Move To Ban Kosher Slaughter Really Not About the Animals

Anti-Semitism Lurks Behind the European Fight on Shechitah

By Jacob Ari Labendz for The Jewish Daily Forward

A number of European countries have recently sought, with some success, to ban the ritual slaughter of four-legged animals by Muslims and Jews. Denmark did so in February, following Poland in January. Proponents framed the discussion in terms of animal welfare. They have a point. Executed properly, animals suffer less when stunned — that is, rendered unconscious — before they are slaughtered. Mainstream interpretations of Muslim and Jewish law prohibit this practice.

Yet the bans on ritual slaughter, which are meant to protect animals from pain, have much more to do with excluding certain ethnic and religious groups and should therefore raise concern, even among activists who would normally support them.

As a vegan, I oppose industrial meat processing for its abject cruelty and indifference to animals. I should therefore support all initiatives that in any way ameliorate the suffering of those animals our society has deemed livestock. Just like the proponents of the ban, I, too, prefer that butchers stun cattle before they brandish their knives. I am even sympathetic to the Australian solution of “stunning” livestock immediately after ritual slaughter, to minimize suffering, while remaining within the bounds of religious law. Finland has provided a similar accommodation for its Jewish community since 1934.

Nonetheless, I strongly oppose banning ritual slaughter. For me, this has little to do with religious freedom. Though a bedrock of our society, religious freedom also has its limits. We outlaw female genital mutilation and compel parents to provide medical care for their children, even if they oppose doing so on religious grounds. Considered in isolation, if stunning is a “kinder and gentler” way to kill, I would insist upon its adoption despite the religious objections.

Yet we must first answer a few questions. What does it mean for predominantly Christian and post-Christian societies to ban Muslim and Jewish ritual slaughter when cruelty is inherent to the entire system of industrial animal farming, from birth until death? Why have activists seized upon this issue so fervently, and, more importantly, so successfully?

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Israel signs agreement to participate in EU Horizon 2020 research program

By SHARON UDASIN for The Jerusalem Post

The agreement, once ratified by Israel, will allow eligible Israeli researchers to actively participate in all of the new program's activities.

Science Technology and Space Minister Yaakov Peri and EU Delegation to Israel Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen signed an agreement on Sunday in Jerusalem, officially associating Israel with the European Commission’s €77 billion Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

The agreement, once ratified by Israel, will allow eligible Israeli researchers to actively participate in all of the new program’s activities, alongside EU and international partners, a statement from the European Commission said on Monday. As a full participant in the program, Israel will also be contributing to the Horizon 2020 budget, the EU statement said.

“Israel is a strong player in research and innovation and for this reason an important partner for the EU to address societal challenges of common concern, such as aging, food safety, environment protection or cleaner energy, and to strengthen the competitiveness of our industries,” said European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, who attended the signing alongside Peri, Faaborg-Andersen and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

“I am pleased that we are signing the agreement today since it reflects the mutual importance we attach to cooperation and partnership in research and innovation,” Barroso continued.

Israel first announced its intentions to become an official participant in the program in February, following several obstacles associated with EU guidelines in July.

These guidelines stipulated that no funding would go to Israeli projects located beyond the pre-1967 armistice lines, including in east Jerusalem and on the Golan Heights. Ultimately, the two sides “agreed to disagree,” with Israel publishing its qualms in an appendix.

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Patriarch Bartholomew Plants an Olive Tree in Jerusalem’s Grove of Nations

By KKL-JNF in The Jerusalem Post

“I have planted a great many trees on my travels throughout the world, but planting a tree in the Holy Land has special value,” said Patriarch Bartholomew I as he planted an olive tree in a ceremony at the Grove of Nations in Jerusalem. The event took place during Pope Francis’s visit to Israel. “Through this tree I move backwards in time to our shared roots and our shared patriarch Abraham,” said Bartholomew.

Leaders from all over the world have planted trees in the Jerusalem Forest’s Grove of Nations, as a gesture of friendship towards the State of Israel and identification with the Jewish People, and as a symbol of peace between all nations.

KKL-JNF World Chairman Efi Stenzler welcomed the Patriarch at the Grove of Nations and said, “The tree you plant here today is a symbolic step along the path to cooperation. I believe that Orthodox Christians from all over the world will follow the Patriarch’s example by planting trees in Israel and praying for a better, greener world.”

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In the California Desert, Wilderness Torah Takes Judaism Back to Nature

Founder Zelig Golden, an environmental lawyer turned rabbi-in-training, tries ‘to reconnect the Jewish people’ to the earth

By Merissa Nathan Gerson for Tablet Magazine

Shortly after he finished law school in 2007, Zelig Golden went on a “vision quest” in California’s White Mountains with Rites of Passage. Although it was “a religiously universal program,” Golden said, he had “what turned out to be a very powerful Jewish experience.”

It began as a 10-day group trip in the wilderness, at an altitude of 10,000 feet in the high desert, but the focus was on preparing for three days and nights Golden would spend alone afterward. “I was guided to go spend three days and three nights fasting and praying,” he recalled. He intended to reevaluate his “work in the world” because he’d decided that being an environmental lawyer wasn’t satisfying enough. “I came back with a very simple vision,” he said. “I wanted to connect my people to the earth.”

By “my people,” Golden meant the Jews. Two and a half months later, he turned his vision into reality, organizing the first “Sukkot on the Farm” in Dixon, Calif. “It was a little festival,” he said, “not so organized but well-intentioned.” A small, informal group of Bay Area Jews camped out at the edge of a vegetable field, where they prayed, built a sukkah, learned Torah, and toured the farm. Out of this festival, Wilderness Torah was eventually born—a Berkeley-based group Golden calls “a manifestation of this vision to reconnect the Jewish people to this thing we were once deeply connected to.”

