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Jewish Food Rules: Principles of a Contemporary Jewish

Food Ethic

Resources for Learning and TeachingRabbi Jacob Fine

בס’‘ד

What is This?When people think about Jews and eating, the first thing that comes to mind is typically kashrut– the traditional set of dietary laws that aim to define what is, or is not, “fit” to consume. Most notably, the laws of kashrut include permitted and forbidden animals, the instructed separation of meat and milk, and guidelines for animal slaughter. While the kashrut laws certainly represent a primary set of Jewish teachings having to do with eating, the Jewish tradition also includes a rich diversity of other laws and traditions that apply directly to the process from seed to table. For example, our tradition has a lot to say about worker rights, animal rights and the appropriate use of natural resources--all of which, clearly, intersect with eating and agriculture.

This curriculum attempts to identify a list of core values that might represent the foundation for a contemporary Jewish food ethic. Almost all of the texts you will find in this curriculum are culled from traditional Jewish sources (the Torah, Talmud, and other rabbinic books.) While the texts may not be new, we call this a “contemporary” Jewish food ethic because the values that they represent have generally not been thought of as criteria for what it means “to eat Jewish.”

Who is This For?We have designed this curriculum with a number of audiences in mind. We hope that it is of interest to anyone who cares about how and where their food was produced. We have tried to include enough background and contextual information on each page so that people with little to no exposure to classical Jewish texts are able to meaningfully engage the material. And, we have attempted to include enough fascinating texts and provocative guiding questions, so that even well-educated Jews will find this exciting, useful and learn something new.

This curriculum is designed for high school and up, but we encourage teachers and parents of younger children to adapt the material and study questions for their audiences.

How to Use This?In addition to a lot of primary texts, the curriculum includes “Useful Information,” “Guiding Questions,” and “Did You Know?”sections. The “Useful Information” boxes includes background and contextual information to allow learners to get more out of the texts. The “Did You Know?” sections provide contemporary facts and information that grounds each value in real life applications.

Jewish Farm School

Jewish Farm School

I am incredibly excited to share this first edition of our curriculum with you! I hope that the material inside will be a source of inspiration, guidance and, in true Jewish fashion, lively debate. This is a first edition of a curriculum that JFS intends to further develop and expand. In particular, we have exciting plans to develop a video component to supplement the curriculum in your hand. We would LOVE your feedback and any suggestions you have for future improvements, please email us.

I would like to thank a number of people who contributed immensely to the creation of this curriculum. I would like to thank Rabbi Scott Perlo, my dear friend and a founder of Ma’or, an exciting Jewish learning project in LA. Scott played a critical role in helping develop the format for the curriculum, modeled after a page of Talmud, as well as suggesting a number of great guiding questions. I also want to thank Jessy Gross who conceived of, and helped organize, a beit midrash at a 2010 Hazon Food Conference and invited me to experiment with some of my work on Jewish food ethics in that setting. The great feedback that we received from the beit midrash inspired me to develop the material into a functional curriculum. Thanks to Julie Goodman-Khasani who created our beautiful cover. And huge gratitude goes to my wife Julie, who worked exceptionally hard in the latter stages to copy edit, format and generally make the curriculum ready to print.

We would like to spread this curriculum as widely as possible but we ask that you not reproduce it without consent please. If you want would like to use this curriculum to teach in your community, please contact us.

Enjoy the learning and be in touch,

Rabbi Jacob Finejacob@jewishfarmschool.org

Jewish Food Rules: Principles of a Contemporary Jewish Food Ethicby Rabbi Jacob Fine First Edition: Shavuot 2011Putnam Valley, NY

Printed on Recycled Paper.

Table of ContentsTable of Contents

5 Don’t Waste

8 Be Grateful

10 Grow Your Own/Eat Local

14 Protect At-Risk Workers

16 Prevent Animal Cruelty

19 Go Beyond the Letter of the Law

21 Don’t Strengthen Transgressors

23 Elevate Eating

26 Keep Healthy

28 Open Your Hands to the Poor

31 Make God’s Name Holy

Jewish Food Rules:Principles of a Contemporary Jewish

Food Ethic

Jewish Farm School

Bal Tashhit - בל תשחית #1 - Don’t Waste

HELPFUL information:

These verses in Deuteronomy are the source of a major idea in the Torah called bal tashhit, “do not waste.”

If we had to express the idea in English, we’d probably say something like, “wise resource use.”

Deuteronomy 20:19-20

When you besiege a town for many days, waging-war against it, to seize it: you are not to bring-ruin (“lo

tashhit”) on its trees, by swinging-away (with) an axe against them, for from them you eat, them you are not

to cut-down – for are the trees of the field human beings, (able) to come against you in a siege?

Only those trees of which you know that they are not trees for eating, them you may bring-to-ruin and cut-

down, that you may build siege-works against the town that is making war against you, until its downfall.

פרשת שפטים: דברים פרק כ

(יט) כי תצור אל עיר ימים רבים להלחם עליה לתפשה לא תשחית את עצה לנדח עליו גרזן כי ממנו תאכל ואתו לא תכרת

כי האדם עץ השדה לבא מפני במצור:(כ) רק עץ אשר תדע כי לא עץ מאכל הוא אתו תשחית וכרת ובנית מצור על העיר אשר הוא עשה עמ מלחמה עד רדתה:

5

GUIDING questions: !eating - What factor determines whether trees can be cut down during war-time? What values are inferred by these Torah verses? Do you think there is a distinction between war-time and peace?

Did You Know?

Since 1974, U.S. per capita food waste has progressively increased to more than 1400 calories per person per day, or 150 trillion calories per year. During this same period, food waste has increased from about 30% of the available food supply to almost 40%. Food waste now accounts for more than one quarter of total freshwater consumption and about 300 million barrels of oil use per year.

Don’t Waste - cont’d

Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer 34When people cut down the wood of a tree that yields fruit, its cry goes forth from one end of the world to the other, and the sound is inaudible...When the soul departs from the body, the cry goes forth from one end of the world to the other, and the sound is inaudible.

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horev 397-398

The prohibition of purposeless destruction of food trees around a besieged city is only to be taken as an example of general wastefulness. Under the concept of

‘you shall not destroy,’ the purposeless destruction of anything at all is to be forbidden, so that our text becomes the most comprehensive warning to human

beings not to misuse the position that God has given them as masters of the world and its matter, to capricious, passionate, or merely thoughtless wasteful

destruction of anything on earth. Only for wise use has God laid the world at our feet when God said to humankind, “…fill the earth and master it; and

rule…” (Genesis 1:28)

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פרקי דרבי אליעזר (היגר) - "חורב" פרק לגבשעה שכורתין את האילן שהוא עושה פרי

הקול יוצא מסוף העולם ועד סופו ואין הקול נשמע...!! וכי כשהנפש יוצא' מן הגוף

Talmud Bavli, Masekhet Shabbat 104b

And Rav Hisda said: A person who is able to eat bread made of barley (a less desirable kind of food), but rather [insists on] eating wheat bread has transgressed the law of bal tashhit (“do not waste”.)

And Rav Papa said: A person who is able to drink liquor (a more humble drink), but rather [insists on] drinking wine has transgressed the law of bal tashhit.

תלמוד בבלי מסכת שבת, דף קמ עמוד ב

ואמר רב חסדא: האי מאן דאפשר ליה למיכל נהמא דשערי ואכל דחיטי - קעבר

משום בל תשחית.

