High Holidays Recap

Rosh Hashanah
I had a guest post featured on the PETA Prime Blog about Rosh Hashanah and "food teshuvah." I wrote, "Now is as good a time as any for all of us—regardless of our religious beliefs—to think about our eating habits and ask, 'Do my dietary choices cause others suffering?' The best way to help animals—and do food teshuvah—is to go vegetarian or vegan."

PETA's VegCooking Blog discussed Rosh Hashanah dishes and featured a recipe for date honey. I got an amusing but unexpected shout-out in the first sentence: "After asking my friend Michael what delicious recipe I should feature on the blog for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, I received, literally, five e-mails packed full of ideas."

The Jew & The Carrot featured a "Rosh Hashanah Round Up" post, saying, "To welcome in such a special time, we’ve rounded up a number of great Rosh Hashanah stories, ideas, and recipes from the Jewish food blogosphere. The creativity coming out of these bloggers' minds and kitchens is truly inspiring ...." heebnvegan's Rosh Hashanah guest post from Robin Silberman was among the posts mentioned.

Yom Kippur
I had a guest post featured on the PETA Prime Blog about Yom Kippur's prohibition against leather. I wrote, "On Yom Kippur, we apologize for our sins in the previous year, and we hope not to repeat our mistakes. So why is it that after today, most Jews consider it permissible not to show 'compassion to the creatures of G-d'? If we are honest with ourselves on Yom Kippur and seek to avoid sins—and if we aspire to be compassionate beings so that G-d may treat us with compassion—we should cease promoting suffering in our attire and daily decisions on a regular basis, not just one day a year. "

The efforts of various animal rights groups to challenge the use of chickens for kapporos have been in the news a lot lately. (Check out my August 25 and September 4 posts about kapporos.) B'nai B'rith Magazine ran an article about kapporos and included this quote from United Poultry Concerns president Karen Davis: "We’re not asking that Kapparot be abandoned; just the use of chickens. We don’t want to see any animal go through suffering when there is no requirement.”