either love it or hate it. Ac-
tress Doris Day and "Price is
Right" host Bob Barker are
dyed-in-the-wool animal
rights activists. Rep. Tom
Lantos, D-Calif., a Holocaust
survivor, has been a leading
spokesman in the House for
animal rights and is an ad-
visory board member of
CHAT. The late author Isaac
Bashevis Singer wrote that
"in their behavior toward
creatures, all men are
Nazis."
On the other side of the
coin is radio talk show host
Rush Limbaugh, whose na-
tionally syndicated program
includes an "Animal Rights
Update" of shotguns
blasting in the background
as Andy Williams croons
"Born Free." Predictably,
hunters have plenty of
criticism for PETA and espe-
cially ALF, the Animal Lib-
eration Front, an under-
ground group whose members
have been known to break in-
to clinics and "liberate"
animals on whom experi-
The Torah directs
man to treat
animals with
kindness and
compassion.
ments have been performed.
Several years ago, Guns and
Ammo ran a story labeling
animal liberation "the new .
trend in terrorism."
None of this passionate at-
tention to deer and rats and
dogs surprises Southfield
resident Linda Gale. She has
been a vegetarian since she
was 15, when all meat
"began to taste raw to me."
As a pregnant woman in the
throes of labor, her first
thought was of animals:
animals slated for medical
experiments who, unlike
Mrs. Gale, "would never see
an end to their pain,"
animals who had once been
test subjects for the very
drugs used to make her
delivery easier.
"I actually feel what the
animals feel," she said.
A former Hillel Day School
teacher who raised funds for
CHAI, Mrs. Gale believes
one of the best things she
can do is instruct children
about animal rights.
"It's a major, major part of
my curriculum," said Mrs.
Gale, who now teaches
preschool students in public .
school. "I do a lot on wolves
— how they keep the balance
of nature and care for the
young. I want kids to under-
stand. My point is that the
animal has value and a right
to live."
M
any Jews involved in
animal rights say
their beliefs are man-
dated by Halachah, Jewish
law. This is why, they say,
animal rights is a specifical-
ly Jewish issue.
The Torah does demand
tsa'ar ba'alei chaim, the
prevention of cruelty to
animals, and directs man to
treat them with kindness
and compassion. One is
obligated to feed his animals
before eating himself.
Numerous midrashim re-
count how men were punish-
ed for mistreating animals
or not extending them mer-
cy, while men like Moses
and David — shepherds
known for their benevolent
attitude to all God's
creatures — are singled out
for merit. "The righteous
man regards the life of his
beast," says Proverbs 12:10.
Maimonides believed that
kindness was part of
kashrut. Shechitah, kosher
slaughter, involves slitting
an animal's throat between
the trachea and esophagus.
It is said to bring quick
death and be virtually
painless.
Rabbis have been quick to
condemn inhumane treat-
ment of animals raised for
slaughter. The late Rabbi
Moshe Feinstein, a leading
talmudic scholar, labeled
treatment of calves raised
for veal "wicked" because
the animals suffered so
much.
Animal activists argue
that the whole process of
kashrut in the United States
is inhumane. In fact, there is
no such thing as kosher
meat in this country because
the animals are in so much
pain before they are slaugh-
tered, said Mrs. Kalechof-
sky, whose JAR is based in
Marblehead, Mass.
Her particular complaint
is with the process that
occurs before the animal's
throat is slit. For hygienic
reasons, U.S. law demands
that an animal be off the
ground when killed. Thus
some slaughterhouses
employ a "shackling and
hoisting" process, which
means lifting a cow by its
hind leg just before its throat
is cut.
Mrs. Kalechofsky says
that in the shackling and
hoisting process, the
animals writhe and twist
about before their deaths. In
non-kosher slaughterhouses,
the cattle are stunned after
being hoisted. But kashrut
laws forbid that the animal
be in any way injured before
it is killed.
Some 1.5 million cows are
slaughtered each year for
kosher meat. About a
quarter of these go through
the shackle-and-hoist pro-
cess, according to animal
rights activist Peter
Lovenheim, a Washington
attorney. The rest are killed
in restraining pens, which
animal advocates label the
lesser of two evils.
Chickens raised for
slaughter — including
shechitah — live in cramped
cages, walking in their own
feces, Mrs. Kalechofsky add-
ed. Because of overcrowding,
their skin is often rubbed
raw and they suffer high
mortality rates. She asks:
Does any of this meet
kashrut demands that an
animal not suffer before be-
ing killed?
Rabbi Eliezer Cohen of
Young Israel of Oak-Woods
says misunderstandings ex-
ist about kashrut. Shechitah
is believed to be relatively
painless, he said. But that is
not the reason Jews are
obligated to keep kosher.
"We do shechitah because
that's the way we have to,
because of Halachah," he
said. "Whether it's painless
is irrelevant."
Consequently, animals are
not rendered treife, non-
kosher, simply if they suffer
in the shackling and
E52,
"-
Does Judaism
Advocate Vegetarianism?
R
oberta Kalechofsky
watched her grand-
father die "a terribly
painful death, a preventable
death." He had hardening of
the arteries in the brain
which had been clogged, Mrs.
Kalechofsky said, with
animal fat.
Today, Mrs. Kalechofsky,
head of Jews for Animal
Rights (JAR), is a strict
vegetarian and believes peo-
ple everywhere should
follow her example.
Vegetarianism is healthy
and moral — the Jewish
thing to do, she believes.
"The only argument against
it is the enormous weight of
tradition."
Numerous Jewish
vegetarian societies exist to-
day, and a number of promi-
nent Jews were dedicated
vegetarians: Rav Abraham
Issac Kook, first chief rabbi
of Israel, former Ashkenazi
Chief Shlomo Goren of
Israel, and authors Isaac
Bashevis Singer, S.Y. Agnon
and Franz Kafka.
Jewish animal rights ac-
tivists believe that when the
Messiah comes, man will
return to his original state,
as described in the Garden of
Eden, when he was a
vegetarian.
Just after giving the laws
of kashrut, "God saw every-
Jewish vegetarians
include Rav
Abraham Isaac
Kook, first chief
rabbi of Israel,
former Ashkenazi
Chief Shlomo
Goren of Israel, and
authors Isaac
Bashevis Singer,
S.Y. Agnon and
Franz Kafka.
thing He had made and
`behold, it was very good,' "
writes Richard Schwartz,
author of Judaism and Veg-
etarianism, printed by JAR's
Micah Publications.
"Everything in the universe
was as God wanted it, with
nothing superfluous and
nothing lacking, a complete
harmony. The vegetarian
diet was consistent with
God's initial plan."
Though Halachah does
place strict guidelines on
which meat may be eaten,
and the way animals must
be killed, Jewish law does
not advocate vegetarianism,
according to Rabbi Eliezer
Cohen of Young Israel of
Oak-Woods.
In fact, at times eating
meat is obligatory — in the
case of animal sacrifices in
the Temple. At other times,
such as on holidays, it is
preferable.
"There is certainly room
for vegetarians within
Halachah, too," Rabbi
Cohen said. "But it is not
encouraged or looked on as
preferable." ❑
E.A.