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Judaism and Global Survival
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.
New York: Lantern Books, (New Revised Edition), 2002
Review by Deborah Jones, editor of "The Ark" Journal of the Catholic
Study Circle for Animal Welfare. No 192, Winter 2002

IF THERE IS one book you will want for your collection which is marvelously informative on both Judaism and the environment, this is it. It is the best with this combination since WWF and Cassell brought out their Judaism and Ecology volume in the 'World Religions and Ecology' series ten years ago. It stands on a par with Sean McDonagh's To Care for the Earth, and subsequent works - and that says a lot! Professor Schwartz's Judaism and Vegetarianism (reviewed in The Ark No. 189) gave a full account of Jewish attitudes to animal welfare, and there is much in this new book which covers the subject, woven throughout, as it should be. In the section considering 'Vegetarianism - a Global Imperative?' for example, Schwartz uses the teaching of rabbis to explain that: 'By the time of Noah, humanity had morally degenerated "And God saw the earth, and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth" (Genesis 6:12). People had morally degenerated to such an extent that they would eat a limb torn from a living animal. So, as a concession to people's weakness, God granted permission for people to eat meat (Genesis 9:3) ... if people had been denied the right to eat meat some might have eaten the flesh of human beings instead, due to their inability to control their lust for flesh.'

There is a happy balance in this book between the ethical and religious, and the hard facts of environmental problems, without going over well-worn ground or just reiterating bland proof-texts. Apart from the chapter on environmental problems in Israel, which is less relevant for Christian readers, everything else speaks to people of either the Christian or Jewish faiths. The author's intentions are not just to show how Jewish values can help to solve many of the world's most pressing and critical problems, but also to suggest positive ways of applying the values. 'It is not the study that is the chief thing, but the doing.' (Kiddushin 40b).

The Appendix A: 'Action Ideas' is full of basic, do-able ideas which all of us could and should embrace. The one area which seems not to be covered in this otherwise comprehensive study is that of GMOs, which may reflect the lower profile this issue has received on the American side of the Atlantic. There is reference to the disappointing outcome of the promises of 'miracle crops', but these are not the same thing. Perhaps in the future work by this prolific author, the subject of genetic engineering of both plants and animals may be approached. I should look forward to his turning the spotlight of Jewish ethics on to this subject, and hope that Christian ethicists may be shamed into doing something similar!

I find 'Appendix B: Miscellaneous Background Matter' so interesting, that I reproduce it here in full:

A: Jewish Values vs. Conventional Values Held by Many People. One of the primary factors behind many of the world's problems today is the sharp discrepancy between Jewish values and those believed and practiced by much of the world, including many Jews. Consider:

Jewish Values Conventional Values
1. Prophets
1. Profits
2. Love your neighbor as yourself
2. Suspect your neighbor as yourself
3. Just weights; just measures
3. Let the buyer beware
4. People created in God's image
4. People treated as consumers
5. God
5. Me
6. The Earth is the Lord's
6. The earth exploited for convenience and profit
7. People are co-workers with God. Seek in efforts to improve the world.
7. Do your own thing. Personal advantage.
8. Sanctity of every life.
8. Lives endangered to increase gain.

9. Tzedek, tzedek tirdof (Justice, justice shall you pursue

9. Societies filled with injustice.
10. Tza'ar ba'alei chayim (kindness to animals)
10. Animals treated cruelly to meet human desires
11. God provides food for all; Share
your bread with the hungry.
11. Millions die annually, due to lack of food; "enough for the world's need, but not its greed."
12. Leave corners of the field and gleanings of the harvest for the poor.
12. Centralized help; let government handle social problems.
13. I am my brother's keeper.
13. 'What's in it for me?"
14. Sumptuary laws that limited
expenditures on simchas.
14. Lavish affairs; wastefulness.
15. Sabbatical year; let the ground lie fallow.
15. Fertility of soil destroyed by planting single-crops year after year.
16. Jubilee; redistribution of wealth.
16. Growing rich-poor gaps.
17. To be.
17. To have; to consume; to appear.
18. Dignity of labor.
18. Little pride in work.
19. Seek peace and pursue it.
19. 'My country right or wrong'; Excessive arms expenditures.
20. Be kind to the stranger.
20. Discrimination and animosity between groups.

In order to solve the many critical problems that the world now faces, it is essential that the values of the world be replaced with Jewish values!

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