By Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.
writer's block
Should Jews still eat meat?
With Tu B’Shevat on the horizon and the
furor over People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ video of
animal abuse at a kosher slaughterhouse in the recent past, it is worth
asking the question: Should Jews still eat meat?
For those unaware, in late November, the animals’ activist
group PETA came public with video showing the cruel abuse of animals at
AgriProcessors’ kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. The plant
is one of the largest in the country and processes meat for the Aaron’s
Best/Rabushkin label.
PETA filed a complaint with the United States Department
of Agriculture against the plant as well as the Orthodox Union, the New
York-based agency responsible for certifying the slaughterhouse as kosher.
After initially defending the plant’s practices, the OU switched
tracks and took initial steps toward ending the abuses of animals at the
Postville slaughterhouse. The OU should be commended for that. But the
horrors recorded in Postville are part of a much wider pattern of animal
abuse in today’s meat industry.
Many Torah verses stress compassion to animals and Judaism
forbids tsa’ar ba’alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain
on animals. However, most farm animals – including most animals
raised for kosher consumers – are raised for slaughter on “factory
farms” where they are confined in cramped spaces, often drugged
and mutilated and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise and any opportunity
to satisfy their natural instincts. Can we continue to ignore the suffering
and abuse that many farmed animals experience for their entire lives on
factory farms?
Hence, the current controversy involving the Postville facility
should be a wake-up call to end not only the mistreatment of animals at
slaughterhouses, but also the widespread abuse of animals on factory farms.
The Postville exposé would have an even greater value if it also
resulted in a reduction or elimination of other violations of Jewish teachings
associated with the production and consumption of animal products:
• While Judaism mandates that people should be very careful
about preserving their health and their lives, numerous scientific studies
have linked animal-based diets directly to heart disease, stroke, many
forms of cancer and other chronic degenerative diseases.
• While Judaism teaches that “the earth is the Lord’s”
(Psalm 24:1) and that we are God’s partners and co-workers in preserving
the world, modern intensive livestock agriculture contributes substantially
to soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical
fertilizers and pesticides, the destruction of tropical rain forests and
other habitats, global climate change and other environmental damages.
• While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, not to waste or to
unnecessarily destroy anything of value or to use more than is needed,
animal agriculture requires the wasteful use of land, water, fuel, grain
and other resources.
• While Judaism stresses that we are to assist the poor and
share our bread with hungry people, an estimated 20 million people die
each year because of hunger and its effects, while more than 70 percent
of the grain grown in the U.S. is fed to animals destined for slaughter.
It takes up to 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of feedlot-raised
beef.
• Judaism stresses that we must seek and pursue peace and
that violence results from unjust conditions. But, by wasting valuable
resources, animal-centered diets perpetuate the widespread hunger and
poverty that often lead to instability and war.
Tu B’Shevat is an excellent time to consider shifting
towards a plant-centered diet. Consider:
• For the Tu B’Shevat Seder, we eat nuts and fruits
and sing songs and recite Biblical verses related to trees and fruits.
It is the only sacred meal where we eat only vegetarian, actually vegan,
foods. This is consistent with the diet in the Garden of Eden, as indicated
by God’s first, completely vegetarian, dietary law:
“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.’”
(Gen.1:29)
• The Talmud refers to Tu B’Shevat as the New Year
for Trees. It is considered to be the date on which the fate of trees
is decided for the coming year. In recent years, one of the prime ways
of celebrating Tu B’Shevat, especially in Israel, is the planting
of trees.
One of the prime reasons for the destruction of tropical
rain forests today is to create pastureland and areas to grow feed crops
for cattle. To save an estimated 5 cents on each imported fast food hamburger,
we are destroying forest areas in countries such as Brazil and Costa Rica
– where at least half of the world’s species of plants and
animals live – and threatening the stability of the world’s
climate. It has been estimated that every vegetarian saves an acre of
forest per year
• Both Tu B’Shevat and vegetarianism are connected to
today’s environmental concerns. Many contemporary Jews look on Tu
B’Shevat as a Jewish earth day and use Tu B’Shevat seders
as occasions to discuss how Jewish values can be applied to reduce many
of today’s ecological threats.
Clearly, Jewish values and meat consumption are in serious
conflict. Considering the horrors of Postville and the ecological lessons
of Tu B’Shevat, Jews should seriously consider shifting toward plant-based
diets and promoting a switch toward vegetarianism as moral and ecological
imperatives. Besides having great benefits for animals, such actions would
greatly benefit the health of the Jewish people and others, move our precious
but imperiled planet to a more sustainable path and show the relevance
of Jewish teachings to the problems confronting the world today.
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D., is author of “Judaism and Vegetarianism,”
“Judaism and Global Survival” and “Mathematics and Global
Survival” and president of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America.
For feedback, contact editor@sdjewishjournal.com.