13. We are How We Eat: A Jewish Approach to Food and Sustainability

This material was prepared by Rabbi Yonatan Neril and Evonne Marzouk of Canfei Nesharim, as part of the Jewcology project.

This source sheet was created in collaboration with Canfei Nesharim, Jewcology, Jewish Nature and the ROI Community.

The Sefaria Source Sheet was collated and edited by Rachel Kelman, a 2022 summer inchworm.

Outline of Topics:

I. Jewish Festivals and their Agricultural Links
II. Esau and Eating

III. Food Security and Growing One’s Own Food
IV. Eating in Holiness
V. Agriculture in Israel and Local Food Production
VI. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook on Eating Meat
VII. Jewish Views on Reincarnated Souls in Food

I. Jewish Festivals and their Agricultural Links

Discussion Questions:

1. What kind of emotion is evoked by the statement which was recited when the first fruits were brought?
2. What can this teach us about our relationship to our land and our food?

II. Esau and Eating

III. Food Security and Growing One’s Own Food

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the benefit of growing your own food?
2. What are the drawbacks?
3. How do you think the rabbis would interpret our situation today?

IV. Eating in Holiness

Be'er Mayim, Haggadah Shel Pesach, translated by Rabbi David Sears
"If three people ate together at one table and did not speak words of Torah, it is as if they partook of slaughter to the dead" (Avos 3:4). Citing a teaching of his master, the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezeritch (R. Dov Ber ben Avraham, 1704-1772) said: Souls of the deceased are reincarnated in food and drink, waiting for a person to speak words of Torah and give them life. However, if one does not say words of Torah, he "slaughters the dead" who had been thus reincarnated and casts them back to the inanimate realm.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the difference between food eaten at a table at which words of Torah are spoken?
2. Why does the number of people at the table matter?
3. What is the relationship between the altar and the table?

V. Agriculture in Israel and Local Food Production

V.a. The Tribe of Judah

V. b. The Tribe of Zebulun

V. c. The Tribe of Isaachar

V. d. The Tribe of Asher

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think Jacob’s blessings revolve so much around food?
2. If you lived in Jerusalem 3,000 years ago, where would your wheat, wine, olive oil, and fruit likely come from?
3. Where does it come from today?

VI. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook on Eating Meat

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, selections from "A Vision of Vegetarianism And Peace," (Chazon HaTzimchonut V'HaShalom), from chapters 1, 2, and 12, translated by Rabbi David Sears²

The Just Treatment of Animals
There is a fundamental branch of human advancement that according to the present state of the prevailing culture, exists today only in the pleasant dream of a few extremely idealistic souls: an innate ethical striving for just, humane feeling that is fully attentive to the fate of animals. Certain cruel philosophies that base their ethics on human reason, especially those that deny belief in God, have advocated that man completely stifle within himself any sense of justice for animals. However, they have not succeeded, nor shall they succeed with all their self-serving cleverness, in perverting the innate sense of justice that the Creator planted within the human soul. Although sympathy for animals is like the glow of a smoldering ember buried under a great heap of ashes, nevertheless, it is impossible for them to negate this sensitivity within every feeling heart. For failing to heed the good and noble instinct not to take any form of life, whether for one's needs or physical gratification, constitutes a moral lack in the human race.

Our sages did not agree with these philosophical views [that suppress a sense of justice for animals]. They tell us that the holy Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi was visited with afflictions because he told a calf being led to slaughter, that had sought refuge in the skirts of his garment, "Go! This is the purpose for which you were created." His healing was also brought about by a deed, when he showed mercy to some weasels (Babylonian Talmud,
Tractate Bava Metzia 85a)... It is impossible to imagine that the Master of all that transpires, Who has mercy upon His all creatures, would establish an eternal decree such as this in the creation that He pronounced "exceedingly good," namely, that it should be impossible for the human race to exist without violating its own moral instincts by shedding blood, be it even the blood of animals.

Man's Original Diet Was Vegetarian
...The Torah attests that all humanity once possessed this lofty moral level. Citing scriptural proofs, our sages explain (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 57a) that Adam was not permitted to eat meat: "Behold, I have given you every tree... yielding seed for food" (Genesis 1:29). Meat was permitted only to the children of Noah, after the Flood: "Like the green herb, I have given you everything" (Genesis 9:3). Is it conceivable that this moral excellence, which once existed as an inherent human characteristic, should be lost forever? Concerning these and similar matters, it states, "I shall bring knowledge from afar, and unto my Maker I shall ascribe righteousness" (Job 36:3). In the future, God shall cause us to make great spiritual strides, and thus extricate us from this complex question.

