PETA Senior Philanthropic Specialist Jeffrey Spitz Cohan, a Jewish adviser to LAMBS, recently spoke with Orthodox Rabbi Akiva Gersh, who has built an online following as The Vegan Rabbi.
Rabbi Gersh, who lives in Israel, and Jeffrey discussed the relationship between Judaism and veganism, much of which applies to Christians and Christianity as well.
Jeffrey: Hi, Rabbi Gersh. Great to be with you. To start, please tell us your vegan origin story. I heard PETA has something to do with it.
Rabbi Gersh: Yes. I have a twin sister who became a vegetarian in high school. That was in the early 1990s. So I learned about the information from her. She actually learned a lot from being connected to PETA.
At that moment, I wasn’t interested in changing the way I ate. The information I learned didn’t hit me. It didn’t go into my heart. I didn’t really care, unfortunately.
During my first year in college, however, I had many epiphanies about how modern humans are negatively impacting the world, particularly through our food choices. I realized how much pain and suffering we are bringing to animals and how much damage we are doing to the environment.
At that moment, everything I learned from my sister came into my heart. I was 18 when I became a vegetarian and 19 when I became a vegan. I realized that for all the same reasons I was a vegetarian, I should become vegan too. So I did.
Jeffrey: So let’s dive right in with the big question. How is veganism aligned with Jewish theology and law?
Rabbi Gersh: There are many laws in Judaism related to animal welfare that obligate us to take care of animals. If they are experiencing pain and suffering, we are obligated to alleviate their pain. There’s a law in the Torah called Tz’aar Baalei Chayim that says you’re not allowed to cause unnecessary suffering to animals. It’s right there in the words of the Torah; it’s not something esoteric. Veganism obviously aligns with that.
There are also laws in Judaism that command us not to waste resources and another that obligates us to take care of our health. These three laws together form a very strong Jewish support for going vegan in our world today.
Jeffrey: Amen to all you said. We should also mention that, in the very first chapter of The Torah, in Genesis 1:29, we’re given explicit instructions to eat plants, and only plants. No rabbi, to the best of my knowledge, has ever disputed the clear meaning of that verse.
So, what kind of reaction have you received to being “The Vegan Rabbi”?
Rabbi Gersh: The reaction to my Vegan Rabbi work has been mixed. Some people are very inspired and very grateful that I have this platform since it helps them to understand just how much Judaism supports their vegan lifestyle. Most of these people are not in the Orthodox world.
In the Orthodox world I’m part of, the reaction has been more mixed, at times critical. Some think it’s great that I’m highlighting these laws of Judaism, even if they themselves are not vegan. But others really challenge it, saying that Judaism and veganism don’t align. Some people even question how I can be an Orthodox Jew and a vegan at the same time.
There are very few vegans and vegetarians in the Orthodox Jewish world, and they like to challenge me with all kinds of questions. By now, I’ve heard all the questions many times over, so I always have an answer for them. I say this with all humility, but there is nothing anyone has said to me that came close to showing that Judaism is against veganism, because it’s not. Judaism and veganism are very much in line.
Jeffrey: Many leading rabbis, both today and in history, have urged Jews to avoid meat. To cite just one example, the 15th-century Rabbi Joseph Albo, one of the most respected rabbis in our history, stated that, “Killing animals involves cruelty and anger and rage. Eating meat makes the soul thick, murky, and occluded.”
Given this, why hasn’t veganism become normative in Judaism?
Rabbi Gersh: One reason I think veganism hasn’t become normative in Judaism is that, if you look at the Torah, there is a huge section that talks about the practice of animal sacrifices in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. So, people think that since God commanded us to bring animal sacrifices (in ancient times), then there’s nothing wrong with eating animals today.
My response to that is that there is no connection between bringing animal sacrifices 2,000 years ago and supporting the modern factory farming world with all the pain, suffering, and abuse it causes animals. Just because God commanded the bringing of animal sacrifices in ancient times doesn’t mean that the same God, or Judaism, supports the horrific ways that modern humans raise animals for food.
The other thing is around the holidays. People have this erroneous belief that there is an obligation to eat meat on the main Jewish holidays. But that’s not true. The mitzvah, the commandment, on the holidays is to be joyous, to be happy. The Talmud (the main compendium of Jewish law) states that in ancient times, this was fulfilled by eating a specific sacrifice offered on the holiday. Now that we have no Temple and no sacrifices, the Talmud explains, the mitzvah is fulfilled through drinking wine, not by eating meat.
Jeffrey: Thank you for pointing this out. I’ve heard the misreading of that Talmudic verse (Pesachim 109a) many times before myself.
Similarly, many people see in the kosher laws an implied authorization to eat meat. What do you say to that?
Rabbi Gersh: People again have this erroneous understanding that the presence of kosher laws in Judaism implies an obligation to eat meat. But that’s not true. Judaism gives permission to eat meat, but there is no obligation.
And if you don’t eat meat, then you obviously don’t have to follow the kosher laws dealing with eating animals. That’s fine. There are other kosher laws that pertain to plant-based food that you still must keep.
A parallel example has to do with Jews who are Cohanim or “priests”. They must follow specific laws. But if you’re not a priest, you obviously don’t have to follow them.
The Torah simply says that if you eat meat, you must follow this long list of laws. If you don’t, no problem.
Jeffrey: Yes, and to put it another way, the kosher laws place a lot of restrictions and conditions on eating meat, which makes it difficult. But when it comes to plant foods, there are almost no restrictions. This alone implies an ethical problem with eating meat.
So, back to Tza’ar Baalei Chayim. How is it interpreted in contemporary Judaism?
Rabbi Gersh: Tza’ar Baalei Chayim is the Jewish law that forbids causing pain and suffering to animals. Today, I think a lot of people have turned a blind eye to it since the examples given in the Torah are not relevant to people’s modern-day lifestyles, and there are still people who don’t understand the horrors of the modern-day factory farming world. Or they think it’s permissible because it’s for food. But it’s not permissible. It’s going directly against a law from the Torah. I think if we properly apply Tza’ar Baalei Chayim in the world today, then Jews would no longer support factory farming.
Jeffrey: Definitely. And since factory farming violates Tza’ar Baalei Chayim, buying meat, eggs or dairy products would violate it too. In Judaism, you are forbidden to do anything that enables another person to commit a sin.
It’s worth noting for our Christian friends that while Tz’aar Baalei Chayim is a Jewish law, it stems from Torah verses that are in the Bible shared by both religions, such as Exodus 23:5.
This brings us to my final question. How much of what we’re saying also applies to Christians and Christianity?
Gersh: I’m not an expert on Christianity. I think Christianity extracts values from Judaism. There is a good reason why Christians should also adopt this lifestyle: living kindly and compassionately toward God’s Creation and creatures.
Jeffrey: Amen. Thank you, Rabbi Gersh.
