Lantern Books Blog

Ahimsa and the Way of Knowledge

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:00:00 EST

Mahatma Gandhi: He knew a thing about tolerance

The Bhagavad Gita (the "Song of the Lord") is considered the most important work of ancient Sanskrit literature.

Part of the great epic poem the Mahabharata, the Gita tells the story of Arjuna, a great warrior prince, who on the eve of battle experiences doubt and fear at the fighting to come. His charioteer, however, is none other than Lord Krishna, who strengthens his heart to face his destiny. The Bhagavad Gita as a Living Experience offers the unique combination of an expert Indologist, Wilfried Huchzermeyer, who examines the literary and mythic meaning of the text, and a yoga instructor, Jutta Zimmermann, who reveals the Gita’s deep wisdom about yoga in all its four major forms (karma [action], jnana [knowledge], bhakti [devotion], dyana [meditation]), and shows how its wisdom can provide universal guidance for all humanity.

The Upanishads include some of the most beloved and illuminating stories from the vast literature of India’s Vedic tradition. Adapted from the original text, the twelve tales contained in All Love Flows to the Self tell the story of enlightenment in simple, poetic language that will appeal to both adults and children. These tales express the full glory of the inner Self. When one has realized the Self, everyone and everything become more near and dear, and one flows in universal love.

Hinduism scholar Steven Rosen explores the world of the Hare Krishna movement in Holy Cow and reveals how it has been instrumental in raising awareness of vegetarianism in the United States through its restaurants and food distribution programs. Rosen explains the Vedic texts specifically supporting animal rights and vegetarianism, with their call for ahimsa, or nonviolence, toward all living beings. The book includes tasty recipes.

Another book with its roots in the Indian tradition of non-violence, is Peace to All Beings by Judy Carman. The book explores the meaning of ahimsa today as it applies to stopping environmental destruction and the cruelties of factory farming. Drawing upon all the world's religions and contemporary spiritual teachers, Peace is a wonderful manual for spiritual seekers and activists looking to sustain their souls as they bring about difficult and hard-fought change.

For more on the International Day for Tolerance, click here.

Batten Down the Hatches

kara@lanternbooks.com (Kara Davis) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:28:25 EST

Save that excess for winter!

It's chilly today, and it's going to get much colder. I'm not a winter person, and am always hatching plans on how to survive the season:

Exercise like crazy and raise my core temperature;
Get into snowshoeing and cross country skiing: just make peace with the cold;
Sit under S.A.D. treatment lights;
Embrace hibernation: sleep extra, eat only hot liquids, reduce active schedule; or
Absorb a minimum of 15 minutes of sunlight a day on hands and face.

Still, I've never "beat" winter.

This year's efforts have centered around food. Usually, when the C.S.A. season ends, I stop eating well and immediately get a grey pall. This year I've been trying my hand at pickling and root cellaring and blanching and freezing. And setting my mind to continue eating well through winter.

What to take for lunch at work is another thing I've never mastered. Again, while I'm getting great veggies from the farm it's easy: fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and greens every day. Once the freeze hits, I don't know what to eat.

This is one of the reasons I love our new book How to Eat like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One. I've never been good at following recipes (don't tell me what to do!) and it offers an alternative: lists for specific situations. Ten "fast" foods, ten easy appetizers, ten things to do with flax seeds, ten easy lunches. Of course I should keep miso at the office. Yes, I remember how much I enjoy shredded carrots, cabbage, and beets. It's true that a little pesto would add some excitement to my leftovers. I love peanut butter on apples and celery.

When a food book helps out a veteran vegan (and decent cook) like myself, there's something special about it. The book's presentation makes it just as easy to use for people looking to cut down on meat. That's something I can get behind no matter the season!

Related Titles

How to Eat like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One
More than 250 Shortcuts, Strategies, and Simple Solutions
Carol J. Adams, Patti Breitman

Run! Publishers, Run!

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:26:30 EST

Joe the Publisher and me: Words fail us

My man Joe Connolly, Brooklyn-born and now San Francisco-habitué, is the publisher of the peerless VegNews, and he was one of those cheering me on at my recent NYC Marathon excursion. You can read his blog entry, posted for November 5, 2009 Marathon by all means necessary. Gives a new meaning to a run on the presses.

