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Media
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: September 21, 2000
JEWISH VEGETARIANS LAUNCH NEW WEBSITE
Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) launched a new website today
designed to be a central source for information and resources on Jewish
vegetarianism. JewishVeg.com is part of an expanded campaign to start
a respectful dialogue in the Jewish community about the many positive
connections between Judaism and vegetarianism.
"This website will help spread the growing awareness that eating meat
violates many fundamental Jewish values. Anyone interested in Jewish
vegetarianism should visit, learn, ask questions, and get involved,"
said Dr. Richard Schwartz, spokesperson for JVNA and author of the book
Judaism and Vegetarianism and 100 articles on the internet at
schwartz.enviroweb.org.
Jewish vegetarianism has made important inroads in the Jewish
community. A resolution supporting plant-based diets is being
considered by the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and last
week the Israeli Defense Forces announced it would provide soldiers
with the option of vegetarian meals. Many rabbis and Jewish scholars
have affirmed vegetarianism as the ideal Jewish diet, noting that G-d
initially created a vegetarian world (Genesis 1:29) and that Isaiah's
prophesies suggest a return to vegetarian diets in Messianic times
(Isaiah 11:6-9).
"As Jews, we should consider that we may be violating G-d's will every
time we sit down to dinner," said Noam Mohr, creator of the website.
"Jews should be a light unto the nations by going vegetarian."
Leading Jewish thinkers have pointed to the negative health,
environmental, and economic costs exacted by the production and
consumption of animal products, as well as the cruel animal rearing
methods pervasive on modern factory farms, as clear violations of
Jewish teachings. Indeed, Rabbi David Rosen, former Chief Rabbi of
Ireland and current head of the Israeli office of the Anti-Defamation
League in Jerusalem, has stated that "meat consumption has become
halachically unjustifiable."
"Today, billions of G-d's creatures are tortured for their meat,
millions of Americans are dying from diseases linked to eating meat,
and G-d's creation is being razed and polluted to produce meat. This
is not G-d's will. Going vegetarian is a kiddush Hashem," said Mohr.
The website includes:
- Articles on the inconsistencies between the production and
consumption of animal products and Jewish mandates to preserve health,
treat animals compassionately, protect the
environment, and help the hungry.
- Analyses of Biblical and rabbinic sources on
vegetarianism as G-d's ideal diet.
- Answers to common questions.
- Many Jewish vegetarian recipes.
- A free internet course on Judaism and vegetarianism.
- A place for people to make comments, raise issues, and get
involved.
JVNA is calling for a commission of
rabbis, Jewish scholars, and other experts to investigate the impacts
of factory farming and the consumption of meat with regard to Jewish
teachings, and to report on its findings.
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Jewish Vegetarians of North America represents a broad coalition of
rabbis, scholars, experts, and active members of the Jewish community
in advocating vegetarianism as a Jewish ideal.
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