Ethical Vegetarianism

[Guest guest]

One Reform rabbi argues that vegetarianism is not merely admirable,

but an ethical mitzvah.

By Rabbi Edward Rosenthal

 

Excerpted with permission from CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish

Quarterly, Spring 1992, © The Central Conference of American Rabbis.

 

 

 

Modern Reform Judaism has seen a swing back to many traditional

observances. Yet with regard to the observance of particularistic

mitzvot [commandments], Reform Judaism has always accepted the right

of the individual to choose those that add meaning to one's life.

Thus, for example, there are many Reform Jews today who observe at

least some degree of kashrut; everything from biblical kashrut out of

the home [eating only permitted animals] to full rabbinic kashrut

[with all the traditional restrictions] is observed in many Reform

households. The autonomous individual hopefully, through a commitment

to study and learning, makes educated choices to observe these

mitzvot as a means to enhance his/her life, but Reform Judaism has

never stated that such observance is obligatory upon any Reform Jew.

 

 

 

In the case of ethical mitzvot, however, Reform Judaism from its

inception has accepted them as having been given by God and binding

upon all Jews. Even as autonomous individuals, we do not have the

right to choose which ethical mitzvot can be observed and which

cannot. As a Reform Jew, one cannot choose to observe " Thou shalt not

murder " and ignore " Thou shalt not commit adultery " or " Thou shalt

not steal. " Through all of the developments that have taken place,

that which has not changed is the unequivocal belief of Reform

Judaism that the ethical and moral laws of the Torah are binding and

obligatory. Indeed, Reform Judaism can and still does call itself

ethical, prophetic Judaism.

 

 

 

As a Reform Jew, I understand " Behold, I have given you every herb

yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every

tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed--to you it shall

be for food " [Genesis 1:29, the original eating instructions to Adam

and Eve, before human beings were granted the right to eat meat as,

some would argue, a concession to human weakness] as an ethical

mitzvah that is given by God. To violate that ethical mitzvah, for

me, would be a sin.

 

 

 

As a Reform Jew, I cannot ignore my understanding of vegetarianism as

an ethical mitzvah, and ethical mitzvah which commands me not to kill

another living, sentient creature. An ethical mitzvah that commands

me to preserve and protect human life, not harm or destroy it by

filling my body with harmful fats and chemicals. An ethical mitzvah

that commands me not to waste food that could be used to feed

starving children by feeding it to livestock destined for the

slaughterhouse. An ethical mitzvah that commands me to protect and

maintain, not contribute to the wholesale destruction of our global

environment--for this world is a gift that cannot be replaced.

 

 

 

Rabbi Edward Rosenthal is rabbi of Temple Beth-El in Brownsville,

Texas. He was the first Reform rabbi to serve full-time in New

Zealand, where he became a vegetarian, and is a member of the

International Jewish Vegetarian Society.