Here's another fun (and very geeky) thing to do. Go to this page, and type in my name or anyone you know was running in the last NYC marathons since 2001, and compare them with such greats as Paula Radcliffe or Martin Lel or Marilson Gomes dos Santos, and then plot them as they go around the course. Believe me, it is a truly humbling experience!

No Essay Contest for 2008

kara@lanternbooks.com (Kara Davis) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:19:08 EST

Normally at this time of year, we're publishing essay topics for our annual contest. However, we'd like to see the content and form of the contest change. For this reason, we're taking a cue from the 44th President of the U.S., pausing, and seriously considering our next move.

Reading submitted essays has been fascinating, and always encouraging. The number of people doing serious thinking on topics relevant to Lantern's publishing agenda is pleasing. The number of those people who expound well on those thoughts is also a joy to see.

But we'd like to see the essay contest bringing new book authors into the Lantern fold. And for that reason, we think we need to change up the contest.

We'll miss reading your essays this year, but hope the contest comes back in a bigger and better format. See you next year?

In the meantime, enjoy past essays!

The Still Point of the Turning World

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:47:04 EST

Yes, He Did

Among Barack Obama's many extraordinary gifts to catch my eye—his capacity to seize the moment; his rhetorical flair; his attentiveness; and his nerve and ability to play the long game—is his stillness. Watch how he holds his head during pauses for applause and crowd reaction, and how when he sits he is at once relaxed and yet ready to move (a marked contrast with the urgency and meandering walk and manner of speech of McCain).

Obama's economy of gesture and movement suggests self-containment. It embodies perhaps a belief that when a move is made it should be considered and effective (and dramatic, precisely because unanticipated and forceful). Certainly, his physical style matches his campaign, which had both discipline and cunning, and, unlike McCain's, resisted the empty gesture and endless shape-shifting. It may also hint at how Obama will govern: cautiously, craftily, and with a minimum of fuss—both disarming and lulling opposition into a false sense of security, while all the time accumulating the capital and support needed to make victory inevitable.

Related Titles

Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams
Eugene T. Gendlin

Philadelphia Freedom

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:22:18 EST

Philly Loves Obama

It's been almost a week since Barack Obama was elected the forty-fourth president of the United States, and it seems both remarkably strange and remarkably normal that it should be so. However, this time last week, Mia and I were pounding the broken but welcoming sidewalks of west Philadelphia encouraging folks to go out and vote (for Barack) and asking them if they knew where their polling places were, whether any folks in their household needed help, and if they needed any literature.

In fact, the vast majority of people we met in this overwhelmingly working-class, African-American neighborhood seemed neither to need encouragement nor much information: they knew what they had to do and they were going to do it. You could feel the urgency and the steeliness in their anticipation of what was going to happen and their part in making it so.

On Monday night, we went to a very different part of town—south Philly, a white working-class enclave where the Obama campaign was worried that resistance to a black candidate might depress the kind of turnout in Philly needed to compensate for McCain support elsewhere in the Keystone state. It was billed as Joe Biden's last rally before election day, and public officials turned out in force: Michael Nutter, mayor of Philadelphia; Martin O'Malley, governor of Maryland; Ed Rendell, governor of Pennsylvania. Star power was provided by Jimmy Rollins, short-stop for the World Series champion Phillies.

Mia and I have come to love Joe Biden—for his folksiness and his logorrhea, and the disarming way he has of being so blatantly political. Anyway, he was on fine form that night (you can see his speech here), and we (along with 2,000 others in the damp November night) had a blast.

The following day, we canvassed in the morning and took the train back to New York. That night, after wetting our whistles at a bar in DUMBO (that's the District Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass to you non-Brooklynites) and then subwayed over to Red Bamboo in Fort Greene to see California put BHO over the top. The place erupted; folks took to the street; car horns honked—and a new dispensation began.

Autumn in Brooklyn

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 10:56:37 EST

Some scenes from Lantern's neighborhood, including the local community garden and the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), set to the music of the late Eva Cassidy.