ואמר רב פפא: האי מאן דאפשר למישתי שיכרא ושתי חמרא - עובר משום בל

תשחית.

GUIDING questions:! !barley - What is the relationship between bal tashhit and consuming more luxurious goods? How do you react to this idea?

ספר החינוך מצוה תקכט

...לאהוב הטוב והתועלת ולהדבק בו, ומתוך כך תדבק בנו הטובה ונרחיק

מכל דבר רע ומכל דבר השחתה, וזהו דרך החסידים ואנשי מעשה אוהבים

שלום ושמחים בטוב הבריות ומקרבים אותן לתורה, ולא יאבדו אפילו גרגר של

חרדל בעולם, ויצר עליהם בכל אבדון והשחתה שיראו, ואם יוכלו להציל

יצילו כל דבר מהשחית בכל כחם, ולא כן הרשעים אחיהם של מזיקין שמחים

בהשחתת עולם והמה משחיתים

Sefer HaHinukh 530

…To love that which is good and worthwhile and to cling to it, so that good becomes part of us and we will avoid all that is evil and destructive. This is the way of the righteous and those who improve society…that

nothing, not even, a grain of mustard, should be lost…if possible they will

prevent any destruction that they can. Not so are the wicked, who rejoice in the destruction of the world, and they are destroying

themselves.

GUIDING questions:The Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Hirsch and Sefer HaHinukh texts, each frame the observance of bal taschit within moral and, even, spiritual terms.! Do you understand your own behavior of wasting and not wasting natural resources in these ways?

to love - What is the relationship between loving “that which is good and worthwhile” and bal tashhit?

lost - Why is preservation, or the prevention of loss, a moral good? What’s so wrong with loss?

Don’t Waste - cont’d

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VeAkhalta VeSavata U’Verakhta - ואכלת ושבעת וברכת #2 - Be Grateful

Deuteronomy 8:10When you eat, and you are satisfied, you are to bless

YHWH your God for the good land that God has given you.

דברים פרק ח(י) ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את יקוק אלהי על הארץ הטבה אשר

נתן ל:

GUIDING questions:when - When in the course of the meal are we supposed to bless, according to the Torah? Why?

satisfied - Should one bless only when satisfied? Why or why not?

Talmud Bavli, Brachot 35a-b

Our Rabbis have taught: It is forbidden for a person to benefit from anything of this world without a blessing, and if anyone enjoys anything of this world without a blessing, he commits sacrilege….

Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: To enjoy anything of this world without a blessing is like making personal use of things consecrated to Heaven, since it says. ‘The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.’ (Ps. 24)

R. Levi contrasted two texts. It is written, ‘The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,’ (Ps. 24) and it is also written, ‘The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to human beings!’ (Ps. 115)

There is no contradiction in the one case it is before a blessing has been said in the other case after it has been said. R. Hanina b. Papa said: To enjoy this world without a blessing is like robbing the Holy One, blessed be He, and the community of Israel.

תלמוד בבלי מסכת ברכות דף לה עמוד א- ב

תנו רבנן: אסור לו לאדם שיהנה מן העולם הזה בלא ברכה, וכל הנהנה מן

העולם הזה בלא ברכה - מעל…

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: כל הנהנה מן העולם הזה בלא ברכה - כאילו נהנה מקדשי שמים, וכתיב: +תהלים כ"ד+ לה'

הארץ ומלואה.

רבי לוי רמי: כתיב לה' הארץ ומלואה, וכתיב: +תהלים קט"ו+ השמים שמים

לה' והארץ נתן לבני אדם! לא קשיא, כאן - קודם ברכה, כאן - לאחר ברכה.

אמר רבי חנינא בר פפא: כל הנהנה מן העולם הזה בלא ברכה כאילו גוזל להקדוש ברוך הוא וכנסת ישראל.

GUIDING questions: sacrilege - What is sacrilege? Why would our Rabbis teach that to benefit from the world without blessing crosses a line? Is this something that resonates for you?no contradiction: - For our Rabbis, the act of blessing is what gives us the rightful use of food (and more broadly the earth). Why? What does blessing do?

8

Be Grateful - cont’d

Talmud Yerushalmi, Brachot 7:5

R. Ba the son of R. Hiyya b. Abba teaches: If he ate while walking, he must stand and bless. If he ate standing, he must sit and bless. If he ate sitting, he must recline [formally] and bless. If he ate reclining, he must enwrap himself and bless. And if he did this, he is like the angels.

תלמוד ירושלמי מסכת ברכות

פרק ז הלכה הרבי בא בריה דרבי חייא בר אבא אכל מהלך עומד

ומברך אכל עומד יושב ומברך אכל יושב מיסב ומברך אכל מיסב מתעטף ומברך אם עשה כן הרי

הוא כמלאכי השרת.

Rabbi Aryeh KaplanA most important discipline of Judaism involves the blessing. When a blessing is recited before eating, then the act itself becomes a spiritual undertaking. Through the blessing, the act of eating becomes a contemplative exercise. Just as we can contemplate a flower or a melody, we can contemplate the act of eating. To do this, we must open our minds completely to the experience of chewing the food, becoming fully aware of its taste and texture, eating very slowly, becoming aware of every nuance of taste.

GUIDING questions:wonder - How do you experience the sense of wonder that Heschel alludes to here?

stand and bless - This text is about the blessing after eating, as opposed to the blessing before. The same principle is in each: a person should change from the position in which she ate before she blesses. Why? Is the result of changing position physical, psychological, spiritual, or all three?

angels - What is angelic about blessing?

contemplative - What do you make of the notion that a mundane action can be a spiritual undertaking?

9

Rabbi Abraham Joshua HeschelOnly one response can maintain us in our lives: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore and to fulfill. It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.

Ta’aseh Lekha - תעשה לך #3 - Grow Your Own/Eat Local

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Deuteronomy 8:7-10For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and [date] honey; a land where you may eat bread without scarceness, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine bronze. When you have eaten and you are satisfied, give thanks to the Lord your God for the good land which God has given you.

GUIDING questions:Here the Torah identifies the seven species (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, dates, olives, and pomegranates) that are most closely associated with the land of Israel. If you were to pick seven vegetables, fruits, or grains that you most associate with your local bioregion, what would they be? Do you take into consideration how local your food is before you choose it?

Did You Know?

In the 1930s, there were close to seven million farms in the United States and as of the 2002 census, just two million farms remain. (United States. National Agricultural Statistics Service)

According to the EPA, less than 1% of Americans claim farming as their occupation. However, on the bright side, in 2010 there were three times more farmers markets in the U.S. than there were 1994.

Grow Your Own- cont’d

11

GUIDING questions: (for text on previous page)

mother died - Rabbi Ahai has strong feelings about growing, baking and cooking your own food. What does the text propose are the benefits of growing your own? Assuming you don’t or can’t grow all your own food, can you still relate to this text? How can you put this Torah into practice?

not satisfied - Why not?

not tranquil - Why would being removed from the cultivation of your own food prevent tranquility?

We are known as the “people of the book” rather than the “people of the body.”! Did you grow up in a family that encouraged and/or honored working with your hands?!What did this look like in your childhood? How can working with your hands be a part of your life today?

Avot de Rabbi Natan, Chapter 31:1

Rabbi Ahai ben Yoshayah stated:One who purchases grain in the market—to what may such a person be likened? To an infant whose mother died, and they pass him from door to door among wetnurses and [still] the baby is not satisfied. One who buys bread in the marketplace—to what may such a person be likened? It is as if he is dead and buried. But one who eats from his own (what one has grown himself) is like an infant raised at his mother’s breasts.

