The topic of vegetarianism in Jewish thought and halacha, to be honest, is a nonstarter. A Jew may decide to become a vegetarian for one of three reasons. 1) ethical 2) health/ medical or 3) halachic, required by Jewish law.
If one decides it is unethical to consume the flesh of animals or other living species, that is their prerogative but by no means mandated in Jewish tradition. If one is ordered by their doctor to refrain from meat, then of course one must abide by the doctor. But there is absolutely no halachic imperative to be a vegetarian, as will be explained.
In the Torah (Genesis 9:3) God instructs Noah, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.”
Adam had been instructed (Genesis 1:29) “Behold I have given you all herbage yielding seed … to be yours for food”. The commentaries vary in their explanation as to why Noah was first given permission to consume meat, but the fact remains that this has been the accepted norm for man ever since.
We know that animals were used in sacrifice throughout the Temple era. Jewish holidays always featured meat as integral part of the celebration, and obligated by the Tur (forerunner to the Shulkhan Aruch) in Chapter 529 and Maimonides, Laws of Yom Tov (6:19). Interestingly, the Mishneh Brurah in his commentary on the Shulkhan Aruch (529:19) states that “Even one who abstains a whole year from consuming meat for spiritual reasons must have meat on the Jewish holidays.”
Often cited by advocates for vegetarianism is the commentary on siddur by Rav Avraham Yitzchok Kook, the first chief rabbi of the State of Israel. The claim is that in his comments on the very end of Shmoneh Esrei (page 292) Rav Kook looks forward to the restoration of vegetarian based sacrifice in the Third Temple to replace animal sacrifice common during the first two.
This is a total misreading of his remarks. What he does state is that during messianic times, everything will be so spiritually elevated that even vegetation will have a living value so that it will no longer be necessary to offer animals for sacrifice. He does not in any way espouse vegetarianism as an ideal.
It is disingenuous for anyone to make the claim that it is mandatory by Jewish law, or even ethos, to accept vegetarianism. To do so is simply an effort to shoehorn one’s own philosophy on the matter into Jewish thinking.
If one decides to become a vegetarian, bravo! But please do not preach to the rest of us that we must do the same.
The writer is the rabbi of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills and the vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values.