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According to Rav Kook, it is ideal to be a vegetarian. This is because he assumes G-d would not create a world in which creatures could not exist in harmony (see linked article) and therefore this would include killing animals. How, according to Rav Abraham Isaac Kook in A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace would the necessary leather and parchment for things like Tefilin or Torah scrolls be obtained?

Double AA
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PixelArtDragon
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    What does vegetarianism (not eating animals) have to do with leather? Do you eat leather? Also, please cite your claims about Rav Kook (Tzvi Yehuda? Avraham Yitzchak?) and be sure to be precise what exactly he claims is ideal (and perhaps what he means by "ideal" if that is the language he uses). – Double AA Jan 20 '14 at 19:57
  • You haven't addressed multiple points in my comment which are essential to understanding your question. The citation is nice, as a verification, but without further clarity the question is still pretty unanswerable. – Double AA Jan 20 '14 at 20:05
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    related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/18873/603 – Menachem Jan 20 '14 at 23:25
  • Vegetarianism =/= veganism .....the former being "the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat," the latter being "the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products" ....correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Rav Kook only discussed vegetarianism, while this question asks only about vegan practices. – MTL Sep 23 '14 at 18:47
  • The primary issue was that short of slaughtering, there would be no way to acquire kosher leather. As the chosen answer indicates, there need not be any slaughter as the leather of naturally dead animals may be used. – PixelArtDragon Sep 23 '14 at 19:06

2 Answers2

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Tefilin, etc., can be made from animals that die on their own (see e.g. The source in the Talmud is Shabbos 108a). Thus even under a situation where killing animals wasn't possible, leather would still be available.

Yishai
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  • That would not be the answer "according to Rav Abraham Isaac Kook in A Vision of Vegetarianism and Peace." – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:08
  • @YEZ How do you know? – Double AA Jan 20 '14 at 20:08
  • @DoubleAA See the article linked in the question, in which R' Kook says that vegetarianism should not be practiced today, and it is an ideal for the future. Mitzvos were given which necessitate killing animals, and Rav Kook was not against that b'zman hazeh. – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:11
  • @YEZ What is the relevance of that statement? Tefillin is not a mitzva which necessitates killing animals... – Double AA Jan 20 '14 at 20:12
  • Because Rav Kook would not say that the reason you can make tefillin is because you can find a carcass. He would say go out and kill an animal. His answer would be different because he would challenge the assumption of the question. – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:13
  • @YEZ, That is true, but the question was asking about the "ideal." However you understand that (now, when Moshiach comes, or some time after that), it doesn't detract from Tefilin, etc. – Yishai Jan 20 '14 at 20:17
  • @YEZ How do you know that? Just because Rav Kook would kill animals to do a Mitzva doesn't mean he would kill one when that isn't necessary. You can't eat meat without killing it. You can't offer a korban without killing it. But you can wear tefillin without killing it. – Double AA Jan 20 '14 at 20:19
  • @Yishai if that is the case (the question is about the future when the ideal is practiced) then that is still not the answer - there will not be death at the time when this "ideal" is in practice - Malach Hamaves will be slaughtered. – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:24
  • @YEZ, so will the Shor HaBar and the Leviyasan. Not sure how that plays out exactly (perhaps a topic for another question). – Yishai Jan 20 '14 at 20:26
  • @Yishai are you suggesting they will make tefillin from their hides? Otherwise I'm not sure why that is relevant. – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:28
  • @YEZ, I'm pointing out that even after that point, a couple of animals are still killed for sure. – Yishai Jan 20 '14 at 20:30
  • That's very interesting but doesn't help the fact that animals won't be dying. Unless G-d will be killing the animals for the tefillin? – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:32
  • @YEZ, actually in the Medrash they kill each other, but the Talmud there talks about animals for Tefilin being killed from Heaven. But then again, how any of that is different from the Malach Hamaves, I'm not sure. As I said, a topic for another question. – Yishai Jan 20 '14 at 20:37
  • It is very different than the Malach Hamaves - the malach hamaves is the agent for natural decay and death (see Da'as Tevunos). That will be gone from the world, because it will be perfected, and decay does not affect something perfected (again, see Da'as Tevunos). G-d destroying something is not "decay" – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:39
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    +1. The question asks specifically about killing animals and t'filin and k'lafim, and this answers it directly and with a good source. – msh210 Jan 20 '14 at 21:09
  • R Hai Gaon writes that it's preferred to write a Torah only on hides slaughtered by a Jew, though he agrees it doesn't invalidate the Torah. http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=21195&st=&pgnum=57 – Double AA Aug 14 '17 at 23:56
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You could ask the same question about sacrifices and egla arufa and many mitzvos that involve killing animals. Rav Kook's point is that killing/eating animals is a temporary allowance, and the ideal will return to the way it was with Adam who did not have the right to eat (and possibly to kill) animals, and did not have tefillin. For now, it is certainly allowed.

How he dealt with the Rishonim who say that there will be sacrifices in the third Temple, I don't know.

Y     e     z
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  • Well, the issue more is that there are plenty of Jewish vegetarians (myself included), and I was wondering based on the ideas of Rav Kook how someone could do that. – PixelArtDragon Jan 20 '14 at 19:56
  • he infers this from the mention only of the meal offering in the final suplication at the end of the amidah about the Third Temple, in עולת ראיה I believe. – Baby Seal Jan 20 '14 at 19:57
  • That's a different question. Rav Kook wouldn't help a vegetarian today. He himself was not a vegetarian. He was in fact against vegetarianism today (in his pamphlet about the ideal). – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 19:59
  • @AvramLevitt I thought being a vegetarian here only meant not eating meat. – Baby Seal Jan 20 '14 at 19:59
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    @BabySeal That is fine, but the Rambam is explicit about this point in the Yad (despite his comments in the Moreh). – Y     e     z Jan 20 '14 at 20:02
  • @YEZ I was just offering a source from Rav Kook :) – Baby Seal Jan 20 '14 at 20:05