Category: Uncategorized
-
Canât Give up Brisket? Then Start with Veal!
June 4th, 2013 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ Even those committed to eating kosher meat should consider not eating veal. Baby calves prepared for slaughter often are sick, consume only non-kosher food, and live under extreme conditions to ensure the meat will be white, respectively involving possible terefa, kashrut (Ramah and Shach, Y.D. 60:1), and tzaar baalei…
-
Tnuva: Addressing the Current Animal Welfare Crisis
June 20th, 2013 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ More than a century ago, Americans became outraged after investigative journalists (derisively called âmuckrakersâ at first) and novelists uncovered the deplorable conditions under which slaughterhouses operated. The alarming reports of unsanitary slaughtering and processing techniques led to passage of the first legislation to ensure the inspection of meat so…
-
Noah: My Animal Welfare Hero
August 14th, 2013 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ I was a 23-year-old graduate student when I decided to be a vegetarian after attending a lecture by Professor Martha Nussbaum on the neo-Aristotelian capabilities argument, which holds that it is morally wrong to shorten any other beingâs capability or potential. In an article published a few years later, Nussbaum wrote…
-
The Intelligence of Man and of Beast
August 29th, 2013 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ Every day, hundreds of millions of chickens are held in small cages with no mobility. When many of us are confronted with the realities of factory farming, we rely on the rationalization that these animals are for our consumption, and arenât intelligent enough to understand or feel what is…
-
Covering the Blood Before Us (Acharei Mot, Leviticus 16:1-18:30)
April 8th, 2014 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ In the Torah portion of Acharei-Mot, we learn the obligation of âkisui haâdam,â to cover the blood produced from slaughtering (Leviticus 17:13). Commentators take a number of different approaches to explain the reason for this mitzvah. Rambam argues that this ritual is meant to distance Jewish practice from pagan blood rites. He…
-
Why This Rabbi Is Swearing Off Kosher Meat
May 29th, 2014 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ As an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, I am deeply committed to keeping kosher. Even as a teenager, I took pride in the strict rules governing food preparation in the kashrut traditionâlike the separating of milk and meat, and the strict supervision preventing the consumption of such things as blood or bugsâthinking it…
-
Factory Farming: Was the World Created for Me?
March 17th, 2015 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ Today, a great majority of people recognize that the destructive factory farming industry seriously harms the environment while regulatory bodies struggle to contain the mounting damage. Perhaps people take for granted that safety measures, so vital to prosperity and posterity, are maintained at a satisfactory level. Transportation and fuel…
-
May one hold one’s pet on Shabbat?
April 1st, 2015 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ Today, the difference between a working animal and a pet is significant. It is quite common to have pets to give and receive affection. There has been a misunderstanding in some circles that observant Jews are in some way disallowed to have pets. This is not the case. The…
-
A Call For Transparency in the Kashrut Industry
April 2nd, 2015 RABBI SHMULY YANKLOWITZ The evils of factory farming have been well known to the public for years. Decades of shocking undercover exposĂ©s, as well as high-exposure works like Jonathan Safran Foerâs Eating Animals, have left no doubt that cruelty to animals is the norm in the modern meat industrial complex. The Jewish community…
-
Celebrating Tu B’Shevat as if Environmental Sustainability Matters
January 6th, 2017 RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ, PHD Since Tu Bishvat, the âNew Year for Trees,â has increasingly become a âJewish Earth Day,â why not use Tu Bishvat Seders as, among other things, a time to consider how we can effectively respond to current environmental crises that threaten all life on the planet? The world is…
Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy 