Religion & Beliefs
Silly Things Rabbis Say: World not “Compassionate” Enough for Vegetarians
By Jewcy Staff / March 18, 2010
You know those times where you think a rabbi makes sense, but you also think he might be bat-shit crazy? Let’s use Rabbi Dov Lioras an example:
"We still are not compassionate towards people in our times, so having mercy on animals is irrelevant," explained the rabbi. "Only when the world ascends spiritually and we have mercy on people will we be able to be vegetarians." (Via)
Meat eaters and plant munchers: debate!
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Love it! Only Jews, only us…I am so sorry I haven’t been on forever. I would love to write about it and tell you why I have AWOL..but it’s not letting me access my blog.
In Olam Haba, we will not eat meat. The animals will not hunt.
Also, HaShem promised the animals after the flood it would not always be that they would be hunted. After Adam and Eve’s sin caused the first animals death, we becamse the toilers and the care takers. This is to be the stewards of the Master’s vineyard until HIS return. NOT white man rules all, gets all, destroys all as he wants. We are stewards, caretakers, so recycling and eating and driving in ways that practice good stewardship should be manadatory for every Jew. Degrees can be individual. For instance one Jew doesn’t eat cow due to enviromental impact but they eat buffalo to support a native food source with little impact on the enviroment. Another jew eats no meat.. Basic respect for every aspect of the Divine Nature in all of the creation around us and in us,… is mandatory.
Some might reply that even though the mass of men, women and children are not ready to become vegetarians for compassionate reasons, it’s good to have a minority pointing the way.
I’m sure he believes this about the Jewish people in its relationship to God.
"I don’t feel like giving to a charity, because the world is not yet spiritually elevated. When the world becomes spiritually elevated, I will give to a charity."
Eating meat is a choice that is open to any adult person. Choosing to eat it, or choosing to abstain, does not involve any substantial drawbacks. It is a moral choice. The rabbi advocates apathy, not spirituality.
I have caused enough suffering in this world I fear I will be denied entrance to olam ha bah and that’s one of the reasons I am now a vegan. Do I secretly hope that by eshewing all animal products I can usher in Moshiach,? sheepishly, yes.
Maybe not crazy, but illogical. I mean, why wait? If mercy and kindness, including kindness to animals, are EVER relevant, they are relevant now. You would think, right? Compassion towards people is good, compassion toward animals is good, and compassion towards both at the same time? Even better. If we want the world to "ascend spiritually," there is no time like the present for helping to make that happen. As if any act of kindness were ever wasted – ? I guess what the good rabbi means to convey is that we should make compassion towards other human beings a priority – but personally, I wouldn’t hold back on kindness towards other living things in the interim. Nor would I hold my breath waiting for that "ascension." What sort of cop out is that?
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