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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: April 6, 2020 at 4:37:26 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Judaic]: Brumberg Kraus on Labendz and Yanklowitz, > 'Jewish Veganism and Vegetarianism: Studies and New Directions' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Jacob Ari Labendz, Shmuly Yanklowitz, eds. Jewish Veganism and > Vegetarianism: Studies and New Directions. Albany SUNY Press, 2019. > xxiii + 348 pp. $90.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4384-7361-1. > > Reviewed by Jonathan Brumberg Kraus (Wheaton College) > Published on H-Judaic (April, 2020) > Commissioned by Barbara Krawcowicz > > This collection of essays is an outstanding introduction and report > on past and current trends in Jewish vegetarianism and Jewish > veganism, including many original and thought-provoking reflections > on the convergence of animal rights, Jewish traditions, and > performances of contemporary Jewish identities, especially through > food choices. Hence, it makes a substantial contribution to Jewish > food studies, Jewish identity studies, and the comparative cultural > study of the ethical treatment of animals. > > The editors, Jacob Ari Labendz and Shmuly Yanklowitz, leading > scholars and activists of the contemporary Jewish vegetarian and > vegan food movement (or Jewish "veg'ism," to use Aaron Gross's > shorthand for "the spectrum of plant-based diets that run from vegan > to ovo-lacto vegetarian," p. 325), have organized their book into two > parts. "Studies" is comprised of seven essays on the "historical, > literary, and sociological contexts" of Jewish veg'ism from the > Talmudic era to modern Israel, Europe, and North America (p. xv). The > second part, "New Directions," consists of seven more essays > "reflective" of current ethical, theological, and cultural issues and > debates in Jewish veg'ism from a variety of perspectives (pp. > xv-xvi). Following that is a brief and useful history of the Jewish > vegan and vegetarian movements in North America (Sarah Chandler and > Jeffrey Cohan), inf which many of the contributors were active > participants. They are sandwiched between an introductory essay by > Labendz and Yanklowitz and an afterward by Gross that provide a > coherent thematic and programmatic framework for the collection as a > whole. It is work of scholar activism, which is part of the nature of > vegetarian and vegan studies, since most of the scholars in this > field have personal commitments to these practices and advocate them > generally. However, this in no way diminishes the scholarship in this > book. In fact, it enhances it, since the contributors generally not > only acknowledge their stake in the game but also use the tools of > critical scholarship to distinguish carefully between what the > sources in texts and lived practices say and what they would like > them to say. > > In this light, many of the essays are exemplary in the way they > present compelling integrations of the authors' personal > autobiographies and veg'ist commitments and sound critical > scholarship. Particularly successful are the ways Adrienne Krone, > Sherry Colb, and Jacob Labendz interweave their personal stories and > practices to support the critical points they make in their essays. > Irad Ben Isaak's essay on the Yiddish poet Melekh Ravitch's > "conversion" to vegetarianism in a way provides a kind of paradigm to > recognize the trope of vegetarian or vegan conversion stories typical > in the rhetoric of many of the veg'ist essays in this book and other > veg'ist writing. It's a thing, as Adrienne Krone points out in her > references to the scholarship on the formation of vegan > identities.[1] > > The essays in the book offer a thorough and wide-ranging introduction > to Jewish vegan and vegetarian studies. Most of the basic sources for > vegan/vegetarian arguments in Jewish interpretation are covered in > one or usually more of the essays, namely, vegetarianism as > concession in the Bible (Gen 1:29-30; 9:3); the future messianic > vision of the lion lying down with the lamb in Isaiah; the concept of > _tza'ar ba'alei chayyim_ (not causing pain to animals) in the Talmud > and post-Talmudic interpretations; the biblical prohibitions against > cooking a kid in its mother's milk and removing a chick from its nest > (_kan tzippur_) and their post-Biblical interpretations; and the > vegetarian teachings of Rav Kook, to which the founder of the Jewish > vegetarian movement in North America, Richard Schwartz, and David > Sears devoted an essay. > > The essays in the book do a nice job paying attention to the > influence of different historical and cultural contexts, though they > do skew a bit toward modern Jewish history. However, given the > subject matter, that is to be expected. And many of the relevant > early biblical and other premodern Jewish sources are dealt with in > David Seidenberg's theological argument for a "covenantal" approach > to treating animals and plants justly. That said, the book begins > with a careful reading by Beth Berkowitz of the Talmudic sources for > _tza'ar ba'alei chayyim_ that cautions against reading concern for > animal suffering as anything more than a minority opinion in what the > rabbinic sources actually say. As for the essays on modern and > contemporary Jewish vegetarianism and veganism, Nick Underwood > contributes a thought-provoking analysis of the connection between > early twentieth-century anti-Jewish laws (especially those > restricting kosher slaughter) and European Jewish vegetarianism; > Michael Croland looks at the striking frequency of veganism among > Jewish punk rockers in often explicit expressions of their Jewish > punk identities; and Adrienne Krone shows that contemporary Jewish > ecologically oriented farm schools are places where young Jews come > to veganism or vegetarianism with different rationales. Other essays > deal with vegetarian tendencies in the nineteenth-century Mussar > movement (Geoffrey D. Claussen) and in modern Jewish art and > literature (Irad Ben Isaak, Hadas Marcus), contemporary Israeli vs. > North American Jewish language and practices regarding animal welfare > (Victoria Greenstone and Shlomi Shmuel), and the current state