic.
In the following passage Rabbi
Nachmanides, stated the reason behind
this initial dietary code
Living creatures possess a moving soul
and a certain spiritual superiority
which in this respect make them similar
to those who possess intellect (people)
and they have the power of affecting
their welfare and their food and they
flee from pain and death.
Rabbi Nachmanides, commentary on
Genesis 1:29.
Rabbi
Moses Cassuto
Biblical Scholar and commentator,
1883-1951, was born in Florence and
became chief rabbi there and director of
the Collegio Rabbinico Italiano. He was
professor of Hebrew at the University of
Rome, and from 1939 was professor of Bible
studies at the Hebrew University.
You 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 them for
food. Your natural diet is
vegetarian....
Rabbi
Moses Cassuto , commentary From Adam to
Noah
Apparently the Torah was in principle
opposed to the eating of meat. When Noah
and his descendants were permitted to
eat meat this was a concession
conditional on the prohibition of the
blood. This prohibition implied respect
for the principle of life ("for the
blood is the life") and an allusion to
the fact that in reality all meat should
have been prohibited. This partial
prohibition was designed to call to mind
the previously total one.
Rabbi Moses Cassutto, quoted by Nehama
Leibowitz, Studies in Genesis, 77.
Rabbi David Rosen
Rabbi David Shlomo Rosen CBE is the
former Chief Rabbi of Ireland (1979-85)
and currently serves as the Director of
the American Jewish Committee's
Department of Interreligious Affairs and
the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn
Institute for International
Interreligious Understanding. From 2005
until 2009 he headed the International
Jewish Committee for Inter-religious
Consultations (IJCIC), the broad based
coalition of Jewish organizations and
denominations that represents World
Jewry in its relations with other world
religions.
The current treatment of animals in the
livestock trade definitely renders the
consumption of meat as halachically
unacceptable as the product of
illegitimate means.
Rabbi David Rosen, "Vegetarianism: An
Orthodox Jewish Perspective", in Rabbis
and Vegetarianism: An Evolving
Tradition, edited by Roberta Kalechofsky
(Micah Publications: Marblehead,
Massachusetts, 1995), 53.
Halakha is the collective body of
Jewish religious law, including biblical
law, the 613
mitzvot - statements and principles of
law and ethics contained in the Torah or
Five Books of Moses - and later Talmudic
and rabbinic law, as well as customs and
traditions. Halakha guides not only
religious practices and beliefs, but
numerous aspects of day-to-day life.
Rabbi Aryeh Carmell
Rabbi Carmel born in London,
England,1917-2006) was an Orthodox
rabbi, scholar, and author.
It seems doubtful from all that has been
said whether the Torah would sanction
'factory farming,' which treats animals
as machines, with apparent insensitivity
to their natural needs and instincts.
This is a matter for decision by
halachic authorities.
Rabbi Aryeh Carmell, Masterplan:
Judaism: its Programs, Meanings, Goals
(New York/Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1991),
69.
Rabbi Moses
Maimonides
Moses Maimonides born in Cordoba,
Spain on March 30, 1135, and died in
Egypt on December 13, 1204, was a
preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher also known as
Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, he was one of the greatest
Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. He worked as a rabbi,
physician, and philosopher in Spain, Morocco and Egypt.
There is no difference between the pain
of humans and the pain of other living
beings, since the love and tenderness of
the mother for the young are not
produced by reasoning, but by feeling,
and this faculty exists not only in
humans but in most living beings.
Guide for the Perplexed
It should not be believed that all beings exist for
the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all
the other beings too have been intended for their own
sakes and not for the sake of anything else.
Guide for the Perplexed
Rabbi Simon Glazer
Rabbi Glazer, born in 1878 was an
Orthodox Rabbi and an author, he was Chief
Rabbi of the United Synagogues of
Montreal & Quebec City, during the years
he lived in Montreal. He was also
a founder of the Keneder Adler (Jewish
Daily Eagle)
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.
Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog
Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, 1889 -1959,
also known as Isaac Herzog, was the
first Chief Rabbi of Ireland, his term
lasting from 1921 to 1936. From 1937
until his death, he was Ashkenazi Chief
Rabbi of the British Mandate of
Palestine and of Israel after its
independence in 1948.
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.
Rabbi Aryeh Carmell
Rabbi Aryeh Carmell 1917-2006, born in
London was an Orthodox rabbi, scholar,
and author.
It seems doubtful from all that has been
said whether the Torah would sanction
'factory farming,' which treats animals
as machines, with apparent insensitivity
to their natural needs and instincts.
