Netzer Australia and Vegetarianism
Netzer Australia voted recently to eat only vegetarian food. This decision
was entirely ideologically based. This document is our follow-up
explanatory memorandum of this ideological action for Netzer Australia.
a. Netzer and Tikkun Olam
Netzer counts the religious concept of Tikkun Olam, Repairing the world”, as a key
method to the realisation of a Messianic Era. Tikkun Olam therefore forms a key aspect
of Netzer ideology. Netzer interprets it as such from the following sources.
The following are extracts from “The All You Ever Wanted to Know About Netzer Book
Book”
Our duty to partake in Tikkun Olam from the Torah
To open blind eyes, to bring the captive out of prison, to release from the dungeon those
who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:7
It is not enough that you should be My servant only to re-establish the tribes of Jacob and
to restore the survivors of Israel. I will make you a light to the nations, that My
deliverence may reach to the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 49:6
Tikkun in the Kabbala
The Story of Creation
...good and evil forces became part of the universe, waging a war, each vying for control.
And the Lord said, “Let us create Adam to repair the world’s faulty reality, to bring about
tikun. Adam will have both body and soul, and so will be as a microcosm of the cosmic
duality of evil and good. Adam’s being will become the arena for the cosmic struggle to
take place. If he obeys My will, if his soul triumphs over his body, he will realize the
tikun.” But alas, Adam failed, he gave into physical temptation. Evil prevailed. And so
the evil forces of the world were strengthened.
And the Lord declared, “Let us give humanity another opportunity. I will send a
flood...But Noah too, with his careless act of drunkenness, failed to realize the perfection
of the world.
On the verge of despair, the Lord looked out to the world and declared, “Let us provide
yet one last opportunity for tikun.” He revealved the Almighty Word to the Jewish people
at Mt. Sinai. Once again the plan was foiled with the sin of the golden calf.
Since that moment, human history has been an attempt to repair the damage wrough by
the primordial catastrophe. Time and time again, man and woman have been trying –
desperately – to effect tikun, to restore unity by liberating the divine sparks by
performing pious deeds. And you must do so!! For only when we liberate and raise the
divine sparks will power and vitality be removed from the forces of evil and will ultimate
harmony be achieved.
Tikkun Olam in Chasidic Sources
1.Each of us has to do his or her bit in making the world a better place until the messianic
age arrives. Martin Buber recalls that when he was a little boy he heard a legend.
According to it, the Messiah waits patiently for the day when he will be allowed to come.
Buber asked his grandfather, “Grandfather! What is her waiting for?” The grandfather
replied: “My child, he is waiting for you.”
2.Rabbi Israel Salanter once noticed a shoemaker working late into the night. When
asked why he worked so late, the showmaker replied: “For as long as the lamp is burning,
once must do the repairs.” For the rest of his life Rabbi Israel used to repeat the words of
the shoemaker as the most powerful reminder to strive constantly for self-improvement:
“For as long as the lamp is burning, one must do the repairs”
3.Tikkun: where does one begin? An inspiration for Netzer’s Concentric Circles of
Tikkun Olam
• RabbiShmelketoldthefollowing:IntheTalmudit
says that if all men repented, the Messiah would come. I decided to do something about
it. I was convinced I would be successful. But where was I to start? The world is so vast.
I shall start with the country I know best, my own. But my country is so very large. I had
better start with my town. But my town too, is large. I had better start with my street. No
– my house. No – my family. Never mind, I shall start with myself.
Note: The Traditional and Modified versions of the Aleinu are also sources for Tikkun in
Jewish text and liturgy.
Netzer therefore holds Tikkun Olam, the Repairing of the World, to be a key aspect of its
ideology and therefore, practice.
b. Jewish justifications for Netzer’s vegetarianism
**Note: Whilst not all of the following was discussed in detail at the Veida of 2008 many
of these points were mentioned and alluded to. This is far from an exhaustive list it is
merely some of the points mentioned.
Vegetarianism as linked with morality and redemption
“See, I give you every seed- bearing plant that is upon all the earth, and every tree that
has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food” (Genesis 1:29).
As depicted in this pasuk the original plan god had for humanity living in Gan Eden was
a vegetarian diet. In fact the event that enabled people to consume animals in the
narrative of the Torah was Noah and the great flood. It was only after this great fall in
human morality, a fall great enough for god to purge the world of all but one human
family, that god allowed people to eat animals. It is for this reason that there is no
blessing for meat in the same way there are blessings for bread, seed, fruit and
vegetables. In this way the eating of meat is not, in Netzer’s opinion, at all supported by
Jewish values.
