Feeding the Children of Abraham:

1 Lawrence Finsen and Susan Finsen, The Animal Rights Movement in America: From Compassion to Respect (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994) 42-43.

2 Finsen and Finsen, 25.

3 Andrew Linzey, Animal Theology (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995) 19.

4 Roberta Kalechofsky, "Preface," Judaism and Animal Rights: Classical and Contemporary Responses, ed. Roberta Kalechofsky (Marblehead: Micah Publications, 1992) vii.

5 See especially: Peter Singer, Animal Liberation (New York: Avon Books, 1990) chapter five "Man's dominion..." and Singer, "Animals and the Value of Life," Matters of Life and Death, ed. Tom Regan (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1993) 287-292.

6 Andrew Linzey, Christianity and the Rights of Animals (New York: Crossroad, 1991) 24.

7 Stephen Kellert, Knowledge, Affection, and Basic Attitudes Towards Animals in American Society (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish, and Wildlife Service, 1980) as cited in Dr. Michael W. Fox, The Boundless Circle (Wheaton: Quest Books, 1996) 46-7.

8 Tom Regan, The Struggle for Animal Rights (Clarks Summit: International Society for Animal Rights, Inc., 1987) 153.

9 Jim Mason and Peter Singer, Animal Factories (New York: Harmony Books, 1990) 10.

10 Mason and Singer, 148.

11 Richard H. Schwartz, "Tsa'ar Ba'alei Chayim-Judaism and Compassion for Animals," Judaism and Animal Rights, 65.

12 Schwartz, "Tsa'ar Ba'alei Chayim," 65.

13 Schwartz, "Tsa'ar Ba'alei Chayim," 65.

14 As related in, Aviva Cantor, "Kindness to Animals: The Soul of Every Living Thing," Judaism and Animal Rights, 26.

15 Schwartz, "Tsa'ar Ba'alei Chayim," 66-67.

16 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism (Marblehead: Micah Publications, 1988) 15.

17 Rabbi Dr. J. David Bleich, "Judaism and Animal Experimentation," Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science, ed. Tom Regan (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986) 66.

18 Bleich, 67.

19 Guide for the Perplexed, 456, as cited in Daniel Swartz, "Jews, Jewish Texts, and Nature: A Brief History," This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, ed. Roger S. Gottlieb (New York: Routledge, 1996) 102.

20 Rabbi Everett Gendler, "The Universal Chorus," Rabbis and Vegetarianism: An Evolving Tradition (Marblehead: Micah Publications, Inc. 1995) 20-21.

21 Roberta Kalechofsky, "Jewish Law and Tradition on Animal Rights: A Usable Paradigm for the Animal Rights Movement," Judaism and Animal Rights, 50.

22 Kalechofsky, "Jewish Law and Tradition on Animal Rights," 52.

23 Kalechofsky, "The Vegetarian Re-Storation," 168.

24 Rabbi Sydney Clayman, "Vegetarianism: The Ideal of the Bible," Rabbis and Vegetarianism, 9.

25 Kalechofsky, "The Vegetarian Re-Storation," 168.

26 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 7.

27 "Kosher," The Harpercollins Dictionary of Religion, 1995 ed.

28 Temple Grandin, "Humanitarian Aspects of Shechitah in the United States," Judaism and Animal Rights, 97-98.

29 Singer, 153-154.

30 Grandin, 93-94.

31 Singer, 153.

32 Grandin, 93-97. Many countries prohibit shackling and hoisting in kosher slaughter, forcing the kosher industry to adopt more humane methods. Some rabbis in other nations also reject shackling and hoisting because they see it as a practice alien to traditional kosher slaughter, and therefore, not permissible.

33 See especially: Michael Metcalf, "Regulating Animal Slaughter: Animal Protection and Antisemitism in Scandinavia, 1880-1941," and Brian Klug, "Ritual Murmur: The Undercurrent of Protest Against Religious Slaughter of Animals in Britain in the 1980s," both in Judaism and Animal Rights.

34 As related in Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, "Thou Shalt Eat Vegetables," Rabbis and Vegetarianism, 83-84.

