468 | Religion and Animals: Judaism be crushed underfoot Monks brush the path before them to sweep away small life forms they might otherwise step on It is prohibited to breed destructive animals, and considered noble to allow oneself to be bitten by a snake rather than kill it Jains are vegetarians, but consume milk According to the Jain cosmic wheel of time theory, we are now in a fifth downward cycle, meaning a decline in morality, a craving for material things and success, and increased violence and cruelty The advent of factory farming and vivisection is viewed to be a part of this downward trend However, Jainism holds out hope for the eventual liberation of all if even the lowly nagodas can eventually be born human and then achieve liberation Further Reading Dundas, Paul 1992, 2002 The Jains New York: Routledge Gopalan, S 1973 Outlines of Jainism New York: Halsted Press Jain, Jyotiprasad 1975 Religion and culture of the Jains New Delhi: Bharatiya Jnanpith Jain, Sagarmal, and Pandey, Shriprakash, eds 1998 Jainism in global perspective Varanasai: Parsvanatha Vidyapitha Jaini, Padmanabh S 1979 The Jaina path of purification Berkeley: University of California Press Mardia, K V 1990 The scientific foundations of Jainism Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass David Sztybel RELIGION AND ANIMALS: JUDAISM Judaism has developed across thousands of years and under a great variety of different cultural, social, geographical, political, and technological circumstances, each of which has left its mark on the role of animals in Jewish tradition and society According to Jewish tradition, the Written Torah, the first five books of the bible, may be understood as containing 613 commandments, which form the outline of Jewish law The commandments are further expounded upon and extended by the Oral Torah, the living tradition of Jewish law that was first codified in the Mishnah, circa 200 ce, and further developed and expounded on in the Talmud and many other works According to one recent count, some 138 of the commandments have some connection with animals Judaism has always valued the preservation of conflicting voices within the tradition, and countless references to animals are found throughout Jewish legal, philosophical, mystical, ethical, exegetical, liturgical, and homiletic literature Furthermore, since the break-up of the Sanhedrin or High Court nearly 2,000 years ago, Judaism has lacked institutions authorized to make universally binding legal decrees and interpretations These two factors make it difficult to formulate statements that are universally true of Judaism in all of its varied manifestations The goal of this article is merely to outline some of the major Jewish themes, ideas, and practices relating to animal rights and welfare The Status of Animals According to Judaism According to the first chapter of Genesis, after creating the animals, God created a male and a female human in the divine image They were meant to “rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all creeping things of the earth” (Verse 26) and they were told, “Be fruitful and increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of