He used to say: During the time that a person eats from what he has grown himself—his mind is tranquil. [While] even one who eat from that which his father has grown or from that of his mother’s or son’s—his mind his not tranquil—and you do not [even] need to say [food grown] from that of others [non-relatives].

מסכתות קטנות: אבות דרבי נתן

פרק לא:א רבי אחאי בן יאשיה אומר הלוקח תבואה מן השוק למה הוא דומה? לתינוק שמתה

אמו ומחזירין אותו על פתחי מיניקות אחרות ואינו שבע. הלוקח פת מן השוק

למה הוא דומה? כאלו חפור וקבור. האוכל משלו דומה לתינוק המתגדל על שדי אמו:

הוא היה אומר בזמן שאדם אוכל משלו דעתו מיושבת עליו. ואפילו אוכל אדם משל

אביו ומשל אמו ומשל בניו אין דעתו מיושבת עליו ואין צריך לומר משל אחרים

Grow Your Own- cont’d

Talmud Brachot 8a

Rabbi Hiyya b. Ammi further said in the name of ‘Ulla: A man who lives from the labor [of his hands] is greater than the one who fears heaven. For with regard to the one who fears heaven it is written: Happy is the man that fears the Lord. While with regard to the man who lives from his own work it is written: When you eat the labor of your hands, happy shall you be, and it shall be well with you. ‘Happy shall you be’, in this world, ‘and it shall be well with you’, in the world to come. But of the

man that fears heaven it is not written: ‘and it shall be well with you.’

תלמוד בבלי מסכת ברכות דף ח עמוד אואמר רבי חייא בר אמי משמיה דעולא: גדול הנהנה מיגיעו יותר מירא שמים, דאילו גבי ירא שמים כתיב: +תהלים קי"ב+ אשרי איש ירא את ה', ואילו גבי נהנה מיגיעו כתיב:

+תהלים קכ"ח+ יגיע כפיך כי תאכל אשריך וטוב לך, אשריך בעולם הזה, וטוב לך לעולם הבא, ולגבי ירא שמים וטוב לך לא כתיב ביה.

HELPFUL information:

one who fears heaven - In English this should be translated as “reveres.” Revering heaven is the sine qua non of faith in rabbinic Torah. Abraham embodies this ideal: he is both consumed with the wonder of God, and concerned about how God and human beings act in the world (e.g. Sodom and Gomorrah). Though the words have a negative connotation in contemporary English, to be called “one who fears heaven” is high praise from our rabbis.

Happy is the man - This is a quotation from Psalm 112.

happy shall you be - This is a quotation from Psalm 128. This text makes it clear that working with your hands brings a spiritual reward. Why does getting your hands dirty yield fruit in “the world to come?”

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Aaron David Gordon, People and Labor

The Jewish people has been completely cut off from nature and imprisoned within city walls these two thousand years. We have become accustomed to every form of life, except to a life of labor- of labor done at our own behest and for its own sake. It will require the greatest effort of will for such a people to become normal again. We lack the principal ingredient for national life. We lack the habit of labor– not labor performed out of external compulsion, labor to which one is attached in a natural and organic way. This kind of labor binds a people to its soil and to its national culture, which in turn is an outgrowth of the people’s soil and the people’s labor. Now it is true that every people has many individuals who shun physical labor and try to live off the work of other. But a normal people is like a living organism which performs its various functions naturally, and labor is one of its basic and organic functions.... We have developed an attitude of looking down on manual labor, so that even those who are engaged in it work out of mere compulsion and always with the hope of eventually escaping to “a better life.” We must not deceive ourselves in this regard, nor shut our eyes to our grave deficiencies, not merely as individuals but as a people.

13

HELPFUL information:Aaron David Gordon (1856-1922), was one of the founders of labor zionism, a movement whose leaders played a significant role in the creation of the State of Israel and inspired the model of the kibbutz.

GUIDING questions:normal- What do you think about equating the term ‘normal’ with a people accustomed to physical labor?

looking down- Do you think that the Jewish community “looks down” on manual labor? What are your views on it?

Grow Your Own- cont’d

Lo Ta’ashok Sakhir Ani Ve’Evyon - לא תעשק שכיר עני ואביון #4 - Protect At-Risk Workers

Deuteronomy 24:14-15

Do not oppress the hired laborer who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your people or one of the sojourners in your land within your gates. Give him his wages in the daytime, and do not let the sun set on them, for he is poor, and his life depends on them, lest he cry out to God about you and you will incur guilt on his account.

ספר דברים פרק כד ד לא-תעשק שכיר עני ואביון מאחי או מגר אשר בארצ

בשערי: טו ביומו תתן שכרו ולא-תבוא עליו השמש כי עני הוא ואליו הוא נשא את-נפשו ולא-יקרא עלי אל-יהוה והיה ב חטא:

The Torah recognizes a class of people who are neither completely destitute, nor sufficiently comfortable -

what we would call ‘working poor.’

GUIDING questions:give him - The Torah’s concern here does not seem to be about how much the worker receives, but rather how the worker is paid. In your experience as a laborer, what have you learned about what makes a just employer?

Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Shekalim 4:7

The correctors of books in Jerusalem would take their salaries from [funds collected primarily to cover the cost of sacrifices]. The judges who judged cases of theft in Jerusalem would take their salary from these funds. And how much would they take? Ninety maneh per year; and if this was not enough for them, [those responsible for distributing the money] would increase the amount. Even if [these communal workers] did not want to take more, they would increase the amount according to the needs of the workers, their wives and their families.

רמב"ם הלכות שקלים פרק ד הלכה ז

מגיהי ספרים שבירושלם נוטלין שכרן מתרומת הלשכה, דיינין שדנין את הגזלנין

בירושלם נוטלין שכרן מתרומת הלשכה, וכמה היו נוטלים תשעים מנה בכל שנה ואם לא

הספיקו להן מוסיפין להן, אף על פי שלא רצו מוסיפין להן כדי צרכן והם ונשיהם ובניהם

ובני ביתן.

14

Did You Know?

An estimated 211 million children around the world between the ages of 5 and 14 are forced to go to work.

(International Labor Rights Forum)

Shulhan Aruch, Hoshen Mishpat 333:3If a worker has started worked, and changes his mind in the middle of the day and decides to leave the job, even if that worker has already received the money for which he was contracted but does not have enough with him to pay the employer, that work is allowed to leave the job and the money will be a debt that he owes, as it is said: “for the Children of Israel are servants to Me,” (Leviticus 25:55) Servants to God, and not servants of servants.

Moshe Isserles (the Rema), Hoshen Misphat 333:3And for this reason it is forbidden for a worker, even a teacher or a scribe, to contract himself to be with an employer fixedly for three years.

שולחן ערוך חושן משפט הלכות שכירות פועלים סימן שלגסעיף ג

התחיל הפועל במלאכה, וחזר בו בחצי היום, חוזר, ואפילו קבל כבר דמי שכירותו ואין בידו לשלם לבעל הבית, יכול לחזור בו והמעות חוב עליו, שנאמר: כי לי בני ישראל עבדים ויקרא כה, נה, ולא עבדים לעבדים. הגה: ומהאי טעמא אסור לפועל, אפילו מלמד או סופר, להשכיר עצמו

להיות בבית בעל הבית בקבע שלשה שנים

Protect Workers- cont’d

Rabbeinu Jonah Gerondi, Sefer HaYirah

Be careful not to afflict a living creature, whether animal or fowl, and even more so not to afflict a human being, who is created in God's image. If you want to hire workers and you find that they are poor, they should become like poor members of your household. You should not disgrace them, for you shall command them respectfully, and should pay their full salaries.