Looking Up and Looking In

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 09:00:00 EST

Laurence Hillman: Psychopomp

For some astrology is nothing but bunkum, but for others (and, admit it, you include yourself) it offers intriguing insights into our characters and motivations.

In Alignments a fascinating combination of psychotherapy and astrology, therapist Donna Spencer and astrologer Laurence Hillman unite their disciplines to create a new, radical, readable, and inspiring method for aligning one's personality with one's calling. The astrological dimension provides a focus and direction to the therapeutic process that guides a person toward his or her specific calling in life, while also enabling them to reinvigorate their relationships.

Related Titles

Alignments
How to Live in Harmony with the Universe
Laurence Hillman, Donna Spencer

Writing a Children's Book

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:45:51 EST

Read to them as well. . . .

Several times a week (or so it seems), I receive an email from someone, usually accompanied by an attachment or two, who has written a children's book, and wants either for us to publish it or to offer advice on how to get it published. Apart from a few notable exceptions, Lantern doesn't publish children's books. The children's book market is a vast and complicated market, which runs parallel to the adult publishing world?like Avatar.

So, this blog post serves as my response to all those who ask Lantern about publishing a children's book. It's certainly not meant to be the last word, and there are many sites that are more definitive. A quick Google search will take you here, here, and here. But, for what it's worth, here's my advice.

First of all, you need to figure out the age-group for which you're writing your book. Is it for toddlers (i.e. under four years old), or four- to seven-year-olds, or for older children? Do you in fact have what is called a YA (or Young Adult) book, the market for which begins at about ten and can stretch into the mid-teens. Beware the cliché that you're writing for "children of all ages." Publishers need to know you understand your market: the more targeted and savvy you are, the better.

The age-group question will also help you determine how many illustrations (and what kind) you will need in your book. Will it be a full-color picture book or will there only be line-drawings? How much text will there be? If you're not sure of the answer, then you need to go to the children's section of a bookstore and look at your competition. Find books that you think either look or read like the one you've written and see how the author/illustrator/publisher have answered those questions.

Once you have settled on one or two books that you think match your own, then you should note down the name of the title, author, and publisher. If the book has an "acknowledgments" page, then you should also note the name of the author's agent or editor—both of whom the author is likely to have thanked. Then you should go home and look at the publisher's website to see if the children's book you liked is the kind of book the publisher publishes a lot of, or it's just an outlier. (If it's an outlier, then you can be fairly sure that, like Lantern, it's not going to be a serious children's book publisher.) You can also look up the agent's website to see if they're still in business, and also see if the editor's still at the publishing house that published the book you like.

Your next task is to contact the publisher, or better yet the agent for the author, and to send them your proposal. Explain how your book is similar to the book they published or sold, and, just as importantly, how it is different. Tell the publisher and agent how much you liked the book they published or sold, and be specific. People like to be flattered and they like to know you're paying attention. Be nice, precise, and concise.

Two other things: First, children's book publishers, so I have been informed, like to use their own illustrators. So, unless you've got an extraordinary illustrator, or you are one yourself, you needn't concern yourself with getting an illustrator—although the publisher will want to know you have a vision for your book. Second, children's book publishing, like all book publishing, depends heavily on the wherewithal and energy of the author to promote themselves and their book. Start reading to kids in libraries or in bookstores; work with schools to promote reading: in short, show the publisher/agent that you know how to reach your target audience. You may even find that you don't need to go to a publisher, but can self-publish and sell directly to the audience you read to.

The Takeaway

Know your market

Do your research

Be persistent, but patient

Investigate self-publishing

Have fun and be creative

Related Titles

Claude and Medea The Hellburn Dogs Zoe Weil	The Female Mouse Kumuda Reddy, M.D., John Emory Pruitt	The Hares and the Elephants Kumuda Reddy, M.D., John Emory Pruitt
The Indigo Jackal Kumuda Reddy, M.D., John Emory Pruitt	Journey to Gameland How to Make a Board Game from Your Favorite Children's Book Ben Buchanan, Carol J. Adams, Susan Allison	The Lion and the Hare Kumuda Reddy, M.D., John Emory Pruitt
The Monkey and the Crocodile Kumuda Reddy, M.D., Sergei O. Prokofieff	The Wish that Came True Kumuda Reddy, M.D., John Emory Pruitt

Run to the Finish

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:03:11 EST

So, I did it! And not to waste any more of your time, here's a video of the experience.

