Jewish vegetarianism

According to Rabbis Shlomo Ephraim Luntschitz and Abraham Isaac Kook, the complexity of these laws was intended to discourage the consumption of meat.

[5] Genesis 1:29 states "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."

In 2017, a statement by Jewish Veg encouraging veganism for all Jews was signed by notable rabbis including Jonathan Wittenberg, Daniel Sperber, David Wolpe, Nathan Lopes Cardozo, Kerry Olitzky, Shmuly Yanklowitz, Aryeh Cohen, Geoffrey Claussen, Rami M. Shapiro, David Rosen, Raysh Weiss, Elyse Goldstein, Shefa Gold, and Yonassan Gershom.

[19][20] Other notable rabbis who were vegetarian or spoke positively of vegetarianism include David Cohen (known as "Ha-Nazir"), Everett Gendler, Shlomo Goren, Irving Greenberg, Jeremy Gimpel,[21] Asa Keisar,[22] Jonathan Sacks,[23] She'ar Yashuv Cohen, and Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Everett Gendler, Simchah Roth, Joseph Soloveitchik,[24] and Abraham Isaac Kook.

David Cohen wrote an influential essay, A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace (first published in installments in 1903–04), summarizing Kook's ideas about the "coming of the new society" in which humankind becomes vegan.

[25][26] Other notable Jewish vegetarians include Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Reuven Rivlin, Franz Kafka, Richard H. Schwartz, Jonathan Safran Foer, Aaron S. Gross, Ori Shavit, Roberta Kalechofsky, Tara Strong, and Natalie Portman.

[42] In 2016, an op-ed argued that Israel was "the most vegan country on Earth", as five percent of its population eschewed all animal products.

[48] It is more common for Orthodox rabbis to call on Jews to reduce their consumption of animal products, as when a consortium of 120 Orthodox rabbis scholars, and community leaders in Jerusalem, known as Beit Hillel, issued a paper calling on Jews to reduce meat consumption in order to alleviate animal suffering.

[49] According to some, vegetarianism is consistent with the sacred teachings and highest ideals of Judaism, including compassion, health, life, conservation of resources, tzedakah, kashrut, peace, and justice.

However, factory farming and high-speed mechanized kosher slaughterhouses have been criticized for failing to meet the essence of shechita.