35 Mason and Singer, 39-40.

36 Singer, 145-146.

37 Jewish butchers who have considered the question of castration have found it acceptable because they assume the work to have been done by a capable non-Jew; see Louis A. Berman, "The Dietary Laws As Atonements for Flesh-eating," Judaism and Animal Rights, 160. As to the skill, or lack thereof, of those who perform castration, see Singer, Animal Liberation, 145-146.

38 Rhoda Goodman Moss, "Is 'Kosher' Kosher?," Judaism and Animal Rights, 106.

39 The American rabbis came to this conclusion because the damage is done only to the back leg. At the very least this should be seen as a violation of the spirit of Jewish slaughter; see Grandin, 94.

40 Mason and Singer, 14-16.

41 Philip L. Pick, "Is It Kosher?," Judaism and Animal Rights, 111.

42 See also: Exodus 23:12 and Deuteronomy 5:12-14.

43 Mason and Singer, 51-53.

44 Mason and Singer, 52-53.

45 Berman, 161.

46 Rabbi Alfred S. Cohen, "Vegetarianism From a Jewish Perspective," Judaism and Animal Rights, 191.

47 Schwartz, "Questions and Answers," 229.

48 Schwartz, "Questions and Answers," 229.

49 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 9, and Kalechofsky, "Judaism and Vegetarianism: In the Camp of Kibroth-Hatavah," Judaism and Vegetarianism, 198-199.

50 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 80.

51 Rabbi David Rosen, "Vegetarianism: An Orthodox Jewish Perspective," Rabbis and Vegetarianism, 54-55.

52 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 164.

53 Based especially on Isaiah 11:6-9, "The wolf shall live with the lamb..."

54 See especially: John Robbins, Diet for a New America (Walpole: Stillpoint Publishing, 1987) Chapter 12 "All Things Are Connected."

55 Daniel Swartz, "Jews, Jewish Texts, and Nature: A Brief History," This Sacred Earth, 98.

56 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 68.

57 While the ideas of God's value of Creation and bal tashchit are the central ideas in Jewish ecological thinking, a great variety of stories, scripture, and thought exists concerning the environment. Both Daniel Swartz's essay, cited earlier, and Richard Schwartz's Chapter "Judaism, Vegetarianism, and Ecology," in Judaism and Vegetarianism go into greater depth.

58 Swartz, 102.

59 Robbins, especially the chapters in Part Two.

60 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 31.

61 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 31-34.

62 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 33-34.

63 Schwartz, Judaism and Vegetarianism, 32.

64 Singer and Mason, 147-148.

65 Singer, 151.

66 This does raise the issue of the employee's role as an animal exploiter. A larger point comes into play, namely how much real choice does a person have in how they earn a living? Women and minorities may especially be forced into performing this sort of work in the face of systemic denial of other viable employment options. It would seem both the animals and those that process their corpses are victims of human taste and agribusiness.

67 Schwartz, "Questions and Answers," Judaism and Vegetarianism, 231.

68 Lewis G. Regenstein, Replenish the Earth (New York: Crossroad, 1991) 177.

69 Regenstein, 181.

70 Linzey, Animal Theology, 133.

71 Bruce J. Malina and Richard L. Rohrbaugh, Social-Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992) 95.

72 Linzey, Animal Theology, 135.

73 Kosher law requires that meat must be rinsed and salted several times to remove all blood from it, because blood is the vehicle of life and soul. "Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life (or soul), that is, its blood." (Gen. 9:4, NSRV) See Berman, 154-155. The Old Testament also explicitly ascribes souls to animals. Though modern translations correctly give the Hebrew nephesh/nephesh chayah, "soul/living soul" in reference to humans, many change the translation to "life" or "living creatures," a reflection more of their personal bias than the intended meaning of the Hebrew. See Regenstein, 43-44.

74 Linzey, Animal Theology, 32-33.

75 Linzey, Animal Theology, 36-37.

76 Dennis C. Duling and Norman Perrin, The New Testament: Proclamation and Parenesis, Myth and History (Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1994) 249-251.

