Aleph b’Elul: Revitalizing the Jewish New Year for Animals

My journey to plant-based eating began in a chicken coop. In 1987, I spent a summer at Kibbutz Givat Oz in Israel, working in the mornings and studying Hebrew in the afternoons. One day, we were tasked with catching chickens for transport. To escape the midday heat, we started before sunrise, but the coop was already hot and sticky. We were instructed to grab the chickens by their legs, flip them upside down, and push them into cages. The air was filled with the chaos of squawks, feathers, and dust.

That morning’s breakfast included chicken. I noticed two reactions: some people ate with a sense of revenge, while others became vegetarians on the spot. Although many of these conversions did not last beyond dinner, mine endured.

Initially, my vegetarianism was inconsistent, but eventually it settled. Then six years ago, my wife Laurie, who was then an omnivore, embraced whole-food, plant-based cooking, and our version of a plant-based diet evolved. We then decided to get chickens though I can’t quite explain or really remember why. But it seemed like a great idea at the time and soon we had an Omlet coop and three hens: Lucy, Ethel, and Mrs. McGillicutty. It didn’t take long for their unique personalities—or “chickenalities”—to emerge. 

Caring for these lovely ladies has nourished me in unexpected ways. I enjoy feeding them, the smell of fresh bedding in their coop, and watching them explore the yard. Despite not eating eggs, I feel a deep connection to them. Through the daily chores, the boundaries between species and communication become more fluid. These chickens are not just animals; they are beings with lives and feelings. We share the same basic needs and emotions and while the differences are easy to see, the similarities are so deep.

Jewish tradition has long recognized that humanity is part of a spectrum with all other species. The Torah acknowledges all creatures share the same biological imperatives to procreate and eat. And we also share the experience of pain. Maimonides (1135-1204), in his Guide to the Perplexed, explains that there is no difference between the pain of humans and that of other living beings. The love and tenderness of a mother for her young are not based on reasoning but on imagination, a faculty present in most living beings (Guide to the Perplexed 3:48).

Tragically, modern society often overlooks these connections and similarities. While our pets are becoming increasingly integrated into our lives, most other animals are viewed merely as products for consumption, wear, or experimentation. We prefer not to see how over 92 billion land animals are raised and slaughtered each year under appalling conditions. We remain oblivious to the realities of factory farming and that it makes up 99% of animal products in our grocery stores. And we refuse to acknowledge the link between industrial agriculture and climate change.

Aleph b’Elul, the Jewish New Year for Animals, was a tithing day of animals when the Temple still stood two thousand years ago. (Similarly, Tu B’Shvat, the 15th of the month of Shvat, was when produce from trees was tithed.) With the Temple’s destruction, this day vanished from the Jewish calendar but has reemerged in recent discussions alongside the rise of factory farming and the animal rights movement.

Just as Tu B’Shvat has become a Jewish Earth Day, we need to revitalize Aleph b’Elul so as to remember and honor our relationships with other animals. This is an important step towards fulfilling our responsibility to be stewards of this world.  Ignoring this diminishes our humanity and our duty to care for all life.

Elul is a time for self-reflection before Rosh Hashanah. My experiences with industrial farming and backyard care contrast sharply: one defined by cruelty, the other by compassion. In a world increasingly driven by unkindness, we need an annual reset—not only for how we treat each other (Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur) and the Earth (Tu B’Shvat) but also for how we treat other species. 

Such a reset fosters compassion and helps us fulfill the divine within us.