So, in the spirit of the utopian vision outlined in Bereishit, Netzer has decided to become
Vegetarian. Netzer has interpreted parts of the Tanach and other sources as showing a
clear support for Vegetarianism rooted in Jewish values and yielded through Jewish text.
Tsa’ar Ba’alei Chayim: The Jewish Principle of Compassion for Animals and
Kashrut
The case can be mounted very strongly that the once widely celebrated precepts of
kushrut as a guide to moral consumption have become outdated. Previously many Jewish
organizations, including Netzer, lauded kashrut as the setting the foundations for a
humane practice in the eating of meat in both a painless kill and an empathic mentality
with the animal (often symbolized by the famous maxim ‘do not boil a kid in it’s mothers
milk’). The meat industry has transformed over the last 20 years rendering the above
statements about the ethical nature of halachik kashrut false. Even kosher meat
production in the modern age is as deplorable as the non-kosher meat industry.
Couple with this the extraordinarily significant mandate of Tsa’ar Ba’alei Chayim or
compassion for animals found in ancient legal writing makes the choice of a vegetarian
diet a rational and moral decision.
The Environment
Finally, as stewards of the planet we inhabit, it is our duty to care for and insure the
protection of its natural environment. As indicated by some of the previously mentioned
statistics, vegetarianism is a significant step in making positive impact in the areas of
water, climate change and world hunger. As religious Jews we have a moral imperative to
look after the world we have been given and vegetarianism is one pro-active way of
effecting this Tikkun.
Therefore, as a result of Netzer’s religious belief in Tikkun Olam and religious and moral
belief in vegetarianism we voted to become entirely vegetarian in all and any Netzer
function or activity.
Netzer Australia –Vegetarianism and Tikkun FAQs
Q: Is Netzer a vegetarian movement in the same way as it is a Zionist or Jewish
movement?
A: Netzer is not a vegetarian movement in the same sense it is a Zionist movement or a
Jewish movment. Instead, Netzer's vegetarianism should be understood as an extension or
manifestation of its platform of Tikkun Olam.
Q: Why is Vegetarianism important/relevant to Tikkun, and by extension Netzer?
A: The meat industry is perhaps the single greatest environmental threat we face today
and results in massive waste of water, food and land, and is a major cause of global
warming. Netzer’s religious belief in Tikkun Olam, Repairing the World, is therefore
incongruous with meat consumption.
Q. What about the suffering of Animals?
A: Whilst the original proposal did not mention the suffering of non-human animals,
there was already a passage in the PBA that states that Netzer does not support
organizations that exploit animals. Therefore animal suffering by way of interpretation is
of concern to Netzer.
Q. When representing Netzer at events, can Netzernikim eat meat?
A: No.
Q. What about fish?
A: Nope.
Q. Is fish really meat though?
A. Yes!
Facts at a glance
Water:
• It takes almost 20000 litres of water to produce half a kilo of meat, whilst growing 45
kg of wheat requires only 100 litres.
• A full vegetarian diet requires only 1000 litres of water per day to produce, whilst a
meat eating diet requires more than 15000 liters of water per day. • You save more water by not eating half a kilo of beef than you do by not showering for
an entire year. • In the US, almost half the water use disused by the meat industry. Food: • 70% of wheat, corn and other grains produced in the US go to feeding animals. • It takes up to 7 kg of grain to produce just half a kg of meat, and even fish on fish
farms must be fed 2.5 kg of wild caught fish to produce one kg of farmed fish. • The world's cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the caloric needs of 8.7
billion people – more than the entire human population of earth. About 20% of
the worlds population could be fed with the grain and soybeans fed to cattle in the
US alone. Land: • According the to Smithsonian institute, the equivalent of seven football fields are
bulldozed every minute, much of it to create more room for farmed animals. • Entireeco-systems,from tropical forests in Brazil, to ancient pine forests in china are
being destroyed to fuel our consumption of meat. In the US alone, more than 260
million acres have been cleared to grow grain to feed farm animals. • Overgrazing leads to soil erosion, extinction of indigenous plants and animals and
eventual desertification of once fertile land. Global warming:
• A major 2006 report by the United Nations summarized the devastation caused by
the meat industry. Raising animals for food, the report said, is "one of the top two
or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems,
at every scale from local to global. The findings of this report suggest that it
should be a major policy focus when dealing with problems of land degradation,
climate change and air pollution, water shortage and water pollution and loss of
biodiversity. Livestock's contribution to environmental problems is on a massive
scale ...."
• According to the United Nations, the meat industry "emerges as one of the top two or
three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every
scale from local to global."