77 Andrew Linzey, Christianity and the Rights of Animals (New York: Crossroad, 1991) 1-2.

78 Linzey, Animal Theology, 126.

79 Linzey, Animal Theology, ix.

80 Linzey, Animal Theology, 147.

81 Linzey, Animal Theology, 24-25.

82 Linzey, Christianity and the Rights of Animals, 98.

83 Linzey, Christianity and the Rights of Animals, 108.

84 Even though advancing these ideas, Linzey does not believe they confer any supreme status on humans, or that they indicate humans and human salvation are the point of creation. Instead, he sees them as granting humans special purpose and a unique, not an exclusive, place in creation. Some Christians follow a more integral view of God and creation. Matthew Fox's The Boundless Circle expounds this idea of "panentheism" or of God being in all things, and all things in God. Panentheism and similar views may offer alternative approaches to vegetarianism for some Christians, but even they ascribe some value to God's rights in creation and humanity's special role in its protection.

85 Regenstein, 133-134.

86 Regenstein, 113.

87 James Gaffney, "The Relevance of Animal Experimentation to Roman Catholic Ethical Methodology," Animal Sacrifices: Religious Perspectives on the Use of Animals in Science, Tom Regan, ed. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986) 160-163.

88 Pope John Paul II, "The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility," This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, ed. Roger S. Gottlieb (New York: Routledge, 1996) 230-237.

89 Regenstein, 154-156.

90 "Liberating Life: A Report to the World Council of Churches," This Sacred Earth, 251-269.

91 Doctors Dean Ornish, Nathan Pritikin, and John McDougall, among others.

92 Regenstein, 128.

93 This and all following references from the Qur'an from: The Presidency of Islamic Researches, Ifta, Call, and Guidance, ed., The Holy Qur'an (Medina: King Fahd Holy Qur'an Printing Complex, n.d.).

94 Like the Jewish kosher laws, Muslims must eat meat that is halal - from acceptable animals, and slaughtered in the appropriate religious manner. Unlike the kosher laws, halal and haram apply to all areas of life - work, family, income, and so on, as well as to diet.

95 "Hayawan (Animals)," The Encyclopedia of Islam, 1971 ed.

96 Environmental conditions in Arabia were even more severe than in the Levant region where Jews and Christians needed to rely on meat and fish for survival.

97 Compare with the Jewish notion of animals as members of the Universal Chorus singing praises to God.

98 Traditions chronicling the actions and utterances of the Prophet.

99 Mishkat; as cited in Regenstein, 251.

100 Guy Delon, American Fondouq, Fez, Morocco; as cited in Regenstein, 251.

101 The Jahiliyyah, or "time of ignorance" was the period preceding the arrival (or return) of Islam. Muslims consider this period of paganism as a dark, wicked, and decadent time.

102 Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) 231.

103 Piercing the hollow of the throat is also acceptable.

104 Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, The Lawful and the Prohibited In Islam (Indianapolis: American Trust Publishers, 1981) 54-57.

105 Al-Qaradawi, 57.

106 Al-Hafiz B.A. Masri, "Animal Experimentation: The Muslim Viewpoint," Animal Sacrifices, 186-187.

107 Singer, Animal Liberation, 153-155.

108 Ibn Majah; as cited in Al-Qaradawi, 57.

109 Al-Mahli; as cited in Regenstein, 254.

110 Singer, Animal Liberation, 147-150.

111 John Robbins, Diet for a New America (Walpole: Stillpoint Publishing, 1987) 138. Robbins is explaining what hogs are subjected to, but this also happens to other animals.

112 B.A. Masri, "Excerpts from the Islamic Teachings on Animal Welfare"; as cited in Regenstein, 253.

113 Muhammad strongly condemned the castration of animals. Abu Daoud and Al-Tirmidhi; as cited by Al-Qaradawi, 344.

114 Singer, Animal Liberation, 145-147.

115 Al-Qaradawi, 44.

116 "Hayawan," The Encyclopedia of Islam.

117 Mawil Y. Izzi Deen (Samarrai), "Islamic Environmental Ethics, Law, and Society," This Sacred Earth, 166.

118 Deen, 164-165.

119 Deen, 169.

120 Al-Qaradawi, 5-6.

121 Masri, 179-181.

122 Al-Qaradawi, 51.

123 A Bukhari hadith says, "The man who exerts himself of behalf of the widow and poor one is like the one who struggles in the way of Allah..." A Manual of Hadith, ed. Maulana Muhammad Ali (Lahore: The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat Islam, n.d.) 211.