JEWISH VEGETARIANS OF NORTH AMERICA PRODUCES DOCUMENTARY TO PROMOTE VEGETARIANIS

[Guest guest]

Courtesy of Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

 

JEWISH VEGETARIANS OF NORTH AMERICA PRODUCES DOCUMENTARY TO PROMOTE

VEGETARIANISM

Richard H. Schwartz

 

Because the world is heading rapidly toward an unprecedented

catastrophe from global warming and other environmental threats,

Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) has produced a

documentary, A SACRED DUTY: APPLYING JEWISH VALUES TO HELP HEAL THE

WORLD, to address these threats from a positive Jewish perspective.

JVNA will send a free copy to anyone who will help arrange a

screening or help promote the movie in some other way.

 

Almost daily there are reports of severe droughts, floods, storms or

wildfires, of the melting of glaciers and polar icecaps and other

indicators of global warming. It is frightening that, while these

effects are due to an increase in temperature of less than 1.5

degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, the Nobel Prize-winning

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group composed of

hundreds of the world's climate scientists, is projecting an increase

of 3 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 100 years. Even more

ominous is that some climate scientists, including James Hansen of

NASA, are warning that global warming may reach a tipping point and

spiral out of control within a decade, with disastrous consequences,

unless major changes are soon made. Israel is especially vulnerable

to global climate change, in terms of reduced rainfall, severe storms

and flooding from a rising Mediterranean Sea.

 

A SACRED DUTY is a Jewish response to these realities. It reminds us

that it is our sacred duty to become aware of current threats and our

responsibility to apply Jewish teachings to how we obtain our food,

use natural resources, and live among other creatures whom God

created. It offers simple, practical measures for reducing our impact

on the planet, including " an inconvenient truth " that even Al Gore

has not yet acknowledged.

 

Produced by the highly acclaimed, multi-award-winning film maker,

Lionel Friedberg, A SACRED DUTY reinforces the messages in Al Gore's

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH and Leonardo di Caprio's, THE ELEVENTH HOUR

about the dangers of global warming. However, it goes beyond these

films, by showing how religious responses can make a major difference

and why a shift toward plant-based diets is an essential part of

efforts to reduce global climate change and other environmental

threats. It also challenges people to consider the many moral issues

related to our diets, including Torah teachings on how animals are

treated on factory farms and the effects on human health and the

environment.

 

The documentary features interviews with leading Israeli and American

environmental, health, vegetarian and animal rights activists as well

as

Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and secular leaders.

Interviewees include: Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, Ashkenazic Chief

Rabbi of Haifa; Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and

International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American

Jewish Committee; Dr. Yeshayahu Bar-Or, Chief Scientist: Israel

Environmental Ministry and many other rabbis and Jewish leaders and

activists.

 

Biblical passages are read by the acclaimed Jewish star of Broadway

and screen Theodore Bikel

 

Although it is primarily intended for a Jewish audience, A SACRED

DUTY speaks to people everywhere about the ethics of our relationship

to the natural world in which we live. The movie's universal message

will appeal to anyone interested in such topics as biblical

teachings, Israel, the environment, health, nutrition, vegetarianism,

hunger and resource usage. The movie may be said to be like Levy's

Jewish Rye bread - you do not have to be Jewish to appreciate it.

 

A SACRED DUTY and the many activities being planned around it have

the potential to help move our imperiled world toward a sustainable

path. But only if the movie is widely viewed and discussed.

 

So, please order your FREE copy and please consider taking one or

more of the following actions after viewing the movie: have viewings

for family, neighbors and friends; try to schedule showings at a

local school, a synagogue and/or other houses of worship, a community

center or other communal site, etc.; share the DVD with local rabbis

and other religious leaders, teachers, politicians and other local

influential people.

 

You can request a free DVD by sending your name and mailing address

to JVNA's secretary/treasurer John Diamond (jdiamond4). If

you feel that you can profitably use more than one DVD, just let John

know, with a brief description of how you plan to use them.

 

JVNA plans to build a major campaign around the movie to get tikkun

olam (the repair and healing of the world) to become a central focus

in Jewish life today, with a shift toward plant-based diets as an

essential part of the changes that can help move our imperiled planet

to a sustainable path. If you would like to be involved in the

campaign or have suggestions, please contact Richard Schwartz at

President.

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If you would like to support this unparalleled campaign to promote

vegetarianism as an essential component of efforts to avoid the

disaster facing the world, please send a tax deductible donation to

the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, c/o John Diamond, 49 Patton

Drive, Newport News, VA 23606-1744. Further information re the movie

and the campaign can be found at the JVNA web site

(www.JewishVeg.com).

 

======================================

 

Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island

Author of " Judaism and Vegetarianism, " " Judaism and Global Survival, "

and " Mathematics and Global Survival, " and over 130 articles at

JewishVeg.com/schwartz

President of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) and

Society of Ethical and Religious Vegetarians (SERV)

Phone: 718-761-5876

president