Opinion 

The Problem With Not Enough

By BVeg 

Recently, Proposition 2, a well publicized “animal welfare” ballot measure passed in California.  The measure was supported by many major animal rights groups including the Humane Society of the United States and the ASPCA.  But the measure was only able to pass because many animal loving individuals went to the polls a few weeks ago with the best intentions to improve the lives of millions of farm animals.
 
On the surface, the ballot measure looked like a great idea, and its supporters believed that the measure would be a step in the right direction for improving conditions at many of the worst factory farms in California.  In the words of the Yes On Prop 2 organization:

[Proposition 2 is] a modest measure that stops cruel and inhumane treatment of animals, ending the practice of cramming farm animals into cages so small the animals can’t even turn around or extend their limbs.

It is of course true that any, even minor, improvement in the lives of farm animals could be seen as a good thing.  Wouldn’t any animal rather be able to turn around in their cage rather than being unable to move for their entire lives?  Wouldn’t factory farming be much less cruel if the animals were treated better?  Yes.  But when these improvements are looked at with the larger economic and social reality of factory farming and animal welfare laws, these improvements lose much of their power.

Question for the Kehillah

Check out the forums for the current "Question for the Kehillah" (community).  Share your views and learn from others!

How can we as a Jewish community best "sensitize" other Jews to the realities of the meat industry, and the power of a vegan/vegetarian diet? Which facts are the most important to use? Should we focus on social justice, the environment, kashrut, Jewish ethics, compassion towards animals or something else entirely? From your experience and conversations with others, what works and what doesn't when discussing vegetarianism? What advice would you like from others?

Click here to share. 

We Have Recipes!

The ShalomVeg recipe section is back up!  We have a small but growing collection of Jewish classics made veg, holiday favorites and other tasty treats.  Over the next few days, we'll be adding more recipes to the database.  Click on the "recipe" button on the menu above or click here to browse the recipes.

If you have a recipe you would like to submit, send it to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and we can add it to the site! 

ShalomVeg is Growing - 240+ members! 

We hope that everyone had a great summer, and a meaningful High Holidays. It has been a long time since our last site update post, and we want to make sure that everyone knows that ShalomVeg is still up and going strong. There are now over 240 members from seven different countries (at last count), and as you can see from the member profiles, quite an interesting and varied group. Since there are so many new members to the community, this post will give a few important updates and also let some of the new members know a little bit more about the site and all of its features.

Site Updates

Free-Range and Organic Meat,

Eggs, and Dairy Products: Conning Consumers? 

 From the learning pages of ShalomVeg.  If you are interested in this very important topic, make sure to check out the new education and advocacy site, humanemyth.org

A Gallup poll revealed that most Americans support the better treatment of animals who are factory-farmed for their meat, milk, and eggs.(1) As people become more aware of the horrors of factory farming, companies are responding by labeling their products “all-natural,” “free-range,” “free-roaming,” or “organic.” But these labels are misleading. Most “free-range” animals are still mutilated and forced to endure long trips to slaughterhouses without any food or water. They all have their lives violently cut short and are denied the opportunity to engage in everything that is natural and important to them.

A Meaningful Life:

Animal Advocacy, Human Nature, & A Better World

Matt Ball, Co-founder, Vegan Outreach

From VeganOutreach.com 

Effective advocates — those who are truly successful in fostering change — are thoughtful psychologists. They understand that each of us is born with a certain intrinsic nature. We are then raised to adopt certain beliefs, and taught to hold specific prejudices. Over time, we discover new “truths” and abandon others; we mix and match, supplement and refine, continually altering our collection of attitudes, principles, and values.

By Richard H. Schwartz

President, Jewish Vegetarians of North America

There is a widely accepted aspect of modern life that contradicts many Jewish teachings and harms people, communities, and the planet -- the mass production and widespread consumption of meat. Yet, this issue is generally ignored by the Jewish community. Here are some reasons why it is very important that this issue be put on the Jewish agenda, and other agendas:

1. The world is rapidly approaching an unprecedented catastrophe from global warming and other environmental threats, and a shift toward plant-based diets is an essential part of the necessary response to avoid disaster.

Several leading experts, including James Hansen of NASA and physicist Stephen Hawking, perhaps the most famous living scientist, as well as Al Gore and others, warn that global climate change may reach a 'tipping point' and spiral out of control, with disastrous consequences, if current conditions continue. A recent 700-page British government report, authored by a former chief economist for the World Bank, projects losses of up to 20% of world gross domestic product by 2050 unless 1% of current world domestic product is devoted to combating global climate change. Other economic studies have projected even worse scenarios. It therefore should not be surprising that the Pentagon states that global warming is a larger threat than even terrorism.

Judaism, Hunger and Vegetarianism

By Richard Schwartz

World hunger statistics are staggering: Over 1 billion people, nearly a fifth of the world's population, are chronically undernourished. Between 700 and 800 million people lack sufficient income to obtain the basic necessities of life. It has been estimated that twenty million people die annually due to hunger and its effects, including diseases brought on by lowered resistance due to malnutrition.

Children are particularly victimized by malnutrition. Three out of four who die due to hunger are children. In poor countries, over 40 percent of all deaths occur among children under five years old. Almost 6 percent of the world's children die before their first birthday. At least 100,000 children annually go blind due to vitamin A deficiency in their diet. Malnourishment also brings listlessness and reduced capacity for learning and activities, which perpetuates the legacy of poverty.