New J-Blog Calls Judaism 'The Vegan Religion'

Last month, a new J-blog named Baruch Ben-Zev: Go On, Reb made its debut with a post titled “Judaism: The Vegan Religion.” A follow-up post several days later clarified and expanded on various matters discussed in the original.

Baruch Ben-Zev claims that it is “axiomatic” for “a true Jew” to be “a vegan, or, at the least, a lacto- or lacto-ovo-vegetarian.” The post uses some nice-sounding language like “the vegan insight of Judaism” and “the ancient vegan Jewish sages.” Its chief biblical case for a vegan diet is the fact that Genesis 1:29 calls for one, but few people will find this convincing because—as came up in responses to the post and in the follow-up—it fails to account for later developments in the Bible. (I contend that the later developments still point to vegetarianism as an ideal, albeit not with as much certainty as G-d’s original plan).

The post also includes several asides with encouraging reasons to go vegetarian, including the health benefits of a meat-free diet and reasons why humans don’t have the physiological characteristics of carnivores.

Baruch Ben-Zev's post makes some bold claims and uses some language that I would avoid, but kudos to the blog for its efforts to get the message out there. Here's hoping that Baruch Ben-Zev continues down that path.