Noting that the Hebrew words
for war, milchama, and bread, lechem, are
derived from the word locham, which means
both "to wage war" as well as
"to feed," Jewish sages reasoned
that when there is a shortage of grain and
other resources, people are more likely
to have disputes and wage war. Connections
between shortages and violence have been
observed from battles over wells in the
days of the Hebrew patriarchs to modern
disputes over oil in the Middle East. These
connections are especially serious now,
when the availability of abundant, affordable
oil is nearing an end. Other vital resources
are also becoming scarce. It is projected
that at least half of the world’s
people will live in areas chronically short
of fresh water in 30 years, and the combination
of shrinking aquifers and global warming
is decreasing the ability to produce enough
food for the world’s increasing population.
Former Senator Mark Hatfield
of Oregon stated: “Hunger and famine
will do more to destabilize this world;
[they are] more explosive than all atomic
weaponry possessed by the big powers. Desperate
people do desperate things.” Richard
J. Barnet, author of many books on international
conflicts , believes that the anger and
despair of hungry people sometimes lead
to acts of terrorism and economic wars.
What are the implications
for U.S. foreign policy? Military strength,
while important, is not sufficient, as we
learned in Vietnam and are relearning in
Iraq. It is essential that the US lead a
multilateral effort to move toward world
sufficiency of energy, food, and water,
through conservation efforts and improved
production approaches. A major part of this
effort is a switch toward veganism, since
the production of animal-based foods uses
far more resources than the production of
plant foods. For example, almost 40 percent
of the world’s grain is used to fatten
the 50 billion animals raised for slaughter
annually, and it takes 14 times as much
water for a typical American diet than it
does for a vegan diet.
To reduce other potential
sources of desperation and violence, the
U.S. should join other nations in an ongoing
campaign to reverse global warming and to
reduce hunger, poverty, disease, and illiteracy.
Such efforts would also improve America’s
humanitarian image, which, in turn, would
lower the chances that terrorists would
find support in their evil plans.
It is also essential that
the world reduce its huge military expenditures,
since they are often the source of oppression,
authoritarianism, death, and destruction,
and they waste trillions of dollars that
could be spent on health, education, environmental
protection, housing, poverty reduction,
jobs, mass transportation, etc., thereby
leading to some of the problems that make
violence and war more likely.
The suggested changes to
reduce terrorism and wars may seem utopian,
but as author Buckminster Fuller pointed
out, we have a choice today, in effect,
between “Utopia and Oblivion.”
The following Jewish teachings
may be helpful in carrying out the above
proposals: (1) Judaism teaches that the
greatest hero is the person who converts
an enemy into a friend; (2) Judaism teaches
that violence and war result directly from
injustice: “The sword comes into the
world because of justice delayed, because
of justice perverted, and because of those
who render wrong decisions;” (3) Judaism
emphasizes the pursuit of justice and harmonious
relations between nations to reduce violence
and the prospects for war. The prophet Isaiah
declared: “And the work of righteousness
shall be peace.” (Isaiah 32:17) Applying
these teachings can help in the improved
production and distribution of lechem and
other resources that can lead to the fulfillment
of the prophets’ dream of an end to
milchamah.
