In Judaism, physical and mental confinement is considered a state of Mitzrayim or narrow place. Finding freedom from unjust confines is a reoccurring theme throughout Jewish history and literature. Lessons from our past and the values we hold compel us to advocate for those mistreated and unjustifiably confined. However; restricting these compassionate values to human beings and ignoring the plight of non-human sentient beings can only stem from poor logic or cognitive dissonance.
Michelle Farnham an animal rights activist can be found sat in a pig crate in Trafalgar Square outside the National Gallery. Her protest will last 21 days and coincides with the release of Animal Rising’s campaign which has released footage of a month in the life of Luna, a pig confined in a farrowing crate in a factory farm. The intense physical and psychological suffering is apparent, and the protest has brought considerable attention to the cause.
According to kashrut, we are forbidden from eating pigs, making protests like these easy to dismiss as being kosher we do not contribute to the plight of these living beings. In fact, some may even consider they choice to keep kosher to be morally superior to those who consume pig products. However, the moral atrocity of factory farming does not end with pigs confined to farrowing crates who end being gassed alive in CO2.
Besides pigs, approximately 2.55 million factory-farmed land animals are slaughtered every day in the UK alone. Even before death, living conditions are renowned for extreme confinement, lack of access to the outdoors, commercially stimulated growth and over production exhaustion.
When our hearts hurt at the thought of cruelty towards pigs, as highlighted by this protest, we must recognise that the treatment of other animals in factory farms is an equal moral atrocity. The pain we feel for pigs is justified and comes from an innate sense of injustice for these living beings; however, we must not allow our brains or community justify this tortuous treatment for the animals which we are accustomed to eating. This state of mitzrayim or confinement hurts all living beings equally, and we are in no position to decide which type of animal is above or below this suffering.