Quote:
Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA
Geddy, I have read that some Jewish people feel the kosher law to kill animals by slitting their throats was originally intended as a way to make slaughter more humane, in keeping with the feeling some view as a Jewish religious law that people should not cause unnecessary suffering to animals: Judaism 101: Treatment of Animals
A question I have that relates to your original post (in which you asked religious people, "What is your level of observance?") is how people decide the degree to which they are observing or following a religion, since following particular religious laws may not fully fulfill the intent of the laws. Which is more important when determining the degree to which you follow or observe a religious law: following the intent of the law, or following the law itself? |
I'd be prepared to argue that both are equally as important as each other. The practice of the specific law is bound up in its intent, and intent is shown through observance.
Quote:
|
For example, if a Jewish person wants to follow kosher laws, should she be following the letter of the law or the intent? If she feels she should follow a law not to cause animals unecessary pain, then should she consider that slaughtering animals by slitting their throats causes them pain that can be reduced or eliminated by rendering the animals unconscious first (Discussion of research that shows that Kosher or Halal Slaughter without stunning causes pain)...even though rendering animals unconscious first violates the kosher law?
|
I know what you're getting at, but I'm not an expert in the minutae of kosher slaughter laws and practices. I'd have to research this one before venturing an opinion.
Quote:
|
Whose level of observance of religious kosher law would be greater...the person who follows the kosher law and eats only animals killed in a kosher way, or a person who violates the kosher law by eating animals rendered unconscious first (so they experience less pain)...or the person who doesn't eat any animals at all (which would naturally be a kosher diet with respect to animals, since meat and dairy would never be mixed)?
|
again, not something I can really venture an opinion on without further research.
I can answer the point about vegetarianism though. Typically Jewish practice, although it recognises the possiblity of living happily on a vegetarian diet, rejects many attempts to rationalize it based on the Bible, from Genesis and Isiah passages. From MyJewishLearning.com:
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by MyJewishLearning.com
Vegetarians often quote two biblical passages in support of their view that it is morally wrong for human beings to kill animals for food. In the creation narrative (Genesis 2:29-30) both man and animals were given the herbs of the field for their food and they were not permitted to prey on one another. In Isaiah's vision (Isaiah 11:7), "the lion shall eat straw like an ox."
Lion in straw.
The first passage, however, only expresses the ideal that obtained at the beginning of creation and the second an ideal for 'the end of days,' later understood as referring to the Messianic age. It is nowhere stated in the Bible that in the here and now vegetarianism is an ideal. On the contrary, when Noah and his sons emerge from the ark, the animals are given to them as food. In any event, in Judaism attitudes are not formed simply on the basis of biblical verses culled from here and there but on the way the teachers of Judaism have interpreted the religion throughout the ages.
|
But to answer your example, many Jews will choose to eat only a vegetarian diet where normal kosher meats aren't available, and this is recognised as equally kosher as the person who does eat meat and keeps kosher with regards to this.
[/QUOTE]
Also, since people do not physiologically need to eat animals to remain healthy, a question I have about kosher laws is how people rationalize the slaughtering of animals if they also believe that a religious law prohibits causing unnecessary suffering to animals.
[/QUOTE]
You might want to read this:
Vegetarianism and Kashrut - My Jewish Learning
It'll explain better than I can about vegetarianism and the eating of meat in Judaism in terms of its spiritual significance.
There is also a growing movement for 'ethical kashrut' which aims to promote the well-being of animals being killed according to kosher law.