of > Jewish vegan and vegetarian movements in North America (Sarah > Chandler and Jeffrey Cohan). > > Moreover, the essays as a whole frequently engage scholarship in the > broader field of vegan and vegetarian studies, with references to > important works on animal rights ethics[2] and vegan identities and > identity formation (Zeller, MacDonald, Wright). Indeed, this was one > of the collection's greatest strengths, as it provides a helpful > conceptual and bibliographical introduction for Jewish studies and > Jewish food studies scholars who may not yet be familiar with this > work. I certainly found it incredibly useful in this regard. > > Given the personal commitment of many of the contributors to > vegetarianism and veganism, this volume is to be commended for its > intellectual honesty in recognizing that classical Jewish sources are > neither unequivocally pro- or antivegan or -vegetarian, as shown by > Berkowitz's discussion of _tza'ar ba'alei chayyim_ in rabbinic > sources; Seidenberg's distinction between "covenantalist" vs. > "abolitionist veganism" (the Jewish sources are more compatible with > the former); Krinsky's take on the "speciesism" of the traditional > Jewish sources; Colb's suggestion that preferences for "abolitionist" > vs. "welfarist" veganism correlates with secular vs. religious Jewish > tendencies (p. 268); Labendz's case for "Jewish veganism as an > embodied practice" as a "vegan agenda" _specifically_ for "cultural > Jews"; and the balanced views of Labendz and Yanklowitz's > introduction and Aaron S. Gross's afterword that nicely frame all the > essays sandwiched in between. Similarly, I appreciated the > acknowledgment by several contributors that data did not always fit > their initial vegan/vegetarian hypotheses (Krone, Greenstone, and > Shmuel). > > Finally, perhaps this book's most significant contribution to Jewish > studies is its sophisticated, critical understanding of the role of > plant-based food choices in identity construction in general and of > Jewish identity in particular (e.g., Krone, Colb, and Labendz > especially). As Colb puts it so well, "Perhaps one way I can meld the > two 'Jewish' and 'vegan' identities ... is by observing that many of > us who are Jews, vegans, or both, to be a Jew and to be a vegan are > ways not only of 'being' but of 'doing' as well. In other words, > Jewishness is not simply a status that one inherits (whether through > blood or through trauma); it is a set of ways of conducting one's > life, whether religious, cultural, or some combination of the two" > (p. 283). > > In particular, vegetarian or vegan food choices lend themselves > especially well to expressions of "alternative" Jewish > identities--that is, secular, intersecting, not necessarily Zionist > Jewish identities, as Labendz and others argue. Jewish vegetarianism > and veganism are quintessential examples of what I call "culinary > midrash," ways of interacting, interpreting, and selectively applying > inherited traditions to perform Jewish identities > _gastronomically_.[3] I see this in Yanklowitz's recognition that we > can choose to interpret and apply pro-animal tendencies in Jewish > sources to vegan ethics in today's situation; Colb's idea of a "new > kosher" that stresses plant-based food "choices" to avoid violence, > which are holy, and not evil (p. 284); or what Labendz says is the > "reinvention of tradition" (p. 302). > > The book and its individual contributors--every one of whose essays > is worth reading and together make the book as a whole far exceed the > sum of its parts--are themselves participating in this Jewish veg'ist > "reinvention of tradition." It is a reinvention of tradition that > integrates critical scholarship, ethics, and activism by rooting them > in critical and creative readings of Jewish sources that emphasize > what Gross characterizes as the "generative tension between ... human > violence to and domination over animal creation (Genesis 1:26-28 in > which humans are given dominion) and ... a lesser violence and > greater benevolence (Genesis 1:29-30 in which humans, and it seems > animals, are commanded to be vegan) [that] constantly repeats itself > in Judaism's textual corpus" (p. 328). > > Jewish vegetarianism and veganism according to this book are > compelling expressions of modern Jewish identity that are moral, > self-aware, and have a "transcendent" dimension (Labendz, pp. 289, > 308). Whether one is looking for a comprehensive critical analysis of > the history and current state of Jewish vegetarianism and veganism > primarily in North America, or for an agenda and fruitful models for > how to be a Jewish vegetarian or vegan in the twenty-first century, > they will find what they are hungry for here. > > Notes > > [1]. For example, Benjamin E. Zeller, "Quasi-Religious American > Foodways: The Cases of Vegetarianism and Locavorism," in _Religion, > Food, and Eating in North America,_ ed. Ben Zeller et al. (New York: > Columbia University Press, 2014); Barbara MacDonald, "'Once You Know > Something, You Can't Not Know It': An Empirical Look at Becoming > Vegan," _Society and Animals_ 8, no. 1 (2000): 1-23; and Laura > Wright, _The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the > Age of Terror_ (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2015). > > [2]. Peter Singer, _Animal Liberation: The Definitive Classic of The > Animal Movement_ (New York: Ecco, 2009); Gary Francione, owner, > _Animal Rights: The Abolitionist Approach_ website, accessed Febraury > 21, 2020, http://www.abolitionistapproach.com; and Elisa Aaltola, > _Animal Suffering: Philosophy, and Culture_ (New York: Palgrave > Macmillan, 2012). > > [3]. Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus, _Gastronomic Judaism as Culinary > Midrash_ (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018). > > _Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus is Professor of Religion at Wheaton > College._ > > Citation: Jonathan Brumberg Kraus. Review of Labendz, Jacob Ari; > Yanklowitz, Shmuly, eds., _Jewish Veganism and Vegetarianism: Studies > and New Directions_. H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. April, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54677 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
