“Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism,” by Dr. Richard H. Schwartz (vegan), Part 1 of 2

Dr. Richard H. Schwartz (vegan) is an American professor emeritus of mathematics at the College of Staten Island and a prominent figure in the Jewish vegan community. Dr. Schwartz explains why Jewish people should be vegan. “Well, (there are) at least six Jewish mandates that point to that, and other religions also based on compassion, and justice, and sharing, are similar. And Judaism teaches that Jews ought to be what they call ‘rachmanim b’nei rachmanim,’ compassionate children of compassionate ancestors, with an imitated God Whose compassion is over all of His works.” Dr. Schwartz talks about his work to promote veganism. “Well, I have this book here, for example, a ‘Vegan Revolution, Saving Our World Revitalizing Judaism.’ And I’m offering that book as a PDF to anybody that contacts me at veggierich@gmail.com. It’s V-E-G-G-I-E-R-I-C-H @ gmail.com. I’m trying to restore that ancient Jewish holiday, Jewish New Year for Animals, but to transform it into a day devoted to increasing awareness of Jewish teachings on compassion for animals and how far the realities are from those teachings.”

Dr. Schwartz emphasizes the dire situation facing our planet and the urgent need for humanity to be vegan to save the world. “It’s not just my view, but there’s a major consensus of scientists, of climate experts. And most importantly, there are thousands of peer-reviewed articles in respected science journals, all pointing to the threats. The UN Secretary-General has called the situation a code red for humanity. As we speak, they just ended that UN conference in Dubai. They did agree to try to really cut back on climate change, but one of the big, big problems, I think, is they are ignoring, what I call ‘the cow in the room,’ the fact that animal-based agriculture is the major, major, cause of climate change.” “Even more important, we mentioned the cutting down of the trees, because of that, 43% of the ice-free land in the whole world is used for grazing for the cows and other animals, and for growing the corn, oats, and soy – the feed crops for the animals.”