Meat is Murder

Kitzur Schulchan Aruch 59:13
It is customary to say to one who puts on a new garment: “Mayest thou wear it out and acquire a new one.” But we do not express this wish to one who puts on new shoes or a new garment made of fur or leather, even if the fur or leather be sewn beneath the cloth, and even if they come of an unclean animal because a garment like this requires the killing of a living creature, and it is written: “And His mercy is upon all His works.”

Because I am getting ready to spend a month out in the woods with the Little Rebbetzin my environmentalist sensibilities are stirring, so when I read the above portion of the Schulchan Aruch I recalled an interview about Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of England, and how she was espousing fairly radical environmental policies. Then the interviewee stated “Still, I don’t think we will be seeing her on the news, wearing a black ski mask and running out of a research laboratory with a beagle under each arm.” That is an image that I have always enjoyed, and if it would only hold true for some world leaders there might just be a few less monster suburban assault vehicles, with all leather interiors, on the road.