What Diet Does God Prefer for Folks? | Richard H. Schwartz

The most basic line of demarcation in the realm of Halacha (Jewish law) is the one particular amongst the permitted and the forbidden. However, in the realm of the permitted, we also find a additional line amongst the approved and the perfect. At this point, we do not merely check with what does God let but what does God like.

In this context, it is essential that we not only request which foods God permits but that we also take into consideration the diet that God prefers for us. The following arguments are submitted in furtherance of my perspective that God’s desire for folks is veganism. My hope is that this presentation will get started a respectful dialogue on this essential challenge.

Argument #1: Folks were being at first vegan.

God’s very first nutritional regulation was strictly vegan: “And God mentioned: ‘Behold I have provided you each individual herb yielding seed which is upon the facial area of the earth, and each and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed – to you it shall be for food’” (Genesis 1:29). That God’s 1st intention was that people need to be vegan, or at the very least vegetarian,  was mentioned by Jewish classical Biblical commentators, together with Rashi, Abraham Ibn Ezra, Maimonides, and Nachmanides, and later on scholars, such as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Moses Cassuto, and Nehama Leibowitz. It is important that right after offering these dietary regulations, creation was total and God noticed everything that He had created and “behold, it was incredibly superior.” (Genesis 1:31).

Argument #2: God’s allowance to consume meat was only a concession.

What about God’s permission, presented to Noach and his descendants, to eat meat? In accordance to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook (Rav Kook), 1st Main Rabbi of pre-state Israel and one of the outstanding Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century, this authorization was only a short-term concession to human weak spot. He felt that God who is merciful to all His creatures (Psalms 145:9) would not institute an everlasting law which permits the killing of animals for food.

The Torah connects the intake of meat with uncontrolled lust (Deuteronomy 12:20), even though vegetarian foods are looked on with favor:

For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a very good land, a land of brooks, of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of olive-trees and honey a land whereby thou shalt consume bread without the need of scarceness thou shalt not absence anything in it… And thou shalt eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which He hath offered thee (Deuteronomy 8:7-10).

Rav Kook thought that the quite a few legal guidelines and constraints associated to the preparing and use of meat (the guidelines of kashrut) supported this outlook. To Rabbi Kook, these rules implied a reprimand and served as an elaborate apparatus made to continue to keep alive a feeling of reverence for life, with the goal of ultimately foremost persons absent from their meat-feeding on practice. This thought is echoed by Torah commentator Solomon Refrain Lunchitz, creator of K’lee Yakar:

What was the necessity for the full course of action of ritual slaughter? For the sake of self discipline. It is much a lot more acceptable for male not to take in meat only if he has a powerful need for meat does the Torah allow it, and even this only after the hassle and inconvenience essential to fulfill his wish. Maybe simply because of the bother and annoyance of the complete treatment, he will be restrained from these types of a potent and uncontrollable wish for meat.

This argument is more supported by the belief of Rav Kook and Rabbi Joseph Albo that in the days of the Messiah, men and women will again be vegans, or at lest vegetarians. They base this on the prophecy of Isaiah:

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, …

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox, …

And no 1 shall damage nor destroy in all My holy

mountain. (Isaiah 11:6-9)

Argument #3: Manna was the preferred food in the desert.

In accordance to Isaac Arama, author of Akedat Yitzchak, God proven one more non-meat diet regime, manna, when the Israelites still left Egypt and were being in the desert for 40 many years. This would appear to be to even more suggest G-d’s choice for this diet plan. Manna is plainly explained in the Torah as a vegan food stuff, “like coriander seed” (Numbers 11:7), This diet plan retained the Israelites in fantastic well being for 40 years in the desert.

When the Jewish folks cried for flesh, God reluctantly provided it (in the form of quails). Although the Israelites have been taking in the quails, a terrific plague broke out and a lot of persons died. The area wherever this occurred was named, “The Graves of Lust,” probably an early warning of the damaging health consequences similar to the intake of meat.

Argument #4: Veganism presents a much healthier food plan.

Judaism regards the preservation of overall health as a religious obligation of the greatest significance. The Talmud teaches that Jews ought to be more individual about matters of health and lifestyle than ritual matters. If it could enable save a everyday living, one particular may well violate the Sabbath, consume non-kosher foods, and even take in on Yom Kippur. The only rules that can’t be violated to preserve a everyday living are these prohibiting murder, idolatry, and sexual immorality, the a few “cardinal sins.”

In watch of these teachings, could God potentially want individuals to eat meat, when such diet plans have been strongly joined to heart attacks, strokes, several forms of cancer, and other health conditions? In this regard, it is appealing to be aware that Chapter 5 of Genesis tells of the incredibly prolonged life of men and women in the generations of the vegetarian period from Adam to Noach.

