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- 8
Yom Kippur’s Prohibition Against Leather
Posted by Guest Blogger at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Like many Jews, I will be wearing white, nonleather athletic sneakers to synagogue tonight and tomorrow for Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). I have dress shoes that are nonleather-all my shoes are. But I choose to make the point as glaringly as possible: Jews are prohibited from wearing leather on Yom Kippur.
On Yom Kippur, Jews beg for G-d’s mercy. We pray for atonement. We recognize that we have sinned, and we repent for it. And to walk the walk, we realize that it’d be hypocritical to plead for forgiveness and compassion when dressed in the clothes of suffering. Jewish Vegetarians of North America President Richard H. Schwartz explains, “One reason is that it is not considered proper to plead for compassion when one has not shown compassion to the creatures of G-d, whose concern extends to all of His creatures.”
Many rabbis through the ages have shared this view. Rabbi Moses Isserles (c. 1528-1572), aka the Rema, said, “How can a man put on shoes, a piece of clothing for which it is necessary to kill a living thing, on Yom Kippur, which is a day of grace and compassion, when it is written ‘His tender mercies are over all His works’?” (Psalms 145:9). Rabbi Amy Scheinerman, a Conservative rabbi in Maryland, adds:
Many people abstain from wearing leather on Yom Kippur, as required by tradition, since an animal died in order that the leather garment could be produced. Yom Kippur is a time for being especially sensitive to life and death concerns, including the lives of animals.
Leather is not a byproduct of the meat industry but rather a coproduct. Cattle killed for leather are the same animals raised by the beef and dairy industries. They are subject to the same routine branding, dehorning, tail-docking, and castration-all without any painkillers. Cows in the dairy industry are forced to give 10 times as much milk as they did a mere half-century ago, and many suffer from mastitis, a disease in which their udders have become so swollen that they hang toward the ground. Annually in the U.S., more than 41 million cows are slaughtered-usually by being stunned, hung upside-down, bled to death, and skinned. The leather industry warrants opposition all 365 days of the year, not just when we are most desperate for forgiveness.
On Yom Kippur, we apologize for our sins in the previous year, and we hope not to repeat our mistakes. So why is it that after today, most Jews consider it permissible not to show “compassion to the creatures of G-d”? If we are honest with ourselves on Yom Kippur and seek to avoid sins-and if we aspire to be compassionate beings so that G-d may treat us with compassion-we should cease promoting suffering in our attire and daily decisions on a regular basis, not just one day a year. I hope my nonleather sneakers help call attention to that.
-Posted by Michael Croland, Guest Blogger. Michael runs heebnvegan, a Jewish blog about animal rights.
Posted to Family & Friends | Posted to Tags: Guest Blogger, holidays, leather, Yom Kippur
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Julie Patton says...
October 10th, 2008, 11:14 am
Thank you so much for sharing this perspective. I deeply respect what you are doing.
Amen A. Sigala says...
October 10th, 2008, 5:46 pm
Love this piece. Never new about this! So beautiful & profound! Wonderful that this has been done as long as it has, how unfortunate I only know about it till now! Something I’m definatly doing w/ my son, who was raised veg but now out of weakness eats it. He’s not happy to but it’s hard he says since his tasts for things have changed. = (
Thk u for this!
Jacqui Lipschitz says...
October 11th, 2008, 8:28 am
Thank you for your compassionate article about not wearing leather on Yom Kippur (or any other time for that matter) - I heartily endorse Judaism showing compassion for all living things - in fact, I’m thrilled that some Conservative Rabbis want to prohibit the eating of veal!
Thanks again!
Gloria Feldscher says...
December 13th, 2008, 5:18 pm
Aside from not wearing leather on Yom Kippur, it is somewhat hypocritical to pray for God’s mercy and then break the fast by feasting on a slaughtered animal.
We abhorred the Nazis using human skin for lampshades and book covers. How then can we use the skin of another species?
Sheila says...
March 7th, 2009, 1:34 pm
Leather is considered a luxury item. On Yom Kippur all such items are to be avoided—-jewelry, make-up no shaving, bathing, etc. The idea of sparing animals is not behind the admonition. We actually should be wearing sackcloth to services along with the sneakers.