Related Titles

Psyche and Sports
Baseball, Hockey, Martial Arts, Running, Swimming, Tennis and Others
Murray Stein, John Hollwitz

Spirituality and Vegetarianism

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:00:00 EST

Carol Adams: Inner artist

Vegetarianism is not simply an act of replacing meat with vegetables. It is an act of creativity and imagination, as every meal you conceive of another possibility of relating to other animals, oneself, and the planet.

Carol Adams celebrates that creativity in The Inner Art of Vegetarianism and Meditations on the Inner Art of Vegetarianism. She shows how those interested in the creative life and in spiritual practice can find sustenance in vegetarianism, while those who are vegetarians can explore spiritual practices to sustain them in their activism. These books are also wonderful primers for the creative life: suitable for everyone who values a practice to enable them to fulfill their potential and have a rich and rewarding day.

Judy Carman also celebrates the meaning of living a vegetarian life in Peace to All Beings. This set of reflections from the world's religions and thoughts on the meaning of ahimsa, or non-violence, is the perfect companion for all those who want to live peacefully and fully the non-violent life.

Related Titles

Peace to All Beings
Veggie Soup for the Chicken?s Soul
Judy Carman

Meditations on the Inner Art of Vegetarianism
Spiritual Practices for Body and Soul
Carol J. Adams

The Inner Art of Vegetarianism
Spiritual Practices for Body and Soul
Carol J. Adams

Happy Halloween!

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:05:58 EST

Tschochke Alert

On the mantelpiece above the fireplace in our office, we have a collection of knick-knacks and bric-a-brac (or tschochkes, as we say in Brooklyn) given to us by friends or picked up from our travels around the world. Many of them are religious artifacts of one sort and faith or another. All have a certain kitschy glory, and we put them together as one giant good luck charm. Or, as the video below explains, we hope it's good luck.

Samo in the Office

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:12:19 EST

Two or three times a week, a very friendly black cat called Samo comes and visits our office. He lives with Callie and Ken up the street, but he's so sociable that he calls four places his home—one of which is our office. So, we made a little video of him . . . and us . . . with the help of our friend Kyle Lee. We hope you enjoy it.

Related Titles

Animal Equality Language and Liberation Joan Dunayer	Animal Rights Weekend Warrior Ingrid Newkirk	The Animals Are Our Brothers and Sisters Why Animal Experiments are Misleading and Wrong Werner Hartinger, M.D.
The Archetypal Symbolism of Animals Lectures given at the C.G. Jung Institute, Zurich, 1954?1958 Barbara Hannah, Emmanuel Kennedy-Xypolitas	The Cat, Dog and Horse Lectures, and ?The Beyond? Barbara Hannah, Dean L. Frantz	Cats and Dogs Are People Too! Sharon Gannon

Tips for Cutting Back on Meat

lifelongactivist@yahoo.com (Hillary Rettig) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:35:15 EST

Moussaka, courtesy of Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

I get asked all the time how to cut back on meat gradually. I always recommend swapping one or two ingredients or meals at a time, and then, when you've succeeded at those, swapping some more. So:

Use vegan spread in place of unhealthy butter. 
Use soymilk in place of cow's milk in coffee (lots of non-vegans do this, since many people believe soymilk tastes better and blends better with coffee – after you get used to the soy, cow's milk tastes strong and feels greasy in coffee). 
Eat salad for lunch one day a week (Bacos are vegan!)

This New York Times article by "Minimalist" cookbook author Mark Bittman offers more great tips:

Forget the protein thing. Roughly simultaneously with your declaration that you're cutting back on meat, someone will ask "How are you going to get enough protein?" The answer is "by being omnivorous." Plants have protein, too; in fact, per calorie, many plants have more protein than meat?On average, Americans eat about twice as much as the 56 grams of daily protein recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture (a guideline that some nutritionists think is too high). For anyone eating a well-balanced diet, protein is probably not an issue.

