Chapter 16 | Abstaining from Eating Meat

“The contribution of raising livestock to environmental issues is of tremendous scope, and the potential impact of its solution is just as powerful. The influence is so significant that it requires urgent addressing”. This is the bottom line of the conclusions from the report drafted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2006. Amongst other things, the report warns about greenhouse gas emissions, air and water pollution, and creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria ¹. Later studies and reports point to additional environmental harm such as excessive water consumption and decreasing biologic diversity ². On this backdrop, the movement of environmental vegetarianism, which emerges from the increased awareness of the various environmental damages that the meat industry brings with it, is becoming larger in the world ³. In a survey conducted in the year 2021 in America, it was discovered that 32% of vegetarians and vegans identify their choice as made due to ecological factors, and only 23% state that it is due to concern for animals ⁴. In light of this, one should deliberate what the halachic status of abstaining from eating meat for ecological reasons, especially when it stands in contrast to other halachic principles such as oneg shabbat and simchat yom tov.

The Halachic Discussion

Environmental Vegetarianism

The ecological perspective is not the only component in the discussion around the approach to eating meat. Even though the Torah permitted consuming meat ⁵, there are many sources in halacha and Jewish philosophy where it is possible to find a recoiling from consumption of meat from a religious and moral perspective, without addressing the environmental aspects ⁶. Alongside this, the Torah itself has commandments related to eating meat which one can understand on an ecological basis. Thus, for example, Rabbi Sa’adiah Gaon explains the prohibition of eating meat that applied to Adam HaRishon from the perspective of protection of animals:

God prevented man from eating the meat of animals and prevented animals from eating each other only in the first era [= in the Garden of Eden] because there were only a small number of each species and had they eaten each other all of them would be rendered extinct. Therefore, He pushed off the permit to eat meat until they populated, then permitting it ⁷.

Similarly, there are those who explain a number of mitzvot relating to human-animal relations as mitzvot that emerge due to environmental reasons. A prominent example of this is the mitzvah of sending the mother bird away before collecting her eggs (shiluach haken) and the prohibition to slaughter [the parent animal] and its child on the same day, which the Ramban explains as follows:

The Torah does not permit performing extinction by uprooting a species even though it permitted shechitah for this species, and behold, one who kills a mother [animal] and its children in one day or takes them when they have freedom to fly, it is as if he decimated this species ⁸.

The Ramban explains these prohibitions not on a moral basis but on an ecological backdrop: the Torah wishes to prevent man from consuming meat unbounded that would lead to the extinction of one of the animal species. Those who follow the path of the Ramban are Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno ⁹, Don Isaac Abrabanel ¹⁰, as well as other commentators ¹¹. According to this interpretation, the explanation “so that [God] will give you wellbeing and lengthening of days” (Devarim 22:7) stated regarding the mitzvah of shiluach haken does not necessarily relate to the lengthening of days of the individual man, in this world or the next, but to a communal lifestyle that allows long-term survival ¹².

These sources focus on the concern for extinction of animal species due to overcultivation, which continues to become reality nowadays in various ways. Both in the manner that various species are at risk of extinction due to the high demand for their leather or meat; and due to the modern fishing industry, which involves a tremendous amount of ‘bycatch’, i.e. animals caught in the longline fishing nets, even if they have no human purpose ¹³. This is aside from the destruction of the habitats of various wildlife for the sake of creating grazing fields or growing fodder, the more indirect ramification of the meat industry, such as greenhouse gas emissions and creation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These issues were not known until the modern era and therefore classical sources do not address them. However, in light of the principles of halachic sustainability, those reasons should also be taken into account, and with this knowledge one should make an effort to decrease their meat and animal product consumption.

Oneg Shabbat and Simchat Yom Tov

As a general rule, avoiding animal products fits with Jewish halacha and even prevents doubts and missteps regarding kashrut. However, alongside this, one cannot ignore the fact that the Torah did not prohibit eating meat. Not only this, but a halachic challenge exists surrounding the mitzvah of taking delight in Shabbat and on Yom Tov. It has been stated in the Gemara regarding simchat yom tov that “there is no joy without meat” ¹⁴, and even though there are authorities who associate this statement only with the time when the Beit HaMikdash was standing ¹⁵, the dominant approach of authorities is to be stringent from the onset in line with the Rambam, who states that there is an obligation to specifically eat meat on holidays ¹⁶. Regarding the mitzvah of oneg shabbat, the picture is slightly different. The Rambam writes that eating meat is a part of the mitzvah of oneg shabbat for those who can afford it ¹⁷, and the Shulchan Aruch writes as well that a person should increase their consumption of meat, wine, and delicacies as much as they are able ¹⁸. Alongside this, the majority of authorities agree that regarding the mitzvah of oneg shabbat, there is no idea of eating meat specifically, and it is possible to fulfill the mitzvah with other important dishes that provide delight to a person ¹⁹.

Even regarding simchat yom tov, it is explained by the authorities that one who is not happy eating meat must fulfill the mitzvah in other ways ²⁰. In addition, in the Sdei Chemed Responsa, he mentions a few rabbinic leaders of kabbalah and Mussar who were accustomed to abstaining from eating meat and writes that we are dealing with proper conduct and a matter of piety ²¹. He adds that one who follows this is permitted to abstain from eating meat even on Shabbat and Yom Tov, relying on the opinion that there is no bona fide obligation to experience joy specifically through meat on holidays or eating more than a beitzah’s worth of bread on Shabbat.

Cultured Meat

One of the important technological innovations of our time is the industry of cultured (or ‘synthetic’) meat of its various kinds. This industry is based on replication of cells from a live animal under laboratory conditions in a manner which simulates – as much as possible – the culinary and dietary significance of meat from animals. The more that products of this industry are used, the more we will drastically reduce the consumption of natural meat. In addition, experts estimate that in the future, the price of cultured meat will be recognizably cheaper than natural meat, and this will directly support the underprivileged strata in Israel and the world.

There is a wide variety of technologies for creating cultured meat, differing from each other both in the source of the cells used, the replication techniques, and the appearance of the final product. An overarching halachic discussion must descend into these details and fundamentally evaluate the relevant halachot. This sort of deliberation has been performed by many halachic authorities in the last few years. Amongst others, there are two specific types of cultured meat that have been designated as ‘pareve’ in Tzohar Rabbinical Organization’s halachic position papers ²²

. Even though environmental factors do not act as a substitute for these discussions, they have enough power to encourage efforts of finding a halachic solution that will enable the decrease in consumption of animal products ²³.

In Practice:

At the individual level: In our current reality, where the meat industry involves animal suffering and environmental damage, it is appropriate to decrease one’s consumption of meat. The mitzvah of oneg shabbat can even be fulfilled in its most beautified form without meat, and anyone who wishes to avoid meat entirely, can act in accordance with this even on yom tov ²⁴.

At the communal level: Beyond personal action, this must be a global trend. Humanity must develop alternative sources of protein that cause less pollution and consume less resources of land and water, that can be produced at a reasonable and attainable cost. Therefore, one should encourage the transition to using cultured meat and ensure its production so that it will be kosher. At the same time, one should entertain taxation and legislation that encourages the decrease in consumption of animal products ²⁵.

To the next chapter

To the previous chapter

Jewish Sustainability – to the home page and table of contents

---