Rabbi Aryeh Carmell
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis
Singer ,1902 - 1991, was a Polish-born
Jewish American author noted for his
short stories. He received the Nobel
Prize in literature in 1978. During the
last thirty five years of his life Singer was
a prominent vegetarian. He often
included vegetarian themes in his
writings, for example in the short story
The Slaughterer wherein he describes the
anguish of slaughter
for a slaughterer trying to reconcile his compassion for
animals with his job of killing them.
He considered that
the consumption of meat was a denial of
all ideals and all religions:
How can we speak of right and justice
if we take an innocent creature and shed
its blood?"
We are all God's creatures--that we pray
to God for mercy and justice while we
continue to eat the flesh of animals
that are slaughtered on our account is
not consistent.
He was once asked it he had become a
vegetarian for reason of health to which
he relied :
I did it for
the health of the chickens."
In The Letter Writer, he wrote "In
relation to animals:
All people are
Nazis; for the animals, it is an eternal
Treblinka
The same questions are bothering me
today as they did fifty years ago. Why
is one born? Why does one suffer? In my
case, the suffering of animals also
makes me very sad. I’m a vegetarian, you
know. When I see how little attention
people pay to animals, and how easily
they make peace with man being allowed
to do with animals whatever he wants
because he keeps a knife or a gun, it
gives me a feeling of misery and
sometimes anger with the Almighty. I say
‘Do you need your glory to be connected
with so much suffering of creatures
without glory, just innocent creatures
who would like to pass a few years in
peace?’ I feel that animals are as
bewildered as we are except that they
have no words for it. I would say that
all life is asking: ‘What am I doing
here?
Newsweek interview October 16, 1978
after winning the Nobel Prize in literature.
To be a vegetarian is to disagree - to
disagree with the course of things
today. Starvation, world hunger,
cruelty, waste, wars - we must make a
statement against these things.
Vegetarianism is my statement. And I
think it's a strong one.
Various
philosophers and religious leaders tried
to convince their disciples and
followers that animals are nothing more
than machines without a soul, without
feelings. However, anyone who has ever
lived with an animal--be it a dog, a
bird, or even a mouse--knows that this
theory is a brazen lie, invented to
justify cruelty.
As long as people will shed the blood
of innocent creatures, there can be no
peace, no liberty, no harmony between
people. Slaughter and justice cannot
dwell together.
Even in the worm that crawls in the
earth there glows a divine spark. When
you slaughter a creature, you slaughter
God.
A wealth of information concerning
Jewish Vegetarianism (Many of the
quotations I have included came from
this website)
The Torah is full of commandments
demanding humane treatment of animals,
yet the modern factory farms that
produce over 90% of the animal products
we consume today raise their animals in
unconscionable conditions of abject
misery...
Please read and learn about the growing
Jewish vegetarian movement, and think
about how Jewish teachings relate to
decisions we make everyday as we sit
down to eat. As Rabbi Isaac ha-Levi
Herzog said, "Jews will move
increasingly to vegetarianism out of
their own deepening knowledge of what
their tradition commands... A whole
galaxy of central rabbinic and spiritual
leaders...has been affirming
vegetarianism as the ultimate meaning of
Jewish moral teaching."
Below is an
except from the
film
Why Jews need to
become Vegans
today!
A Sacred
Duty :
Applying Jewish
Values To Help
Heal The World
A Major
Documentary on
Current
Environmental
Threats and How
Jewish Teachings
Can Be Applied
in Responding to
These Threats
By taking care
of ourselves,
others and all
HaShems
creatures and
our earth, we
will Fulfill our
covenant with
G_d.
Richard H.
Schwartz -
Author of
Judaism and
Vegetarianism
and president of
Jewish
Vegetarians of
North America (JVNA)
Lionel
Friedberg,
producer/director/writer/cinematographer
A comprehensive resource articles ,
forums recipes
ShalomVeg.com was created in November,
2007 as a networking and learning
resource for Jewish vegans, vegetarians
and animal activists. With hundreds of
articles and essays, recipes, and tools
to connect to and communicate with
people from around the world, ShalomVeg
hopes to be the online meeting place for
our growing community.
The Miracle of life A Sacred Duty
Excerpts from , Dr Richard Schwartzs
article postcast entitled, "What would a
Vegan World Look like"
I
am not an animal expert of any kind just your average
person who loves animals, all animals, and feels deeply
about the plight of many of our fellow creatures.
Neither am I a writer, or any other expert. Therefore
please keep in mind that the information included in
this website has been researched to the best of my
ability and any misinformation is quite by accident but
of course possible.