Buy less meat?Remember that most traditional styles of cooking use meat as a condiment or a treat. This is true in American frontier cooking, where salt pork and bacon were used to season beans; in Italy, where a small piece of meat is served as a secondo (rarely more than a few ounces, even in restaurants); and around the world, where bits of meat are added to stir-fries and salads, as well as bean, rice and noodle dishes. In all of these cases, meat is seen as a treasure, not as something to be gobbled up as if it were air.

Get it out of the center of the plate?Build the meal around what you used to consider side dishes—not only vegetables, but also grains, beans, salads and even dessert, if you consider fruit a dessert—rather than the meat. Nearly every culture has dishes in which meat is used to season rice or another grain. Consider dirty rice, fried rice, pilaf, biryani, arroz con pollo: the list is almost endless.

Buy more vegetables, and learn new ways to cook them.

Make nonmeat items as convenient as meat?.By thinking ahead, and working ahead, you can make cooking vegetables as convenient as what in India is often called "non-veg." Spend an hour or two during the course of the week precooking all the nonmeat foods you think take too long for fast dinners.

Make some rules. Depending on your habits, it may be no bacon at breakfast; it may be no burgers at lunch; it may be no fast food, ever; it may be "eat a salad instead of a sandwich three times a week," or "eat a vegetarian dinner three times a week." It may mean meatless Fridays. It may mean (this is essentially what I do) meatless breakfasts and lunches and all-bets-are-off dinners.

Go to restaurants that don't feature meat-heavy dishes.

Enjoy experimenting!

Related Titles

The PETA Celebrity Cookbook Delicious Vegetarian Recipes from Your Favorite Stars Ingrid Newkirk	Living Among Meat Eaters The Vegetarian's Survival Handbook Carol J. Adams	The Lifelong Activist How to Change the World without Losing Your Way Hillary Rettig
The Lantern Vegan Family Cookbook Brian McCarthy	How to Eat like a Vegetarian Even If You Never Want to Be One More than 250 Shortcuts, Strategies, and Simple Solutions Carol J. Adams, Patti Breitman

Lantern Media

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 06:00:00 EST

Lantern: It's more than just books, you know

It's not that we've been hiding our light under a bushel, but you may not know that Lantern has two divisions: the books and the websites. Both started at the same time, and, quietly and undemonstrably, Lantern Media, which handles the web business, has been going around building websites for all sorts of companies and individuals. You can check out a partial client list at Lantern Media. If you're interested in having us build or maintain your website, then by all means give us a call.

Lantern and Wangari Maathai

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:38:23 EST

We've made a video about Lantern's relationship with the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Lantern author, Wangari Maathai, and the Green Belt Movement. We hope you enjoy!

Related Titles

The Green Belt Movement
Sharing the Approach and the Experience
Wangari Maathai

Psyche

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 06:00:00 EST

Psyche: Statuesque

The ways of the psyche are made a little less inscrutable in the collection of books that follow.

Aftershock explains how traumatic events affect our bodies and abilities, and explores the culture of trauma that people have created through our violent exploitation of the Earth, other animals, and one another. It offers understanding and practical tips for survivors of all kinds of trauma, for therapists who treat trauma, and for anyone who hopes to reduce the amount of terror in the world.

An Unchanged Mind begins with a clinical riddle: Why are American teenagers failing to develop normally through adolescence? Why are so many unprepared for life’s challenges at school, at home, and in their social lives? Using case studies from a therapeutic boarding school for troubled teenagers, the book explains the causes and effects of maturational delays, and offers effective, non-pharmacological methods to help troubled kids catch up.

In Alignments, Laurence Hillman and Donna Spencer unite the disciplines of astrology and psychology to create a new, radical, readable, and inspiring method for aligning one’s personality with one’s calling. The astrological dimension provides a focus and direction to the therapeutic process that guides a person towards his or her specific calling in life while also enabling you to reinvigorate your relationships.

