Regarding Jewish Vegetarianism, Joel Kahn, MD, a preventive cardiologist in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan became a vegetarian while attending college. “I grew up keeping kosher and becoming a vegetarian was my solution to remaining kosher,” Kahn says. In 1987, he read Diet for a New America by John Robbins, an expose on connections between diet, physical health, animal cruelty and environmentalism that documented the impact of food choices. “I read it in a day and stopped keeping chicken in the house,” he says. Three years later, he read about Dr. Dean Ornish’s randomized controlled trial, Lifestyle Heart Trial, which demonstrated how lifestyle changes could not only stop the progress of coronary artery disease (CAD), but could actually reverse it. These changes included whole foods, a plant-based diet, smoking cessation, stress management, exercise and meditation. “I started to practice this regimen and offered it as an option to my patients because the medical data shows people live longer and healthier lives with this lifestyle,” he says. “Clinical studies show that shifting to a vegan diet provides many health benefits compared to those eating traditional meals of meat and junk foods. A vegan diet that includes the right combinations of food to ensure the full spectrum of amino acids and B vitamins reduces cancer risks, diabetes and heart disease. “Another motivating factor for me beyond the medical data was the Jewish dietary laws of kashrut and the Talmudic guideline to create a more compassionate humanity,” Kahn says. “Tza’ar ba’alei chayim (the suffering of living creatures) is a Talmudic law that prevents unnecessary cruelty to all animals including pets and livestock and imposes specific obligations for those caring for animals.” The ethical treatment of animals is a core Jewish value. In general, Judaism permits the eating of meat provided the animal is a species permitted by the Torah and is ritually slaughtered. At the same time, the Torah stresses compassion for animals, such as not causing them pain and relieving an animal’s suffering.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 02:17:29 +0000
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