Argument #5: Modern-day livestock agriculture is cruel to animals.

Judaism has quite a few beautiful teachings regarding the appropriate therapy of animals. Jews are to be rachmanim b’nei rachmanin (compassionate youngsters of compassionate ancestors), imitating God, Whose compassion is more than all His performs (Psalms 145:9). Moses and King David had been selected for management, and Rebecca was considered suitable to be a spouse for Isaac, since they were being type to animals. Proverbs 12:10 teaches that,  “The righteous particular person considers the everyday living of his or her animal.” 

Worry for animals is even expressed in the 10 Commandments, which signifies that animals, as nicely as people today, are to relaxation on Shabbat. A lot of Biblical laws command right remedy of animals. Shechitah, Jewish ritual slaughter legislation, stresses that when animals are slaughtered for foods, it is finished in the swiftest and most pain-free way achievable.

In potent distinction, animals are elevated currently to make sure the maximum return on investment, with very little, if any,  thing to consider for their personal needs. In check out of the above stated arguments, would God favor the usage of flesh when it includes increasing animals under cruel ailments in crowded cells, where by they are denied new air, work out, and any emotional attachments?

Argument #6: Veganism favors the natural environment.

Judaism teaches that the earth is the Lord’s and that persons are to be associates and co-personnel with God in shielding the ecosystem. The Talmudic sages indicated excellent issue about minimizing pollution. Even though God was in a position to say, “It is incredibly excellent,” when the environment was produced, currently the world faces several environmental threats. So, could God favor animal-primarily based diet programs which add substantially to local weather transform, in depth soil depletion and erosion, air and drinking water pollution associated to the widespread creation and use of pesticides, fertilizer, and other chemical substances, and the destruction of tropical rain forests and other habitats?

Primarily based on Deuteronomy 20:19, 20, which prohibits the destruction of fruit-bearing trees in time of warfare, the Talmudic sages prohibited the squander or unwanted destruction of all objects of possible profit to folks (bal tashchit). Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch stated that this prohibition is the initial and most common contact of G-d: We are to “regard points as G-d’s house and use them with a perception of responsibility for sensible human functions. Destroy nothing! Waste absolutely nothing!” He also stated that applying extra items (or items of bigger worth) than is important to receive one’s purpose also violated the prohibition of bal tashchit.

As a result, could God favor animal-primarily based diets which demand up to 20 moments as significantly land, 13 situations as considerably h2o, and 10 periods as substantially vitality, and significantly much more pesticides, fertilizer, and other assets, than vegan meal plans?

Argument #7: The non-affordable use of sources to aid meat usage yields quite a few unfavorable repercussions for humanity.

Aiding the hungry is fundamental in Judaism. The Talmud states, “Providing charity weighs as seriously as all the other commandments of the Torah combined” (Baba Batra 9a). Farmers are to leave the gleanings of the harvest and the corner of their fields for the lousy. On Yom Kippur, the holiest working day of the Jewish yr, while fasting and praying for a superior calendar year, Jews are advised as a result of the words and phrases of the Prophet Isaiah, that fasting and prayers are not plenty of they ought to function to end oppression and “share thy bread with the hungry.”  (Isaiah 58:6-7)

That’s why, could God possibly favor a eating plan that consists of the feeding of about 70 per cent of the grain grown in the U.S. to animals destined for slaughter when an estimated nine million men and women die per year thanks to hunger and its consequences and around 10 % of the world’s people are chronically malnourished? Using grain and very similar sources to straight feed human beings relatively than in the creation of meat and other animal products and solutions could significantly lessen starvation.

Whilst not a pacifist faith, Judaism mandates a unique obligation to get the job done for peace. While quite a few commandments demand a selected time and/or put for their functionality, Jews are to “seek peace and go after it” (Psalms 34:15). In accordance to the Talmudic sages, just one of God’s names is shalom (peace,) peace encompasses all blessings, and the initially words of the Messiah will be a information of peace. Though the Israelites did go forth to battle, and not normally in defensive battles, they usually yearned for the time when “nations shall beat their swords into plowshares … and not learn war any more (Micah 4:3,4).  Because the sages taught that 1 of the roots of war is the lack of grain and other assets, could God help a food plan that consists of the wasteful use of land, h2o, electrical power, and other agricultural commodities, and consequently perpetuates the prevalent starvation and poverty that frequently guide to instability and war?

The earlier mentioned arguments strongly show that veganism is the eating plan most dependable with Jewish values and God’s preferences. If Jews shifted to this diet plan, it would motivate several some others to comply with their case in point and end result in a much healthier, additional compassionate, just, peaceful, and environmentally sustainable globe.