Q&A: Veganism
Veganism
Question
Hello Rabbi,
The Rabbi is known to believe in veganism, but there is one point in the Rabbi’s approach here that isn’t clear to me. Do you believe that only in the current situation today regarding animals—abuse and the like—one should refrain from eating them? Or even if the situation were different, and animals were raised in the most proper conditions from their standpoint, would it still, in your opinion, make sense to be vegan? If so, how does that fit with the accepted view in the Torah and in the Sages that there is no problem at all with eating meat, and on the contrary, there are times when it is a commandment (perhaps even an obligation)?
Answer
It makes sense to be vegan, but it is not obligatory. The Torah says there is no halakhic prohibition, but it does not deal with morality. Where there is abuse, it is a moral obligation. Just to remove any doubt and avoid creating a false impression: I am not vegan, to my shame (it is very hard for me), but rather vegetarian. I try to do a bit more beyond that.
Discussion on Answer
In my opinion, no. The matter is so widespread that it’s ridiculous to speak about your contribution to it. Like someone who is about to cross at a crosswalk on the Sabbath, where some instruct him not to put his foot down when there is a cultured car so that it won’t activate the brake lights. That’s a joke, of course, since the driver commits thousands of transgressions per minute.
As for kashrut, that is certainly irrelevant. That prohibition does not affect the kosher status. One who ate did not eat forbidden foods, but rather committed a prohibition. Just as the prohibition of theft does not affect kosher status. But that is not an essential question.
Hello, is there no halakhic obligation to refrain from eating meat when I am in effect financing cruelty to animals? Isn’t this a commandment fulfilled through a transgression?
That is, once the animal undergoes abuse and by my purchase I am financing it, is the animal no longer considered kosher, so that this becomes a halakhic prohibition beyond the moral issue?