It is not respectful to use all of the parts of an animal

Some people claim it is respectful to the animal to buy the liver of a dead animal, etcetera.


This mentality also permeates the "slow food" movement (they refer to it as the "nose to tail" use of an animal and insist that it's more ethical and respectful to consume as much of another animal's body once you've stolen her life). Whether you take her life in the forest, in a slaughterhouse or behind a barn, I guarantee you that this being whose life you stole her wouldn't care which part -- or how many parts -- of her dead body you took for your own selfish use. And however little or much you use has no bearing whatsoever on whether or not you were wrong to kill her. ~ My Face Is on Fire

Is love, compassion and nonviolence in alighment with Torah/Judaism-beliefs about humans and animals?

A friend wrote me: “Please reconsider your position, not following Torah, it is illogical. The people in Judaism are just that people. However we/ you can't make a difference on the outside of Judaism. The road your taking is hurting people.”

Here are my thoughts. I only want to help, so I hope you take it in a positive way. I write this only out of caring. Please take your time to contemplate over what I write.

Some quotes I like:

"It should not be believed that all beings exist for the sake of the existence of man. On the contrary, all the other beings too have been intended for their own sake and not for the sake of anything else." ~Maimonides

"Milk was destined to to feed the animals offspring and not that man should take it with force for himself. The kid has the right to enjoy it's mother's milk and it's mother's love, but hard-hearted man, influenced by his materialistic and shallow outlook, changes and perverts these true functions. Thus the gentile kid is unable to partake of it's mother's love and rejoice in the splendor of life." ~Rabbi Abraham Kook, chief rabbi of Israel.

"Samson Raphael Hirsch stated: "Here you are faced with God's teaching, which obliges you not only to refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help and, when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you see an animal suffering, even through no fault of yours.""

You wrote: “The road your taking is hurting people.””

I don’t believe that doing my best to live a life of love, compassion and nonviolence to humans and all other sentient beings is hurting people. In fact I do believe that if we are hurting other sentient beings, this shows that we are already hurt. I believe that veganism is a message of healing to ourselves, and healing to all human and nonhuman animals. I do my best to make this world into a better place – a vegan world without poverty, starvation, wars, slavery, discrimination, injustice, violence and hatred, which all are so dominant and rampant in our society.  I don’t believe in enslaving, inflicting unnecessary suffering and death upon innocent and precious animals, who all value life as much as we do, destroying their families and friend relationships, stealing their purpose and life, just for “taste”, habit, convenience or tradition.

We know that it is morally wrong to inflict unnecessary suffering and death upon animals: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/what-michael-vick-taught-us/ .
Research shows that animal products are bad for human health. I don’t believe a Loving and Compassionate Creator would recommend a diet which causes cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, etc.: http://www.adelicatebalance.com.au/ ; http://www.drmcdougall.com/medical_ailments.html ; and inflicts unnecessary suffering and harm upon animals, that all want to live and not to be killed, hurt, exploited and enslaved by us. Our culture only hurts and kills animals despite the complete lack of necessity. When we eat animal products we are contradicting the very principle we truly believe in, about not inflicting animals suffering and death despite the lack of necessity.

I highly recommend this wonderful lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvZpF1R6GUo ; and this book: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15188-7/animal-oppression-and-human-violence#.UZAIageHrdk.facebook

 The arguments I presented above are one of several reasons why I don’t follow the Torah.

“However we/ you can't make a difference on the outside of Judaism.”

What sort of difference are you referring to? I know that a lifestyle of veganism and nonviolence that are opposed to all injustices, discrimination and violence, instills love, compassion and nonviolence in people both towards humans and other animals.

What are your thoughts about all this?

Take care!!

Love and peace,

The connection between animal slavery and exploitation for food and slavery of humans

This is a great article covering the connection between animal slavery and human slavery, and how our violence against the animals is enslaving us: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/what-are-the-roots-of-freedom-and-slavery/

He is also the author of one of my favourite books World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle. Have you read it?
http://www.worldpeacediet.org/ .He also has some very interesting lectures on his website, like this one: http://vimeo.com/17538152

The enslavement of animals, the domestication, also has resulted in human slavery, oppression against women, and other forms of oppression that is rampant in our society. It is covered in this book that I want to read: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-15188-7/animal-oppression-and-human-violence#.UZAIageHrdk.facebook

No joy and love of eating animal products, fear, suffering and enslavement

There can be no true joy and love when eating a meal, which resulted in fear, suffering, enslavement and death for precious and conscious beings.

"Eating is an act of connecting. Even if we eat alone, we are not alone. The food we are eating connects us with the rhythms, forces, and abundance of nature and of our universe, and with the presence of those who nurtured and gathered the foods we are eating. Fields, forests, oceans, rivers, wildlife, farmers, and grocers are all with us and become part of us as we chew and digest the food.

People we think of while we are chewing and digesting our food become a part of us also. Crossculturally, meals are events of social bonding and communion. When we eat together as a family or a community, and especially if we do it in an attitude of appreciation of the food and the opportunity of being together, we strengthen the bonds of understanding and love between us.
If we consume animal foods, all of these elements of energy and consciousness are diminished by the violence and fear inherent in the vibration of the foods we are eating. Thich Nhat Hanh says it plainly:

'When we eat an egg or a chicken, we know that the egg or chicken can also contain a lot of anger. We are eating anger, and therefore we express anger. . . . So be aware. Be careful what you eat. If you eat anger, you will become and express anger. If you eat despair, you will express despair. If you eat frustration, you will express frustration.'

Since there is such an obvious and overwhelmingly strong vibration of violence, fear, and despair in animal foods, when we prepare the food we are not likely to do so mindfully, but mechanically and quickly, in order to avoid awakening our natural sensitivity. We tend to eat these foods in a disconnected way as well. To maintain our pretense that we are oblivious to the obvious horror on our plates, we eat quickly and keep ourselves busy and distracted. Fast food and the industrialization
of eating are understandable outcomes of eating animal foods over an extended period. The aggressive busyness of our culture and our
outward-looking expansionist orientation are rooted historically and currently in our discomfort with how we treat the animals we eat and
the hardness we cultivate toward their suffering."
[Quote World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle; available for free at: http://www.worldpeacediet.org/download.htm ]

Veganism is the only rational response to the recognition that animals matter morally.

The animal movement should be clear: veganism is the *only* rational response to the recognition that animals matter morally. Animal advocates should *never* be partnering with industry to try to make the process of exploitation "better."

The economic reality that animals are property will always constrain and limit welfare reform to measures that, as a general matter, improve production and are rational for industry to pursue. If the movement spoke with a unified vegan voice, industry would respond with welfare reforms anyway to try to assure the public that veganism was not necessary and that animal products were produced in a "humane" way. Welfare reform will happen even if animal advocates don't campaign for it.

When animal advocates partner with industry, the message that is sent to the public is that they can be "compassionate" consumers. That is a message that industry loves. It should never be a message promoted by animal advocates. There is no such thing as "compassionate" consumption. There is veganism and there is direct participation in animal exploitation. There is no third choice.