Synchronicity: The Promise of Coincidence is a simple and profound exposition of an idea that is often presented through the complicated worlds of physics or philosophy. Through real-life experiences and use of clear language author Deike Begg explores synchronicity as the universe’s call of destiny and teaches us how to recognize it.

Fairy tales can reveal a hidden side of our lives, our unconscious, and our interrelationship with others. In the Ever After: Fairy Tales and the Second Half of Life uses contemporary research on mid-life and aging to interpret rare fairy tales that reveal a deep folk wisdom about the psychological tasks encountered in the second half of life. Collected from around the world, these stories offer an engaging exploration into the problems of adulthood and aging.

Also highly recommended are Psyche's Stories, which comes in three volumes. Each of these volumes offers Jungian interpretations of well-known and rare tales to reveal the universal psychic dynamics that are at their core and how they affect us in our individual and collective lives.

In And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart, Charlotte Mathes describes her experience of struggling to find meaning and wholeness in one of the most shattering of experiences: the death of her child. That journey led her to Jungian archetypal psychology and to a heartfelt desire to help others deal with such grief and loss. Through personal experience, myth, and stories, Mathes shows how parents can gain a renewed sense of inner and outer wholeness in life.

Related Titles

Synchronicity The Promise of Coincidence Deike Begg	Psyche's Stories, volume 3 Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales Murray Stein, Joel Ryce-Menuhin, Jacquline J. West	Psyche's Stories, volume 2 Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales Claire Douglas, Lee Roloff, Tom Kapacinskas
Psyche's Stories, volume 1 Modern Jungian Interpretations of Fairy Tales Robert Bly, Anne Baring, Lionel Corbett	And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart Moving from Despair to Meaning after the Death of a Child Charlotte Mathes	Alignments How to Live in Harmony with the Universe Laurence Hillman, Donna Spencer

Venerable Yifa at Lantern

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:33:03 EST

Our favorite Buddhist nun, Venerable Yifa, popped by the other day to talk about her organization, Fo Guang Shan, the concept of suffering, her books, and working with Lantern. Watch our brief video of our conversation (al fresco, with planes overhead and trains passing by), here:

Related Titles

Authenticity Clearing the Junk: A Buddhist Perspective Venerable Yifa	Safeguarding the Heart A Buddhist Response to Suffering and September 11 Venerable Yifa	The Tender Heart A Buddhist Response to Suffering Venerable Yifa
Living Affinity Nurturing the Environment, Our Relationships, and the Life of the Spirit Hsing Yun	Opening the Mind's Eye Clarity and Spaciousness in Buddhist Practice Hsing Yun	The Great Compassion Buddhism and Animal Rights Norm Phelps

Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Vegetarianism

kara@lanternbooks.com (Kara Davis) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:38:09 EST

From Richard Schwartz, author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, and Judaism and Global Survival. For more, see jewishveg.com.

There are many connections that can be made between vegetarianism and the Jewish festivals of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret (the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly), and Simchat Torah:
Sukkot commemorates the 40 years when the ancient Israelites lived in the wilderness in frail huts and were sustained by manna. According to Isaac Arama (1420-1494), author of Akedat Yitzchak, and others, the manna was God's attempt to reestablish a vegetarian diet for the Israelites.

On Simchat Torah, Jews complete the annual cycle of Torah readings, and begin again, starting with the first chapter of Genesis, which contains God's first dietary law: "Behold I have given you every herb yielding seed which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in which there is the fruit of a tree-yielding seed—to you it shall be for food." (Genesis 1:29). Also, the Torah, along with prophetic and talmudical interpretations, is the source of the Jewish mandates—to take care of our health, treat animals with compassion, protect the environment, conserve natural resources, help hungry people, and seek and pursue peace—that point to vegetarianism as the ideal diet today.

Sukkot is the Jewish harvest festival called the "Feast of Ingathering". Hence, it can remind us that many more people can be sustained on vegetarian diets than on animal-centered diets that presently involve over 70 percent of the grain produced in the United States being fed to animals raised for slaughter, while 15 to 20 million people die due to malnutrition and its effects annually.