רבינו יונה גרונדי - ספר היראה

השמר מלצער בע"ח הן בהמה הן עוף, וכ"ש שלא לצער אדם שהוא עשוי בצלם המקום. אם

אתה רוצה לשכור פועלים ומצאת עניים יהיו עניים בני ביתך, ואך אל תבזה אותם, אך דרך

כבוד תצוה להם, ותשלם שכרם משלם,

GUIDING questions:servants of servants - This is a famous rabbinic teaching. Being God’s servants specifically means that we are not the servants of other human beings. Why? How is being in God’s service different from being a servant to other people? How can you put this in practice with those who work for you?

should pay their salaries - Why does this need to be said? What might people do otherwise?

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Tza’ar Ba’alei Hayyim - צער בעלי חיים #5 - Prevent Animal Cruelty

GUIDING questions:nest of a bird - This mitzvah is called shiluah haken - the sending away from the nest. What is the motivation? Is it so that the mother bird shouldn’t see? Or is it so that we train ourselves to understand what it means to eat animals? Are there other reasons?

GUIDING questions:hates you - This mitzvah has dual purposes. What are they?ox and a donkey - Why not?

Exodus 23:5 And when you see the donkey of one who hates you crouching under its burden, restrain from abandoning it to him—unbind, yes, unbind it together with him.

ספר שמות פרק כג ה כי-תראה חמור שנא רבץ תחת משאו

וחדלת מעזב לו עזב תעזב עמו:

Deuteronomy 22:10You are not to plow with an ox and a donkey together.

ספר דברים פרק כבי לא-תחרש בשור-ובחמר יחדו:

יא לא תלבש שעטנז צמר ופשתים יחדו:

Deuteronomy 22:6When you encounter the nest of a bird before you in the way, in any tree or on the ground, whether fledglings or eggs, with the

mother crouching upon the fledglings or upon the eggs, you are not to take away the mother along with the children.

ספר דברים פרק כבו כי יקרא קן-צפור ׀ לפני בדר בכל-עץ ׀ או על-הארץ אפרחים או

ביצים והאם רבצת על-האפרחים או על-הביצים לא-תקח האם על-הבנים:

Genesis 9:4You must not however, eat flesh with its life-blood still in it (i.e. the flesh of an animal still alive).

בראשית פרק ט(ד) א בשר בנפשו דמו לא תאכלו:

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Prevent Animal Cruelty - cont’d

The Rambam, Guide for the Perplexed 3:48

Since the desire of procuring good food necessitates the slaying of animals, the Torah commands that the death of the animal should be the easiest. It is not allowed to torment the animal by cutting the throat in a clumsy manner, by piercing it, or by

cutting off a limb while the animal is still alive.

מורה נבוכים חלק ג מʼʻחוכאשר הביא הכרח טוב המזון להריגת בעלי חיים, כונה התורה לקלה שבמיתות, ואסרה

שיענה אותם בשחיטה רעה, ולא יחתוך מהם אבר - כמו שבארנו: וכן אסר לשחוט 'אותו ואת בנו' 'ביום אחד' - להשמר ולהרחיק לשחוט משניהם הבן לעיני האם,

כי צער בעלי חיים בשה גדול מאד, אין הפרש בין צער האדם עליו וצער שאר בעלי חיים, כי אהבת האם ורחמיה על הולד אינו נמשך אחר השכל, רק אחר פועל הכח המדמה, הנמצא ברוב בעלי חיים כמו שנמצא באדם. והיה זה הדין מיוחד ב'שור ושה', מפני שהם - מותר לנו אכילתם

מן הביתיות הנהוג לאכלם, והם אשר תכיר מהם האם מן הולד:

GUIDING questions:

Both the Rambam and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein acknowledge that slaughtering animals causes them pain and neither of them is promoting vegetarianism.! How do you think that they are defining animal cruelty?! At what point does someone transgress the prohibition of “tzaar baalei chayim”?

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Igg'rot Moshe, Even haEzer 4:92

In regards to the situation in which every calf is in its own pen, which is so narrow that it does not have space even to take a few steps, and the calves are not fed the appropriate food for them, and have never tasted their mother's milk, but they are fattened with very fatty liquids...this is certainly forbidden on the basis of tza’ar ba’alei hayim. Even though it is permissible [to cause pain to animals] in order to satisfy human needs, by slaughtering animals for food, or by employing animals to plow, to carry burdens or other such things, it is not permissible otherwise to cause them suffering, even when one stands to profit from such practices.

שו"ת אגרות משה אבן העזר חלק ד סימן צבובדבר העגלים שנתחדש זה לא כבר שמפטמין אותן כל עגל במקום מיוחד

לבד צר מאד שאין להם מקום אף לילך איזה פסיעות, ואין מאכילין אותן כלום ממאכלי בהמות הראוים לעגלים ולא טעמו חלב אמם כלל, אלא

מפטמין אותן במשקין שמנים מאד שאין הבהמות נהנים מזה... והנה לאלו שעושין זה איכא ודאי איסור דצער בע"ח דאף שהותר לצורך האדם הוא כשאיכא צורך, כהא דלשוחטם לאכילה ולעבוד בהם לחרישה ולהובלת

משאות וכדומה. אבל לא לצערם בעלמא שזה אסור אף אם יהיה לאחד הרוחה בזה.

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Talmud, Baba Metzia 85a-b

Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi was sitting and studying the Torah in front of the Babylonian Synagogue in Tzipori, when a calf passed before him on its way to the slaughter and began to cry out, as though pleading, ‘Save me!’ Said he to it, ‘What can I do for you? for this you were created.’ [As a punishment for his heartlessness] our Teacher suffered for thirteen years… After this period a litter of baby weasels ran past his daughter. She was about to kill them, when he said to her, ‘My daughter, let it be, for it is written, And His tender compassion is over all his creations.’ (Psalms 14:9) They said in heaven, “Since he shows compassion, let us show compassion to him.”

Prevent Animal Cruelty - cont’d

GUIDING questions:compassion -What does compassion towards animals look like? Is it complete vegetarianism? Is there a possibility of still eating meat and upholding this teaching?

presumption - What are our “presumptions” about animals? How do we let them prejudice us?

purposes - What purposes might these be?

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Did You Know?

In November of 2004, an undercover video operation exposed systemic animal abuse at the world's largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse, AgriProcessors in Postville, Iowa. This abuse, under the supervision and approval of an estimated 50-70 kosher slaughterers and overseers, included cows having their trachea (windpipe) ripped out while fully conscious in order to reduce blood splash.

When asked about the animal treatment she viewed on the videos, the world’s leading expert on humane slaughter, Dr. Temple Grandin, explained it was "...the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen. I couldn't believe it...AgriProcessors is doing everything wrong they can do wrong." (Dec. 7, 2004)

Dr. Lester Friedlander, former kosher inspector for the USDA called it "The most egregious violations of the USDA Humane Methods Slaughter Act I have ever witnessed."

Finally, in 2007 the production of kosher meat at AgriProcessors was shut down…due to the employment of illegal workers. The plant has since reopened under a new name.

