(Beth Clifton collage)
Jewish Vegan Life urges Jews to go vegan in combined Passover/Earth Day campaign
TEL AVIV, Israel––River otters offer perhaps the best news coming out of Israel lately.
War is still raging in Gaza. The Hamas militia remains unsubdued. Thousands of Gaza civilians are still starving, chiefly due to the difficulty of feeding them without feeding Hamas.
Iran directly entered the fray with an April 14, 2024 rocket and drone attack on Israel. Though the attack was almost entirely repelled, injuring only a seven-year-old Bedouin Arab girl, it is widely seen as possibly preliminary to an escalation or expansion of the war.
(Beth Clifton photo/collage)
River otters in no-man’s-land
The war began on October 7, 2023 with Hamas invaders killing more than 1,139 Israeli civilians and tens of thousands of farmed animals, many by burning their homes and barns.
Nearly 34,000 Palestinians, about a third of them Hamas combatants, and 260 Israeli soldiers have been killed since then.
But Haaretz journalist Zafir Rinat on April 7, 2024 reported that river otters are returning to the Israeli north, a region consisting largely of no-man’s-land between Israeli troops and the Hezbollah militia, allied with Hamas, occupying much of southern Lebanon.
Israeli soldiers rescue a fox stuck in a old rusty barrel.
(Let the Animals Live photo)
Exodus of human evacuees may help wildlife
The exodus of human evacuees from the war zone may have helped the otters and other wildlife.
“After almost going extinct due to dwindling water resources and deadly road crossings,” Rinat wrote, “a survey of otter droppings reveals that they have returned to areas in which they have been missing in Israel’s north, assisted by safe passageways built for them underneath highways.”
Elsewhere in Israel, Rinat mentioned, “otters can be seen in rivers and bodies of fresh water in the Galilee, the Golan, and the Jordan Valley.
“In the past,” Rinat said, “otters could be seen in rivers in central Israel and along the coast. However, these populations have become extinct.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Bird migration
The otters may have feasted in recent weeks on some of the estimated 500 million birds who passed over Israel and Gaza during their annual spring migrations from northern Africa to summer in Europe and Central Asia, including storks, cranes, pelicans, and more than 130 species of songbird.
The Eilat Bird Festival 2024, hosted annually by Birdlife Israel since 2007, was held from March 26 through March 29, but birders continue to converge on Hula National Park, Israel, and other popular birding sites.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Passover & Earth Day share date
Speaking of passing over, Jewish Vegan Life head of movement building Michael Gribov on April 16, 2024 emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 to point out that, “On April 22, Passover and Earth Day converge in a rare alignment set to repeat in exactly 30 years from now.”
Passover, one of the three major Jewish holidays each year, celebrated for circa 4,000 years, commemorates the Exodus, the escape of the ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt, following the Ten Plagues prophesied by Moses, as recounted in the Torah, the Christian Bible, and the Islamic Quran.
Michael Gribov. (LinkedIn photo)
“Opportunity to raise awareness”
Passover was historically marked by animal sacrifice, evolving gradually into family dinners featuring lamb or poultry, but “an estimated 500,000 Jews around the globe celebrate Passover 100% plant-based,” Gribov said, a number including about 236,700 Israeli vegans and about as many more Israeli vegetarians.
Altogether, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, about 10% of the population define themselves as either vegan or vegetarian.
“We believe Passover is the perfect opportunity to raise awareness about the environmental impact of our food choices and inspire positive change,” said Gribov, describing Jewish Vegan Life as “a global nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring people to embrace the synergy of Jewish tradition and plant-based living.
“We have just launched our Passover Earth Day Campaign,” Gribov said, highlighting “veganism as a sustainable and compassionate choice for our planet.”
Raquela Karamson.
(LinkedIn photo)
“Drew inspiration from incredible events”
Elaborated Jewish Vegan Life founder Raquela Karamson, “This campaign drew inspiration from the incredible events of the Passover story.
“From the plagues that shook Egypt to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea,” enabling the Israelites to cross, with the Pharoah’s army in hot pursuit, only to drown when the water surged back, “we see Earth and nature rallying behind humanity, fighting on the side of justice and aiding the Jewish people in their hour of need,” Karamson said.
Opponents of the Israeli response in Gaza––at least those living in Israel, the United States, and other nations hosting traditions of political dissent––might dispute the nuances of Karamson’s statement.
But opponents of any policy or practice of Hamas, Hezbollah, the government of Iran, and the other Islamist militias sponsored by Iran, if they happen to live in Iran, Gaza, or other territory held by Islamists, meanwhile have a tradition of being liquidated.
Richard Schwartz. (Facebook photo)
“It is now our turn to take a stand”
“Just as Earth championed our liberation,” Karamson said, “it is now our turn to take a stand and fight for the liberation of the beings who co-inhabit this planet and the survival of our shared home, Earth.”
Jewish Vegan Life called upon Jews around the world “to commit to going vegan for Passover.”
Elaborated Richard Schwartz, a member of the Jewish Vegan Life executive council, and an occasional contributor of guest columns and comments to ANIMALS 24-7, “Everything possible must be done to avert a climate catastrophe. Most important is a major reduction in meat and dairy production, the major cause of climate threats, because they involve the emission of methane and other potent greenhouse gasses, and massive deforestation to create land for grazing and growing feed crops for animals.