The Sukkot holiday, including Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, is known as the "Season of Rejoicing", since people's worries about the success of the harvest are over. Since one must be in good health in order to fully rejoice, the many health benefits of vegetarian diets and the knowledge that such diets are not harmful to hungry people or animals are factors that can enhance rejoicing.

Sukkahs, the temporary structures that Jews dwell in during Succot, are decorated with pictures and replicas of apples, oranges, bananas, peppers, carrots, and other fruits and vegetables, never with meats or other animal products.

After the sukkah, the main ritual symbol for Sukkot is related to the plant kingdom. The Torah states: "On the first day, you shall take the first fruit of hadar (goodly) trees (an etrog or citron), branches of palm trees (lulav), boughs of leafy trees (hadassim) and myrtle, and willows of the field (aravot), and you shall rejoice before the Lord thy God seven days (Leviticus 23:40). These four species represent the beauty and bounty of the land of Israel's harvest.

On Shemini Atzeret, Jews pray for rain, and plead to God that it should be for a blessing, not a curse. This is a reminder of the preciousness of rain water to nourish the crops so that there will be a successful harvest. Also, according to the Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 1.2), the world is judged on Sukkot with regard to how much rainfall it will receive. In the days when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, there was a joyous "Water Drawing Ceremony" (Simchat Bet Shueva), designed to remind God to pour forth water when it was needed.
Modern intensive livestock agriculture requires huge amounts of water, much of it to irrigate feed crops. According to Newsweek magazine, the amount of water needed to raise one steer would float a Naval destroyer. A person on an animal-based diet requires up to 14 times as much water as a person on a strict vegetarian diet.

Sukkot is a universal holiday. There are at least three indications related to the festival that Jews consider not only their own welfare, but also the fate of all of the world's people:
In Temple days, there were 70 sacrifices for the then 70 nations of the world;

The lulav is waved in all directions, to indicate God's rule over and concern for the entire world;

The roof of the succah is made only of natural materials such as wood and bamboo, and must be open sufficiently so that people inside can see the stars, to remind them that their concerns should extend beyond their immediate needs and should encompass the world.
Vegetarianism also considers not only a person's health, but also encompasses broader concerns, including the global environment, the world's hungry people, and the efficient use of the world's resources.
Moving out of comfortable homes to dwell in relatively frail sukkahs indicates that it is not our power and wealth that we should rely on, but rather that our fate is in God's hands. And it is God Who originally provided vegetarian diets for people, and created us with hands, teeth, and digestive systems most conducive to eating plant foods.

Dwelling in sukkahs also teaches that no matter how magnificent our homes, no matter how extensive our wealth and material possessions, we should be humble and not be overly concerned about our status. Vegetarianism is also an attempt to not be taken in by status symbols, such as those that the eating of meat often represent.

Sukkot's prophetic readings point to the universal messianic transformation of the world. According to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, based on the prophecy of Isaiah ( . . . the wolf will dwell with the lamb, . . . the lion will eat straw like the ox . . . (Isaiah 11: 6-9)), the messianic period will be vegetarian.

In summary, a shift to vegetarianism is a way to be consistent with the many values and teachings related to the joyous festivals of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah.

Related Titles

Judaism and Global Survival
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Judaism and Vegetarianism
New Revised Edition
Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Vegan Diet and Wellness

martin@lanternbooks.com (Martin Rowe) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:00:00 EST

Kerrie Saunders: The picture of health

Most Americans accept degenerative chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, heart disease, osteoporosis and cancer as part of the normal aging process.

Yet it need not be this way. In her thoroughly researched and comprehensive The Vegan Diet as Chronic Disease Prevention, Dr. Kerrie Saunders documents how a plant-based diet can help prevent or alleviate many chronic diseases that affect so many Americans, often without the need for pills, surgery, or fad diets. In this thoroughly researched and comprehensive guide, Dr. Kerrie Saunders points the way to new standards of health and health care for the twenty-first century.

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Related Titles

The Vegan Diet as Chronic Disease Prevention
Evidence Supporting the New Four Food Groups
Kerrie K. Saunders, Ph.D., M.S., L.L.P.