cover image Vegetarian Judaism: A Guide for Everyone

Vegetarian Judaism: A Guide for Everyone

Roberta Kalechofsky. Book Publishing Company (TN), $15.95 (246pp) ISBN 978-0-916288-45-7

According to Kalechofsky (Autobiography of a Revolutionary: Essays on Animal and Human Rights), ""meat today... violates the most fundamental of Jewish concepts: concern for health, for the environment, for the animal, for the Jewish community, for the human race."" Concerned that even the rules of kashrut (kosher) can't protect any of these fundamental rights, the author sets out on an examination of the history of kashrut in the modern age and a history of the development of farming from family-owned farms to factory farms. Along the way, she argues that meat consumption is responsible for many public health problems. Kalechofsky engages in a deep study of Torah and Talmud to contend that Judaism is a religion whose ideals are best enacted through a vegetarian lifestyle. The chapters are devoted to five Jewish principles on which Kalechofsky says a righteous Jewish diet must be based: ""pikuach nefesh (guard your health); tsa'ar ba'alei chaim (do not cause pain to living creatures); bal tashchit (concern for the environment); tzeddakah (charity); and klal Israel (concern for the community)."" Kalechofsky's strident prose will put off many readers who might otherwise be sincerely interested in vegetarian Judaism. (Sept.)