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horev 60: 415

There are probably no creatures that require more the protective Divine word against the presumption of man than the animals, which like man have sensations and instincts, but whose body and powers are nevertheless subservient to man. In relation to them man so easily forgets that injured animal muscle twitches just like human muscle, that the maltreated nerves of an animal sicken like human nerves, that the animal being is just as sensitive to cuts, blows, and beatings as man. Thus man becomes the torturer of the animal soul, which has been subjected to him only for the fulfillment of humane and wise purposes....

Lifnim MiShurat HaDin - לפנים משורת הדין #6 - Go Beyond The Letter of The Law

HELPFUL information:This may seem extremely harsh, to destroy Jerusalem because of poor legal procedure.

But Rabbi Yohanan is making a deeply important point about society - that the law is the beginning of justice, not its end.

This text argues that we have to fulfill more than basic legal requirements for society to create a just world.

Talmud, Baba Metzia 30b

R. Yohanan said: Jerusalem was destroyed because [courts] only judged [according to the standards] Biblical law. Were they supposed to have used untrained arbitrators [instead of

Torah]?— Instead, understand the statement this way: because they based their judgments [strictly] upon Biblical law, and did

not go beyond the requirements of the law.

בבא מציעא דף ל.בדאמר רבי יוחנן: לא חרבה ירושלים אלא על שדנו בה דין תורה.

־ אלא דיני דמגיזתא לדיינו? ־ אלא אימא: שהעמידו דיניהם על דין תורה, ולא עבדו לפנים משורת הדין.

Talmud, Baba Metzia 83a

Some porters working for Raba bar bar Hanan broke a jug of wine. He seized their clothes. They came before Rav, and Rav said to Raba bar bar Hanan, “give them their clothing.” Raba bar bar bar Hanan said to him, “Is this the law?” Rav said, “yes, because of the principle ‘you should walk in the ways of the good (Proverbs 2:20).” He gave them back their clothes.

They said to him, “we are poor, and we troubled ourselves to work all day and we are needy--do we receive nothing? Immediately, Rav said to Raba bar bar Hanan, “Go, give them their wages.” He said to Rav, “Is this the law.” Rav said, “yes-- ‘you should keep the ways of the righteous’(ibid)”.

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בבא מציעא דף פג.א

רבה בר בר חנן תברו ליה הנהו שקולאי חביתא דחמרא. שקל לגלימייהו, אתו

אמרו לרב. אמר ליה: הב להו גלימייהו. ־ אמר ליה: דינא הכי? ־ אמר ליה: אין, )משלי ב'( למען תלך בדרך טובים. יהיב

להו גלימייהו. אמרו ליה: עניי אנן, וטרחינן כולה יומא, וכפינן, ולית לן מידי.

אמר ליה: זיל הב אגרייהו. ־ אמר ליה: דינא הכי? ־ אמר ליה: אין, )משלי

ב'( וארחות צדיקים תשמר. הדרן עלך השוכר את האומנין.

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Shulhan Aruch, Even haEzer 5:14

Any animal product that is needed for health or other [human] purposes - there is no concern about violating the law against causing pain to animals by obtaining it. Accordingly it would be permitted to pluck down feathers from live geese, and there would be no violation of the law against causing pain to animals. Nonetheless, the world refrains from doing this because it is cruel.

שולחן ערוך אבן העזר הלכות פריה ורביה סימן ה

כל דבר הצריך לרפואה או לשאר דברים, לית ביה משום איסור צער בעלי חיים )איסור והיתר הארוך סימן נ"ט(. ולכן

מותר למרוט נוצות מאווזות חיות, וליכא למיחש משום צער בעלי חיים )מהרא"י

סי' ק"ס /ק"ה/(. ומ"מ העולם נמנעים דהוי אכזריות.

Go Beyond - cont’d

no concern - According to the letter of the law, when we cause an animal tza’ar (pain) for the sake of human need, whether medical or otherwise, it does not violate the prohibition against causing pain to animals. This is logically necessary in order to permit humans to eat animal meat. Therefore the prohibition against causing pain to animals only applies to when humans are not benefiting from animal products.

GUIDING questions:Under this law, one could justify most of the cruelty caused to animals in our world. How does lifnim mishurat hadin address this issue? Why is lifnim mishurat hadin so necessary in any ethical system of law?

GUIDING questions: (for text on previous page)is this the law? - In answering yes, Rav quotes a verse that does not seem to have anything to do with labor relations law, but rather about a larger sense of righteousness. Why? What is Rav’s message?

The food and agriculture industry and the government set standards that are meant to protect the rights of workers, animals, consumers, and the environment.! Similarly, Jewish law exists to protect these same parties.! When, if ever, do you feel compelled to hold yourself to a standard beyond the letter of the law?

Ayn Mahzikin Y’dei Ovrei Averah - אין מחזיקין ידי עוברי עבירה #7 - Do Not Strengthen The Hands of

Transgressors

Mishnah Masekhet Shvi’it 5:9

A woman may lend the following items to a neighbor who is suspected of violating shmittah (the sabbatical year): a winnow, a hand sieve, a hand-mill, or an oven; however, she may not actually winnow or grind with her.

The wife of a Haver (one is strict about laws concerning food) may lend to the wife of an Am Ha’aretz (ignorant person, or a person who does not care about the laws regarding food) a winnow and a sieve, and she is allowed to winnow, grind, or sift with her; however, once she has poured water over the flour, she should not touch anything that belongs to her neighbor because we do not strengthen the hands of those who transgress. All the above leniencies were only allowed for the sake of peace....

משנה מסכת שביעית פרק ה משנה ט משאלת אשה לחברתה החשודה על השביעית נפה וכברה ורחיים ותנור אבל לא תבור ולא תטחן עמה אשת חבר משאלת לאשת עם

הארץ נפה וכברה ובוררת וטוחנת ומרקדת עמה אבל משתטיל המים לא תגע אצלה שאין מחזקין ידי עוברי עבירה וכולן לא אמרו

אלא מפני דרכי שלום...

HELPFUL information:This is a tricky Mishnah to understand. Underlying it are laws about separating food after harvest for donations to the temple and the poor (ma’aser), and observing the sabbatical year of resting the land (shmittah).

A group called Haverim (the Friends) were very strict about these laws. Whereas one who either didn’t know about or didn’t care about them was referred to as Am Ha’aretz.

The issue here is that an Am Ha’aretz, who isn’t so strict regarding shmittah, is asking to borrow a Haverah’s tools, which will likely be used with grain that was harvested while the earth was supposed to be resting.

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GUIDING questions:shmittah - How do you respond when you see others violating what you believe is an ethical ecological imperative? At what point, if ever, would it be right to stop them? How would you do so?

winnow - To what extent are you willing to let your resources be used, if you think the purpose is unethical? How does this apply to your relationship to family, friends, and neighbors?

ספר מצוות גדול עשין סימן עאעי' חו"מ שנה סעי' א - ג.

אסור ליקח מן הגנב החפץ שגנביב והוא עון גדול שהרי מחזיק ידי עוברי עבירה וגורם לגנוב גניבות אחרות שאם לא ימצא לוקח לא יגנוב ועל זה נאמר במשלי (כט, כד) חולק עם גנב שונא נפשו אלה ישמע ולא

יגיד

Rabbi Moses ben Jacob, Sefer Mitzvot GadolIt is forbidden to buy something one desires from a thief. To do so is a great sin on the grounds that you are aiding and abetting a transgressor

and, in turn, causing him to steal more things. For if the thief finds no one to buy his goods, he will no longer steal. Regarding this it is written,

“Whoever is a partner with a thief hates his own soul: He hears and says nothing.” (Proverbs 29:24)

Do Not Strengthen - cont’d

GUIDING questions:buy - Do you feel that purchasing food that is produced or grown in ways that do not meet your ethical standards would leave you guilty of violating this principle? Does this principle still apply if you don’t know about the production practices of your food?

