A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal The World
Presented by: JVNA – Jewish Vegetarians of North America. Inspired by: Mathematician and President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, Professor Richard Schwartz. DVD reviewed by Claudette Vaughan. Length: 59 minutes

A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal The World is an outstanding, moving achievement. Professor Richard Schwartz has done a splendid job in inspiring, producing and distributing this excellent DVD free of charge to all interested parties, Jew and non-Jew alike. His kindness and generosity alone for making the DVD available free of charge is much appreciated and it’s already available on YouTube. This documentary addresses the environmental crisis and the modern reality of a world heading toward an unprecedented catastrophe. The difference between his and other works, notably Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth and Leonardo di Caprio’s, The Eleventh Hour, is this film goes further than the others about the dangers of global warming.

I certainly concur with Professor Schwartz in that there exists a conspiracy of silence on the subject of animal agriculture being a significant player as to the cause of global warming. It’s a subject this documentary doesn’t shy away from. There is substantial footage on the shameful conditions in modern factory farms outlining how the treatment of animals are mistreated and slaughtered in such an environment.

A Sacred Duty Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal the World reminds us that it is our sacred duty to become aware of climate change and the threat around us and then take responsibility in applying Jewish teachings to how we obtain our food, use natural resources and live among other creatures whom God also created.

This documentary’s message is founded upon ancient teachings of the Torah and other Jewish scriptures. There is something indescribably beautiful in this documentary, both in language and personality, that speaks with authority on the environmental crisis now facing humanity. There is a value to using sacred language and non does it better than A Sacred Duty in expressing itself naturally with weight and authority upon the topic. The beauty itself is reflected in its continuity as it challenges people to consider the many moral issues related to our diets as an essential part of efforts to reduce climate change and other environmental threats such as air pollution, water pollution and cancers from a toxic environment.

This is a positive documentary that shows how religious responses can make a major difference and why a shift toward plant-based diets is the way to go for health, for the planet and for the animals.

A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal The World features interviews with leading Israeli and American environmental, health, vegetarian and animal rights activists as well as Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and secular leaders.

Interviewees form a cornucopia of Jewish scholars, Biblical experts and activists: Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen; Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Haifa; Rabbi David Rosen, Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee; Dr Yeshayahu Bar-Or, Chief Scientist: Israel Environmental Ministry and many other rabbis and Jewish leaders as well.

Biblical passages are read by the acclaimed Jewish star of Broadway and screen Theodore Bikel. Although it is primarily intended for a Jewish audience, A Sacred Duty speaks to all people everywhere about the ethics of our relationship to the natural world in which we live in.

The movies universal message will appeal to anyone interested in such topics as biblical teachings, Israel, the environment, health, nutrition, veganism and vegetarianism, hunger and resource management and finding solutions to these universal problems that does no violence to the world in which we live.

As Professor Richard Schwartz says in the documentary: “We must change our consciousness” – he didn’t need to say “before it’s too late”.

Many sincere thanks should go to Ivan Kessel who is the Australian representative of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America. He was a huge help in getting this DVD distributed in Sydney. He tells us at the Abolitionist that Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) plans to build a major campaign around the movie to get tikkum olam (the repair and healing of the world) to become a central focus in Jewish life today, with a shift towards plant-based diets as an essential part of that change to help move our imperiled planet to a sustainable and responsible path. If you would like to become involved in the campaign or have any suggestions, please contact Richard Schwartz at President@JewishVeg.com or if in Sydney or Australia, Ivan Kessel on ikess@primus.com.au

This film is about peace on earth. How to live together, all of God’s creation in peace and harmony. It aims to motivate positive action so please share it with others when you see it and consider arranging a showing to educate people.

Lastly, A Sacred Duty is a wonderful, insightful insiders look at Israel and her people which can only help to break down preconceived cultural notions about this little country, no bigger than the size of New Jersey, US.

A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values To Help Heal The World is the best thing out there thus far. The combination of Jewish biblical writings on the End of the World predictions with hard-core scholarship combined with today’s horrors on the factory farm and environment is a readily available wake up call to a very urgent matter.