Ethical Treatment of Animals

JIFA: Jewish Initiative for Animals
Featuring: Rabbi Jonathan Bernhard, Executive Director and Melissa Hoffman, Director of Programs

The Jewish Initiative for Animals supports innovative programs to turn the Jewish value of compassion for animals into action while building ethical and sustainable Jewish American communities in the process.

Jewish tradition urges us to keep a healthy skepticism about the sourcing of our goods and strive for ethical consumption. JIFA is ready to work with your community to help you establish your own values-based food practices.

We support Jewish community education for all ages through curriculum development, direct teaching, and partnerships with organizations that disseminate materials and promote learning about Jewish values and our food system.

JIFA’s Values:

Promoting compassion and preventing suffering to animals — in Jewish tradition, a core value called tza’ar ba’alei chayim (literally: the suffering of living creatures) — is central to our work to build a better food system

• Climate and the environment - Bal tashchit and sh’mirat ha’adamah — the prohibition against destruction/waste and the imperative to protect our Earth — are cornerstones of JIFA’s work to end factory farming.
• Food justice- We find our most ancient model for food justice in the laws of shmita, which Jewish communities have revived with renewed significance in recent years
• Racial justice - We know that the structures that perpetuate factory farming are inextricably linked with those that perpetuate racist oppression and violence. To create meaningful change in our food system we must also help to build an anti-racist animal protection movement.
• Inclusivity- Reflecting broadly held values — and serving food that everyone can eat — promotes inclusivity in gatherings and strengthens our Jewish community
• Kosher- Kosher is a quintessentially Jewish concept to describe what is “fit,” including the food we eat