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Avodah B’Gashmiut - עבודה בגשמיות #8 - Elevate Eating

GUIDING questions:Maimonides, also known as the Rambam, is concerned about eating just for enjoyment, just because food tastes good. Do you think that eating for enjoyment is a problem? According to the Rambam, what is the reason behind eating?

sake of Heaven - In this text the intention behind your actions is just as important as the actions themselves. How does one accomplish this? How would you practice this in your daily life?

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Maimonides, Mishneh Torah,!Hilchot Deot 3:5-8

When one works for payment, it should not be one’s intention just to amass money, but one should be working for money in order to be able to obtain things which one needs, such as food, drink, a house and a wife. Similarly, when one eats and drinks, one should not be doing so just for the

benefit of it, because then one will eventually be eating just to sweeten one’s palate and for the joy of it, but one should eat and drink just for the sake of the health of one’s body and limbs. Therefore, one shouldn’t eat what ever he desires, like a dog or a

donkey; one should eat only what the body will use, whether it is bitter or sweet, and one should not eat those things which are bad for the body, even if they

are sweet.!

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Hayyim 231:1

And the sages say: All your deeds should be for the sake of Heaven, even matters that are voluntary [non-mitzvah matters], such as eating, drinking, walking, sitting, standing, sexual

relations, conversation and all bodily requirements—one should consider all of them as service of your Creator or as a medium that will contribute towards God’s service. [This

means] that even if one is thirsty or hungry and eats or drinks for his enjoyment this is not commendable, but he should have in mind to eat and drink what is [necessary] for his

survival [so as to be able] to serve his Creator.

שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן רלא:א

ואמרו חכמים: כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים, שאפילו דברים של רשות, כגון האכילה והשתיה וההליכה והישיבה והקימה והתשמיש והשיחה וכל צרכי גופך, יהיו כולם לעבודת בוראך, או לדבר הגורם עבודתו, שאפילו היה צמא ורעב, אם אכל ושתה להנאתו אינו משובח, (ה) אלא

יתכוין שיאכל וישתה כפי חיותו, לעבוד את בוראו

Elevate Eating - cont’d

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GUIDING questions:

What is the difference between the way in which the author of the Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Yosef Caro, and Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch think of eating?! Which approach is more appealing to you?!

Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Zhidachov, Sur me-Ra va-Aseh Tov 116a

It is indeed a sign of a good heart when one’s every action is for the sake of God and he does everything with heaven in mind, nevertheless, this is not what we call ‘the perfect service’ in the tradition we have received. So did I hear in the name of the Maggid (R. Dov Ber of Mezerich), with regard to the talmudic saying, ‘What is perfect service? One after which no other service follows.” The Maggid said: ‘When one’s eating is intended only to strengthen his body for Torah study and worship, how can one call this a perfect service? While eating, he neither prays nor learns; hence this is merely an act of service for the sake of and which leads to the true service which follows.’ However, if the eating is done in accordance with the meditation of R. Isaac Luria—to extract and elevate the holy sparks in the food... then he can create yihudim (unifications) as much with his eating as he can with his prayer.

Rebbe Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (the Esh Kodesh), Bnai Machshava Tova 33-34, (1889–1943),

Before [the] ability to see the world as souls and essences and consciousness fully emerges in you, you can still impress upon your rational mind the following thought: The whole world and everything in it is divine in origin and substance. It is not visible to my eyes but God is the source of all reality, even I am full of God. The sand under my feet is an articulation of God. The whole world is utterly comprised of, and dependent on, God...When you constantly impress this idea on your mind, you will begin to internalize it...When you remind yourself repeatedly that all the world is divine, your feelings and consciousness inevitably begin to comply with this point of view, which already corresponds with the perspective of the soul...As you observe the world, remind yourself that everything is completely given over to God. Everything is surrounded by the holiness of His Presence. Everything is, essentially, divine.

GUIDING questions: Here the Esh Kodesh describes a meditative practice for those people who would like to develop their ability to “see” God manifest in the material world. What would it take to try this practice out? Can you imagine experimenting with this practice for one day?

Elevate Eating - cont’d

Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl, Meor Eynayim

When a man fully believes with a true and complete faith that this is holy food in which God’s divinity is to be found, truly robed therein, and when he focuses his heart and mind on the internal holiness of the food, then he is able to raise the holy spark that

was until then in a state of brokenness and exile back up to God, may He be blessed, and he will derive great pleasure from it. For this is the very essence of our divine service. Therefore, every servant of the Lord must delve into the interior of each

physical matter so that all of his actions will be for the sake of Heaven, especially when it comes to eating and drinking, in order to rescue and elevate the holy sparks from

their broken state.

מיאור עיניים: מטותוכשמאמין אמונה שלימה גמורה שזה מזון רוחני שהוא אלהותו יתברך המלובש שם ונותן דעתו ולבו על פנימיות ומדבק את עצמו עם כל חיותו ומוחו ועם זה הכח והחיות שניתוסף בו על ידי הניצוץ הקדוש שבא בקרבו לשורש הכל שממנו נאצלו כל החיות אזי מביא גם כן הניצוץ הקדוש שהיה עד עכשיו בשבירה ובגלות אליו יתברך שהוא מתענג מאוד מזה כנודע כי זה כל עיקר עבודתינו לקרב כל הניצוצות הקדושות מן קליפיות שהן בשבירה אל מקום

הקדושה שיהא עליית הקדושה מן השבירה ובפרט שכל עבודתו ותורתו שמדבר דברים מחמת זה הכח והחיות שקיבל מטעם המאכל שהוא הניצוץ הקדוש כאמור וכשמייחד דבורו אל דבור הקדוש יש עלייה גם לאותו הניצוץ שהוא גם כן דבר ה' כאמור לעיל שהן הכל אותיות נפולין כנודע על כן צריך כל עובד ה' לראות על פנימיות הדבר האמור שיהא כל מעשיו לשם שמים באכילה ושתיה גם כן להעלות ניצוצי הקדושה מן השבירה שהוא

בחי' שביה וגלות אל הקדושה מן השבירה

HELPFUL information:

Rabbi Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl is teaching in line with Lurianic Kabbalah. Rabbi Yitzhak Luria is one of the great mystical teachers in our tradition. He taught that before the world came into being, God created a number of vessels to hold God’s shefa, or divine essence. But when the world was created, these vessels shattered, sending off nitzotzot, holy sparks. It is our life’s work, according to the Luria and his students (including the vast majority of the Hassidic Rebbes), to find and uncover those sparks, and use them to mend the shattered vessels by means of performing mitzvot.

GUIDING questions:divine service - that is, mitzvot, worship, prayer, serving God. So what is it that holy eating does, according to the Meor Eynayim? What is “raising the holy spark?”

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Shmirat HaGuf - שמירת הגוף #9 - Keep Healthy

GUIDING questions:

understand - Is this true? Why does the Rambam say that health leads to a knowledge of God?

Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Deot 4:1

Since maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of God – for one cannot understand or have any

knowledge of the Creator if one is ill – therefore one must avoid that which harms the body and accustom oneself

to that which is helpful and helps the body become stronger.