Richard Schwartz. (Beth Clifton collage)
“Major shifts to plant-based diets are essential”
“Major shifts to plant-based diets are essential,” Schwartz said, “so that the vast areas now used for animal-based agriculture can be reforested, resulting in the sequestering of much atmospheric carbon dioxide,” helping to “leave a habitable, healthy, environmentally sustainable world for future generations.”
(See Could vegan potlucks lead to resolution of Israeli/Palestinian conflict?)
Added former chief rabbi of Ireland and fellow member of the Jewish Vegan Life executive council David Rosen, “Passover is a story about redemption, and it has far wider ramifications for all forms of slavery. Modern society is enslaved to the carnivorous diet, that harms our bodies, our communities, and our planet.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Hard sell?
Data published the same day, April 16, 2024, by the Anti-Defamation League suggests that promoting combined Passover and Earth Day events might be a hard sell in some communities, and could even be dangerous.
Tabulating anti-Jewish incidents occurring in the U.S. annually since 1979, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 8,873 such incidents in 2023, “a 140% increase from the 3,698 incidents recorded in 2022, and the highest number on record, more in 2023 than in the previous three years combined,” the Anti-Defamation League said.
“Assault incidents increased by 45% to 161 incidents, vandalism increased 69% to 2,177 incidents, and harassment increased 184% to 6,535 incidents.
Vitali Troptanov, Israeli cat rescuer murdered by Hamas. (Facebook photo)
“Dramatic increase in incidents”
“The dramatic increase in incidents,” the Anti-Defamation League observed, “took place primarily in the period following the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel.
“Between October 7 and the end of 2023, the Anti-Defamation League tabulated 5,204 incidents––more than the incident total for the whole of 2022.
“Fifty-two percent of the incidents after October 7 (2,718) included references to Israel, Zionism, or Palestine.”
But anti-Jewish activity had already reached new highs for a single month in five of the six months preceding October 7, 2023.
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz.
(Facebook photo)
“A violent and an almost unbearably divisive time”
The Orthodox rabbi, social justice campaigner, and animal advocate Shmuly Yanklowitz, of Scottsdale, Arizona, in a November 23, 2023 Times of Israel guest column published on the eve of U.S. Thanksgiving, argued that “Jews and Muslims should start talking again by sharing a vegan meal together.
“We live in a violent and an almost unbearably divisive time,” Yanklowitz wrote. “Antisemitism is scarily on the rise, and Islamophobia lives on simultaneously.
“We can’t resolve this, though, by sitting on the sidelines and letting our most extreme factions fight it out. We have to fight the darkness by adding our own light, and by bringing the light out of others.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Our food practices are exceedingly similar”
“For all the presumed disagreements between Jews and Muslims,” Yanklowitz pointed out, “we can agree that our food practices are exceedingly similar. Food that is kosher can also meet the qualifications for being halal, acceptable to Muslims. Most certainly, vegan food, under careful preparation, can work for all.”
For Thanksgiving 2023, Yanklowitz said, “I hope to bring vegan members of the Muslim community over to show together how bringing about a more peaceful world can start with what we eat. Thankfully, much of the middle eastern cuisine that we both cherish is already vegan.
“I hope to share my spiritual reasons for being a vegan,” Yanklowitz continued, “and I hope my guests will find it in line with the teaching from the Hadiths,” the Islamic compilation of sayings from the Prophet Mohammed, “A good deed done for an animal is as meritorious as a good deed done for a human being, while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Find one shared point of light”
Cautioned Yanklowitz, “Will we be able to find a solution for peace in the Middle East by the end of the evening? No. In fact, it will probably be best for us to avoid talking about the current war, given the emotional intensity of our divergent views.
“But by finding the one shared point of light,” Yanklowitz suggested, “I believe we will renew the possibility of our communities working together for justice — and hopefully, one day, the war, rockets, terrorism, and violence will come to an end.”
(Sulala Animal Rescue photo)
“Today we neutered 30 cats”
Another “shared point of light” is hands-on animal rescue.
The only incorporated animal aid organization within Gaza, Sulala Animal Rescue, in early April focused on cat rescue, evacuating injured cats from Rafah and the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, where the Israeli Defense Force destroyed a Hamas weapons cache and reportedly captured several hundred Hamas fighters in mid-February 2024.
“Today we neutered 30 of the cats we brought from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis,” Sulala Animal Rescue founder Saeed Al-Err posted to Facebook on April 15, 2024, via Belgian volunteer spokesperson Annelies Keuleers.
“After we finish with the males we will start on the females,” Al-Err added.
Carmel Gat. (Facebook photo)
“How can this still be happening?”
The largest Israeli animal rescue organization, Let The Animals Live, before October 7, 2023 frequently helped Palestinian animal rescuers in Gaza, but lost many former volunteers, adopters, and donors to the Hamas raid.
Some were killed; some remain hostages.
Let The Animals Live continues to post frequent reminders of the missing to social media.
Beth & Merritt Clifton
On April 15, 2024, for instance, Let The Animals Live remembered that “For more than six months now, Carmel Gat has been held hostage by Hamas terrorists. More than six months of living in hell, in existential fear, alone and helpless. How can this still be happening?”
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The post River otters return to Israel & 500 million birds pass over before Passover appeared first on Animals 24-7.