Fish Article Weighed in Scales and Found Wanting
I would like to share with you my concerns about the article in your latest issue entitled “Lox et Veritas: The Truth about Fish and Kashrut.”
I am pleased to find an article in New Voices prompting the consideration of diet in relation to our Jewish traditions, but I would argue the emphasis is misplaced. Instead of probing rabbis about the unusual rules regarding eating fish specifically, I would like to see an article asking whether meat justifiably has a place on the Jewish dinner table at all.
Consider the following:
— In the Jewish tradition, we are forbidden to be cruel to animals and we must treat them compassionately.
— The treatment of animals in today’s factory farms in the U.S. is in stark contradiction to fundamental Jewish teachings from the Torah. A very brief list of ubiquitous practices includes castration and branding without anesthetic, and transportation to slaughter under conditions of extreme overcrowding without food or water.
— Animals destined to become Kosher meat are raised under the same inhumane conditions as non-Kosher animals; it is only the method of slaughter that differentiates them.
Contrast this with the dismissive language of your contributor Ms.
Felton-Dansky:
— “But didn’t all those fleshy types evolve from the ocean in the first place, crawling onto the shore and then flopping onto our dinner plates? Aren’t meat’s fishy forebears being denied their culinary due?”
Although this was written in a lighthearted tone, it is a gross distortion of biological theory to claim that the natural evolution of other species is in any way directed toward humans’ dinner plates. It is no creature’s “due” to be mistreated and slaughtered for our perceived tastes. Plenty of cruelty-free and delicious vegetarian options abound in the U.S., particularly on college campuses.
— “The Torah…bases much of Kosher law on the prohibition against cooking an animal in its mother’s milk (‘Think of how cruel that would be!’ adds Rabbi Ben Tzion Krasnianski of Chabad).”
Why is cooking an animal in its mother’s milk considered more cruel than, say, separating a calf from its mother days after birth and depriving it of any exercise, sunlight, and adequate nutrition, simply to produce veal?
— “[Calves] live in constant fear of being converted into cheeseburgers (a fate far worse than the ordinary burger, to which many enterprising young calves aspire).”
It is insulting to claim that the animals used and abused in the meat industry “aspire” to be slaughtered and ground into meat products, and that it somehow matters to them whether a slice of cheese is eventually melted onto their carcass.
And so on.
I would also like to point out that the same issue features an article entitled “Coffee for Nazee,” wherein the following quote appears: “Ariel, a particularly militant anarchist vegetarian, would annoy me all day long. He would follow me around, raving about how eating animals is murder. Eventually, I had to get my friends to keep him occupied.”
Aspects of these two articles could be characterized as rather hostile toward your loyal vegetarian readership. Please consider running a piece exploring the relationship between Judaism and vegetarianism.
Sincerely,
Sharon K. Greene, MPH
Ph.D. Candidate in Epidemiologic Science
University of Michigan
Note: The website http://jewishveg.com/ provided some facts for this letter. I encourage your readers to peruse this site for further information and for answers to any questions they may have.
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