רמב"ם הלכות דעות פרק ד א הואיל והיות הגוף בריא ושלם מדרכי השם הוא, שהרי אי אפשר

שיבין או ידע דבר מידיעת הבורא והוא חולה, לפיכך צריך להרחיק אדם עצמו מדברים המאבדין את הגוף, ולהנהיג עצמו בדברים

המברין והמחלימים

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Rabbi Moses Isserles (the Rema), Shulhan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 116:5 One should avoid all things that might lead to danger because a danger to life is stricter than a prohibition. one should be more concerned about a possible danger to life than a possible prohibition. Therefore it is prohibited to walk in a dangerous place, like under an unstable wall or to walk alone at night. So too is it forbidden to drink water from rivers at night, or to put one’s mouth on a the pipe that carries water in order to drink it - for these things carry the possibility of danger...And it is prohibited to rely on a miracle or to put one's life in danger for any such things.

שולחן ערוך יורה דעה הלכות תערובות סימן קטזהגה: וכן יזהר מכל דברים המביאים לידי סכנה, כי סכנתא חמירא מאיסורא ויש לחוש יותר לספק

סכנה מלספק איסור ולכן אסור לילך בכל מקום סכנה כמו תחת קיר נטוי או יחידי בלילה, וכן אסרו לשתות מים מן הנהרות בלילה או להניח פיו על קלוח המים לשתות, כי דברים אלו יש בהן חשש

סכנה...ואסור לסמוך אנס או לסכן נפשו בכל כיוצא בזה.

GUIDING questions:danger - Here the Rema forbids eating anything that “might lead to danger.”! Given what we know (and don’t know) about our food today, do you think it is possible to!put this teaching into practice? What about people who aren’t able to do so for financial reasons?

Keep Healthy - cont’d

GUIDING questions:

weaken -Why does halakhah (Jewish Law) forbid us to do so?

In 1986 the legal arm of the Conservative Movement passed a resolution which found smoking to be in violation of the injunction of shmirat haguf—protecting your body on the grounds that we know smoking is dangerous to human health.!! If we were to extend our understanding of this injunction to include anything that we know to be dangerous to our health—what else would we ban?!!

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Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horev 62:427-428

Limiting our presumption against our own body, God's word calls to us: "Do not commit suicide!" "Do not injure yourself!" "Do not ruin yourself!" "Do not weaken yourself!" "Preserve yourself! You may not in any way weaken your health or shorten your life. Only if the body is healthy is it an efficient instrument for the spirit's activity....Therefore you should avoid everything which might possibly injure your health.... And the law asks you to be even more circumspect in avoiding danger to life and limb than in the avoidance of other transgressions.

Rabbi Seymour Siegel, "Smoking: A Jewish Perspective”

She’elah (Question): May an observant Conservative Jew continue to smoke cigarettes, in view of the fact that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health?

Conclusion of teshuvah (answer): In regard to smoking, there is little difficulty in applying these principles [those of shmirat haguf] to the question of smoking. Scientific evidence has now proven beyond doubt that smoking, especially cigarette smoking, is injurious to our health....It would therefore follow that Jewish ethics and Jewish law would prohibit the use of cigarettes...The rabbinate and community leaders should discourage smoking. This would help us live longer and healthier. In doing so, we would be fulfilling our responsibilities to God and humanity.

Poteach et Yadecha L’Evyonim - פתח את ידך לאביונים#10 - Open Your Hands to the Poor

Did You Know?

One in six Americans is fighting hunger. In 2009, 43.6 million people in the US (14.3 percent) were in poverty. In the same year, 4.8 percent of all U.S. households (5.6 million households) accessed emergency food from a food pantry one or more times. According to a December 2009 New York Times article, “the number of Americans who lived in households that lacked consistent access to adequate food soared to 49 million last year, the highest since the Department of Agriculture began tracking "food insecurity" fourteen years ago.”

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Deuteronomy 15:7-8 When there is among you a needy-person from any

one of your brothers, within one of your gates in the land that YHWH your God is giving you, you are not to toughen your heart, you are not to shut your hand to your brother, the needy-one.! Rather you are to open, yes, open your hand to him, and are to lend to him sufficiently for what he lacks.

דברים פרק טוז כי-יהיה ב אביון מאחד אחי, באחד שערי, בארצ,

אשר-יהוה אלהי נתן ל--לא תאמץ את-לבב, ולא תקפץ את-יד, מאחי, האביון.! ח כי-פתח תפתח את-יד, לו;

והעבט, תעביטנו, די מחסרו, אשר יחסר לו.

Leviticus 19:9-10

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the Lord am your God.

ספר ויקרא פרק יט

ט!! ובקצרכם את-קציר ארצכם לא תכלה פאת שד לקצר ולקט קציר לא תלקט: י!! וכרמ לא תעולל ופרט כרמ לא

תלקט לעני ולגר תעזב אתם אני יהוה אלהיכם:

HELPFUL information:In this text “gleanings” refers to produce that was not harvested during the initial harvest and, either because it was missed, dropped, or didn’t look good enough, left in the field. The term “fallen fruit” refers to fruit that fell from the trees before being harvested.

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The Rema, Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 252: 3

The support of oneself comes before anyone else.! A person is not obligated to give tzedakah until a basic livelihood has been attained.! After that is support! of parents, then the support of grown children, then siblings, then all other relatives, then neighbors, then members of one’s local community, then members of other communities.

GUIDING questions:

Both the Shulchan Aruch and Rambam texts require a person to give tzedekah in relation to how much one “can afford” to give. This is a highly subjective subject. How might one measure what constitutes the attainment of “a basic livelihood” or what “your ability” to give is? Do you have a personal criterion for figuring out what your own ability to give is?

Open Your Hands - cont’d

Rambam, Laws of Gifts to the Poor, 7: 5

If a poor person comes and asks according to his or her need and the giver cannot afford to give, the gives should give according to his ability.! And how much is that?! Up to 1/5 of a man’s possessions is the choicest mitzvah.! And 1/10 is average.! Less than 1/10 is considered stingy.

Rabbi Yosef Alashkar, Merkavat HaMishneh on Pirkei Avot 3:3

A person needs to make his table holy (kadosh)…he should give [a portion] from his food for the poor

since [today] they stand in place of the priests [when the Temple stood].! Then, [the following verse applies] “This is the table that stands before YHWH.” (Ezekiel:

41:22)

HELPFUL information:When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a portion of every farmers’ harvest was designated for the priests, who did not own any land themselves. This text draws on the tradition that, after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, our dining tables can assume the role of “little temples.”

GUIDING questions:Why do you think that a tradition emerged whereby, after the destruction of the Temple, that poor people took the place of the priests? What do make of the author’s connection between a table’s “holiness” and giving part of the meal to the poor?

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Open Your Hands - cont’d

Avot de Rabbi Natan 7 on Genesis 21:33

When the great calamity befell Job, he pleaded with the Holy One.! “Master of the Universe, did I not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and clothe the naked?”! The Holy One answered Job, “Job, you have not yet reached half the measure [of hospitality] extended by Abraham.! You sat in your house waiting for guests to come to you.! To him who was accustomed to eat wheat bread, you gave wheat bread; to him who was accustomed to eat meat, you gave meat; and to him who was accustomed to drink wine, you gave wine.! But Abraham did not act this way.! He went out, getting about in the world.! When he met prospective guests, he brought them to his home.! Even to him who was not accustomed to eat wheat bread, he gave wheat bread; to him who was not accustomed to eat meat, he gave meat; and to him who was not accustomed to drink wine, he gave wine.! Not only that, but he got busy and built spacious mansions along the highways, and stocked them with food and drink, so that whoever entered ate, drank, and blessed Heaven.! Therefore, unusual satisfaction was given to Abraham, and whatever any person requested was to be found in his house, as it is written “And he planted a tamarisk in Be’er Sheva.”

