Rabbi David Rosen, the former chief rabbi of Ireland who now lives in Jerusalem and serves as the American Jewish Committee’s International Director of Interreligious Affairs, was one of 75 rabbis from across the globe and across the religious spectrum who signed a landmark statement in 2017 calling on Jews to align sacred teachings with their eating habits and go vegan. The list includes prominent American Masorti Rabbi David Wolpe, the Israel-based Talmud scholar, Rabbi Daniel Sperber, who made aliyah from London, Rabbi Raymond Apple, the former senior rabbi of the Great Synagogue in Sydney, and Rabbi Deborah Kahn-Harris, the principal of Leo Baeck College in London. “We... encourage our fellow Jews to transition toward animal-free, plant-based diets,” they said. “This approach to sustenance is an expression of our shared Jewish values of compassion for animals, protection of the environment, and concern for our physical and spiritual well-being.”
