Guest guest Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 B " H Dr. Richard Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, College of Staten Island, published my write-up of the Stupp's Restaurant in his e- newsletter. To my chagrin and embarrassment I felt obliged to send him the following missive and to make it known publically: Dear Richard: Thank you for publishing my piece in your newsletter. I am not at all sure that Amirim is the only vegetarian community in the world. I never said that. I am almost sure that I heard that there is a vegetarian kibbutz as well. I'm also quite sure that the Rainbow community here in Israel is vegetarian. It is very likely that there are vegetarian communities outside Israel as well. There is a matter I wanted to bring up with you: There have been a number of passages and quotes in your newsletter likening animal farming to the Holocaust. There are no words to tell you how offensive I find this. Even when one considers the experiments that are done on animals, which to my mind is the ugliest and most brutal mistreatment of animals, it is not because people take sadistic pleasure in torturing them. It is misguided research. Now that simulated testing of new products can be done by computer, more and more research is being conducted by simulation, sparing the animals. This proves to my mind that the experiments never were a matter of sadistic pleasure, but rather an expedient. Although many species of animals have been made extinct, this is not due to a planned programme of zoocide. There is no analogy whatsoever between the planned extermination of the Jews and the making extinct of animal species. To my mind your position is weakend by the use of spurious, and tasteless, hyperbole. The emotional overkill is off-putting in the extreme - not to eating meat, but to your newsletter. Truth to tell, since the first time I saw an analogy to the Holocaust in your newsletter I have not read it. I read this edition to see if my piece was in it and once again was deeply dismayed to see yet another reference to the Holocaust. No rational person will take that tack seriously. Please consider a more reasoned and rational approach. Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2004 Report Share Posted July 9, 2004 First of all congratulations for having your review published! Nevertheless, I do agree with your point of view and your letter to Prof Schwartz. I have read a few things written by him, and felt in a similar way very irritated and very upset when I first read his statement about killing animals in reference to the Shoah. Even if " tsa'ar ba'alei chayim " should be true for every Jew (and for every human being) I am strongly opposed to any kind of dogmatism, because I believe dogmatism to b always the first step towards fascism (talking the term in its pure original meaning from " facere» to make = to make something else do what you consider to be only truth) I dare to say it is dogmatism when the reasons and explanations for a certain opinion point towards the irrational thinking, and that is what is happening here. To become completely understood: Prof Schwartz is a respectable and engaged scholar and I do appreciate a lot of his writings and the effort he undertakes (so please, don't spread the rumour that I called HIM a fascist - I did not) Nevertheless, I have to agree with you that mentioning the Holocaust together with slaughtering animals shows more than a lack of respect and utterly bad taste! It makes me scream with rage: These were human beings, NOT animals! Excuse me, Professor Schwartz! For those who want to read more you can find his articles at: http://jewishveg.com/schwartz/ Gabriella , " Doreen Ellen Bell- Dotan " <dordot2001> wrote: > B " H > > Dr. Richard Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North > America and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, College of Staten > Island, published my write-up of the Stupp's Restaurant in his e- > newsletter. To my chagrin and embarrassment I felt obliged to send > him the following missive and to make it known publically: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.