Wilderness Torah has developed from a small gathering of campers to a full cycle of outdoor festivals tied to Jewish holidays—Sukkot, Passover, Shavuot, and Tu B’Shevat—as well as other back-to-nature wilderness quests for adults throughout the year. The group has also created a nature-mentorship b’nai mitzvah program called B’Naiture for 11-to-13 year-olds, and an outdoor-education program called B’Hootz that takes younger kids camping, hiking, and into the wilderness to learn Torah through outdoor experience with mentors.

Wilderness Torah’s numbers are rising. That first Sukkot on the Farm festival in 2007 drew 35 people; this year’s now-annual event drew 300 campers to Green Oaks Creek Farm in Pescadero, Calif., featuring organic kosher meals, a talk by tracker-author Jon Young, lessons from the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, music by the band Tevat Teva, kids’ activities, meditation, and more.

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Israel, Austria sign declaration of intent for environmental cooperation

By Sharon Udasin for The Jerusalem Post

Up until now, no formal cooperation on environmental issues existed between the Israeli and Austrian environment ministries.

Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz and his Austrian counterpart, Andrä Rupprechter, signed a declaration of intent for environmental cooperation on Friday in Vienna, ministry officials informed The Jerusalem Post.

During the Friday meeting, Peretz suggested that Austria become involved in regional projects among Israel and its neighbors, such as the rehabilitation of the Jordan River.

Rupprechter – who serves as the Austrian federal agriculture, forestry, environment and water management minister – stressed his desire to cooperation with Israel on coping with climate change.

The two ministers discussed partnerships on recycling and environmental technologies.

Until now, no cooperation on environmental issues existed between the Israeli and Austrian environmental ministries, the Israeli ministry said.

Rupprechter will visit Israel at the end of June, the ministry added.

Peretz briefed Rupprechter on the status of the peace process and expressed hope that it will be restarted soon, the ministry said.

Regarding the Jordan River, he spoke about the regional rehabilitation projects for the body of water, saying that these efforts combine environment and social justice, as well as peace.

Austria recycles about 70 percent of its waste, which is the highest recycling rate in Europe, the Israeli Environmental Ministry said.

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Eilat’s coral reef on the mend but not in the clear

End to fish farming has helped recovery, but oil spills continue to take a toll.

By Zafrir Rinat for Haaretz

The general condition of the coral reef in the Gulf of Eilat has been improving steadily for the past 10 years, according to the 2013 annual report of Environmental Protection Ministry’s Marine Monitoring Program for Eilat.

With that, the reef is still exposed to threats from oil spills, and a plan to farm fish on the Jordanian side of the gulf also poses a pollution risk.

The report was prepared for the ministry by Yonatan Shaked and Prof. Amatzia Genin of the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Science in Eilat. It examined water quality, coral coverage and fish populations in the gulf.

The reef showed improvement, indicated by the increase in the corals covering it.

Coverage was heaviest in the area of the marine nature reserve, but there was also an uptrend of coral growth in areas adjacent to the Interuniversity Institute, where in the past the corals had receded considerably.

There was also a sharp increase in coral coverage and in the density of the coral colonies in the area known as the reef table, which has different characteristics from the other parts of the reef.

Photo documentation of the rock corals (which constitute a substantial percentage of the corals on the reef) show that they now cover an area almost double that measured a decade ago.

It should be noted that 10 years ago the Gulf of Eilat had serious pollution from fish farming in cages (which were removed six years ago), sewage leaks and the spread of phosphate dust. Since then the pollution has decreased significantly.

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Shavuot Decorations

These are traditionally found both in the home and the synagogue.

By Lesli Koppelman Ross for MyJewishLearning. Excerpted from Celebrate! The Complete Jewish Holiday Handbook. Reprinted with permission from Jason Aronson Inc.

Synagogues and homes are traditionally adorned with fresh greens and flowers in honor of the holiday that occurs in the spring. Small trees, leafy or flowering plants, boughs, and floral arrangements are placed around the sanctuary and near the ark, as well as around the house and on the dining table.

Favorite flowers for the occasion are lilies--standing in for the lily of the valley to which Israel is compared in the Song of Songs (2:1-2)--and roses, chosen because of a playful reinterpretation of a verse from the Book of Esther (8:14), "the decree (dat) was proclaimed in Shushan" becomes "the law (dat) was given with a rose (shoshan)."Lilies and roses often have been placed directly on the Sifrei (plural of sefer--scroll) Torah, individually, in wreaths, or in garlands.

As an agricultural holiday, Shavuot has always been linked to plant life. In particular, the baskets used to transport first fruits to the Temple were adorned with flowers and leaves. According to another explanation for the decorative scheme, the greens recall Sinai itself. The fact that the Israelites were warned not to allow their livestock to graze near the mountain (Exodus 19:12-13) indicates there was a grassy oasis at its base. The greens serve as vibrant reminders that Torah is "a tree of life to those who hold fast to it" (Proverbs 3:18).

Some rabbis claimed--even though they are in contradiction to the foundation for the holiday of Tu Bishevat--that we use branches because Shavuot is the Day of Judgment for fruit trees. Rabbi Elijah, Gaon (meaning" excellency" or "genius") of Vilna, Lithuania--the leading sage of his era (1720-1797)--tried to have the custom of decorating with flowers and leaves discontinued when similar practices became widespread among Christian churches for Whitsun, the day Jesus' disciples are said to have been divinely inspired (the Christian version of Pentecost, Greek for "50th" and the archaic term for Shavuot).

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