Vegetarianism and Enlightenment
When humanity reaches its goal of complete happiness and spiritual liberation, when it attains that lofty peak of perfection that is the pure knowledge of God and the full manifestation of the essential holiness of life, then the age of "motivation by virtue of enlightenment" will have arrived...³ At that time human beings will recognize their companions in creation: all the animals. They will understand how it is fitting from the standpoint of the purest ethical standard not to resort to moral concessions, to compromise the Divine attribute of justice with that of mercy⁴ [by permitting humankind's exploitation of animals]; for they will no longer need extenuating concessions, as in those matters of which the Talmud states: "The Torah speaks only of the evil inclination" (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin 31b).⁵ Rather they will walk the path of absolute good. As the prophet declares: "I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; I also will banish the bow and sword, and war from the land..." (Hosea 2:20)

Discussion Question:

1. Based on these sections of Rav Kook’s teachings, what are some of his main ideas about eating meat, in our time and in a future time?

VII. Jewish Views on Reincarnated Souls in Food

Sefer HaPeliah, s.v. U'r'ei v'havain, pp. 282-283, translation by Rabbi David Sears
The verse states: "For your soul desires to eat flesh..." -- "your soul" alludes to a kindred [reincarnated] soul, which thus "belongs" to you [and desires that you redeem it]; "...after all the desire of your soul you may eat flesh" (Deuteronomy 12:20). That is, your intention must be to spiritually elevate the soul for which you are responsible that dwells within the food. However, the one who eats must be spiritually elevated in order to accomplish this task. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, will prepare for him appropriate food. If the one who eats does not have this intention, but eats merely to satisfy his craving, the [captive soul within the] food will ascend above to its proper place, whereas the one who eats will descend to the spiritual level formerly occupied by the [soul that had been captive within the] food he consumed. Thus, the status of a human may become exchanged with that of an animal, and vice versa.⁶

Consider this well, my child, and you will see that the Tannaim (Mishnaic masters) and Amoraim (Talmudic masters) permitted meat to themselves alone, for all their deeds were for the sake of Heaven. Thus, our sages ask, "And as for others, when is it eaten?" and they reply, "From one Sabbath eve to the next,"⁷ for then Divine mercy prevails, and one's intent is perfect. Moreover, one who saves a soul of Israel is considered to have kept the entire Torah.⁸ However, in these subsequent generations, when the commandments have come to be performed as if by rote, even Talmudic scholars should not risk losing their souls as a consequence of eating meat. Nevertheless, one who understands the meaning of eating, and the mystery of the verse stated above, is permitted to eat meat [and in so doing, engage in the risks of elevating the reincarnated souls contained therein].
Indeed, we find that our sages were so moved by this concern that they declared: "One ignorant of Torah (am ha'aretz) is forbidden to eat meat."15 Since an am ha'aretz is comparable to an animal, for what purpose may he consume the soul of one who is superior to him, and himself turn into an animal that will be consumed by another am ha'aretz, and still not attain purification? By eating without proper intent, he will bring about his own destruction. It is better for such a person to consume the herb of the Earth, rather than damage his soul.

Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, Rimzei Yisrael, translated by Rabbi David Sears
...Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, create the various sorts of food and drink that man craves? The reason is because there are actually sparks of Adam hidden in the mineral realm (domem), in vegetative life (tzomei'ach), in the animal kingdom (chai), and in mankind (medaber). They long to attach themselves to holiness... All the food and drink a person consumes contains sparks which actually belong to him, and which he must rectify...

Discussion Questions:

1. According to these sources, what is the spiritual significance of our consuming food?
2. How might we eat differently if we took this into account?

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Endnotes

1. The verse’s use of ‘before Hashem’ in relation to a person’s table is understand to imply speaking words of Torah at a table in which food is eaten, as stated by the above Mishna in Pirke Avot 3:3 (see Rashi there, and Chidushim to Ein Yaakov).
2. Rav Kook was the first chief rabbi of pre-state Israel. Translation from A Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism, Orot: Spring Valley, NY, 2003
3. The term "he'aras ha-sechel is from Rabbenu Bachya ibn Pakuda, Chovos haLevavos, Sha'ar Avodas Elokim, chap. 3, a favorite passage of Rav Kook.
4. Midrash Bereishis Rabba 8:4.
5. See Sefer HaIkkarim 3:15.
6. R’ Chaim Vital citing the Ari in Sha'ar HaMitzvos (below) apparently disagrees with the contention of the author of Sefer HaPeliah that the transmigrated soul may be redeemed even in the absence of proper intent by the one who consumes the food.
7. Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Pesachim 49b
8. This appears to be a variant of the Mishnaic teaching: "If one saves one soul of Israel, it is as if he had saved an entire world"