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Kidush/Hilul HaShem - קידוש/חילול השם #11 - Make God’s Name Holy

HELPFUL information:Two central Jewish concepts: kidush haShem - making God’s name holy; and hilul haShem - desecrating God’s name. Both refer to the way people who are associated with God (rabbis, when someone is wearing a kippah) are perceived through their actions.

Leviticus 22:32And you shall not desecrate My holy name; that I may

be sanctified in the midst of the Israelite people—I the Lord who sanctify you.

ספר ויקרא פרק כבלב ולא תחללו את-שם קדשי ונקדשתי בתו בני

ישראל אני יהוה מקדשכם:

Talmud, Yoma 86aWhat constitutes profanation of the Name? Said Rav, like me, when I took meat from the butcher and didn’t pay immediately...Isaac, of the School of R. Jannai. said: If one's colleagues are ashamed of his reputation, that constitutes a profanation of the Name. R. Nahman b. Isaac commented: e.g. if people say, May the Lord forgive so-and-so.

Abaye explained: As it was taught: And you will love the Lord thy God, i.e., that the Name of Heaven be beloved because of you. if someone studies Scripture and Mishnah, and attends on the disciples of the wise, is honest in business, and speaks pleasantly to persons, what do people then say concerning him? ‘Happy the father who taught him Torah, happy the teacher who taught him Torah; woe unto people who have not studied the Torah; for this man has studied the Torah look how fine his ways are, how righteous his deeds! Of him does Scripture say: And He said unto me: You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

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תלמוד בבלי מסכת יומא דף פו עמוד אהיכי דמי חילול השם

?אמר רב: כגון אנא. אי שקילנא בישרא מטבחא ולא יהיבנא דמי לאלתר...

יצחק דבי רבי ינאי אמר: כל שחביריו מתביישין מחמת שמועתו

אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק: כגון דקא אמרי אינשי שרא ליה מריה לפלניא.

אביי אמר: כדתניא, +דברים ו+ ואהבת את ה' אלהיך - שיהא שם שמים מתאהב על ידך, שיהא קורא ושונה ומשמש תלמידי

חכמים, ויהא משאו ומתנו בנחת עם הבריות, מה הבריות אומרות עליו - אשרי

אביו שלמדו תורה, אשרי רבו שלמדו תורה. אוי להם לבריות שלא למדו תורה, פלוני

שלמדו תורה - ראו כמה נאים דרכיו, כמה מתוקנים מעשיו, עליו הכתוב אומר

+ישעיהו מט+ ויאמר לי עבדי אתה ישראל אשר בך אתפאר.

Holy Name- cont’d

(cont’d from previous page)But if someone studies Scripture and Mishnah, attends on the students of the wise, but is dishonest in business and discourteous in his relations with people, what do people say about him? ‘Woe unto him who studied the Torah, woe unto his father who taught him Torah; woe unto his teacher who taught him Torah!’ This man studied the Torah: Look, how corrupt are his deeds, how ugly his ways; of him Scripture says: In that men said of them: These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of His land.

אבל מי שקורא ושונה ומשמש תלמידי חכמים ואין משאו ומתנו באמונה, ואין

דבורו בנחת עם הבריות, מה הבריות אומרות עליו - אוי לו לפלוני שלמד תורה,

אוי לו לאביו שלמדו תורה, אוי לו לרבו שלמדו תורה, פלוני שלמד תורה - ראו כמה מקולקלין מעשיו וכמה מכוערין

דרכיו! ועליו הכתוב אומר +יחזקאל לו+ באמר להם עם ה' אלה ומארצו יצאו.

GUIDING questions:In response to the unethical practices at the Rubashkin/Agriprocessors plant, one of the most commonly expressed positions in the Jewish community was that it represented a hillul Hashem (desecration of God’s name).! In other words, morally corrupt Jews are giving kashrut and Judaism a bad name in the eyes of the Jewish and non-Jewish world. !!What do you think of this application of this principle?! Have you ever thought about your food choices from the perspective of what impression you are making on behalf of Judaism to the outside world?

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Talmud Yerushalmi, Baba Metzia 2:5. Shimon ben Shetah refrained from keeping an object that was lost by a non-Jew lest he be considered a barbarian by the non-Jew. “More than I want all of the money in the world,” he declared, “I want to hear the Gentile say, ‘Blessed be the God of the Jews.’”

תלמוד ירושלמי מסכת בבא מציעא פרק ב דף ח טור ג /ה"גסירקאי ותלי ביה חדא מרגלי אתון לגביה אמרין ליה מן כדון לית את צרי' לעי תובן אמ' לון למה אמרין ליה זבנינן לך חד חמר מחד סירקיי ותלי ביה חדא מרגלי אמ' לון וידע בה מרה

אמרין ליה לא א"ל לון איזל חזר לא כן אמר רב חונא ביבי בר גוזלון בשם רב התיבון קומי רבי אפילו כמאן דמר גזילו של גוי אסור כל

עמא מודיי שאבידתו מותרת מה אתון סברין שמעון בן שטח ברברון הוה בעי הוה שמעון בן שטח משמ' בריך אלההון דיהודאי מאגר כל הדין עלמא

About the Jewish Farm School

The Jewish Farm School (JFS) is an environmental education organization formally established in 2005. Our mission is to practice and promote sustainable agriculture and to support food systems rooted in justice and Jewish traditions. We educate participants through farm-based service learning experiences, practical skills trainings, Jewish text study, and outreach and consulting. Our programs provide avenues of engagement for both highly involved and previously unaffiliated Jewish young adults and are a catalyst for lifelong learning in Jewish, environmental, social justice, and food related issues.

Since our inception, we have run over forty different programs, reaching more than 4,000 children, college students, and adults. JFS runs Alternative Break (AB) trips with college students on farms around the country, Urban Sustainability workshops, and oversees the Farm at Eden Village, a two-acre educational farm on the grounds of Eden Village Camp, a new Jewish summer camp outside of New York City. JFS has designed the farm as an experiential learning center where Judaism’s agricultural heritage comes alive, and participants discover how our traditional wisdom can inform contemporary social and environmental issues. Lastly, through JFS Cooperative Design, we consult with synagogues, JCCs and private landowners on educational and public interest Jewish farming and gardening projects.

Through a curriculum that links Jewish agricultural practices, such as letting the land rest every seven years (Shmita) and reserving the corners of fields for those in need (Peah), with contemporary food and environmental issues, JFS empowers a new generation of individuals who see food as a vehicle for social and environmental justice and understand their efforts as religious and spiritual imperatives. Ultimately, the vision for JFS is to have two permanent sites, one rural and one urban, while continuing to run programs nationally. This will allow the organization to model sustainability on a regional scale while also bringing our message to Jewish students and communities around the country through Alternative Breaks and Cooperative Design.

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Jewish Food Rules is produced with the generous support of

The Jewish Farm School is a program of Hazon and a proud resident of Bikkurim: an incubator for new Jewish ideas.

Find out more online at jewishfarmschool.org