Israel Books

A Boy, A Chicken and The Lion of Judah
How Ari Became A Vegetarian

By Roberta Kalechofsky
Micah Publications (micahbooks@earthlink.net)
Young People's Fiction with illustrations, ages 7-14
Softcover 50 pages

Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns

"The problem had begun for him when he was about four and he had asked Ima where the chicken on his plate came from."

Ima, the young boy's mother, said that it came from the chickens living in the barn. Her reply marks the beginning of a deep personal resistance movement for nine-year-old Ari, who lives in the Negev Highlands, in Israel, with his parents.

Ari's parents are active conservationists who farm organically and work to protect the environment and wildlife, while showing no concern for the animals they eat. Ari wonders why they attend protest demonstrations to save the earth, yet never protest the cruel chicken house or the treatment of geese to make pate de foie gras. "His parents, he noticed, thought about many things, but not about these things."

For Ari it is dreadful to eat something that was once a living, "frightened creature." His morality is rooted in his perception of the difference between "the birds who were free and the birds who were not free."

"He noticed that the birds who were free were always beautiful, their feathers were soft and silky and brilliant with color, their wings opened like fans as they mounted the air with confidence and song. He loved to watch the birds in the air. Their migration patterns were like paintings in the sky, moving pictures against the blue air as the birds jockied for their different places and lined up behind their leader, predetermined by the forces of sun and wind and light to make this journey. The journey was part of their being. A cage was a terrible thing."

Unlike these birds, the chickens kept for meat and eggs smell bad, cannot move in their cages, make "low moaning sounds," and stare with "gloomy eyes." And then there is Ari's beloved hen, Tk Tk, named for her quiet clucking. Tk Tk is clean, soft, independent, and loving. She often sits on the porch step with Ari making sweet sounds that come "from deep inside her breast, deep under her feathers, deep inside a well of animal happiness."

Ari asks his mother, were there different kinds of chickens?
"Ima said there were. `A chicken that you eat and a chicken that's a pet are two
different kinds of animals.'
"`Does the cage make them different?' Ari asked.
"The question disturbed Ima. `Not exactly,' she said."

Ari ponders the difference in his parents' attitude towards Tk Tk, the chickens in the cages, and the millions of migratory birds - storks, pelicans, eagles, kestrels - whose ancient route across the Negev is threatened by the government's plan to build a radio station in the Arad Valley. These are the "birds in the air that people admired and wanted to protect." Ari wonders "why his parents felt so strongly about the birds of the air, and did not seem to care at all about the chickens in the cages."

Their answers are evasive, and Ari suffers a "secret misery" that keeps him from being happy, His pain becomes a family matter when he starts washing his meat with water at the table before eating. He scarcely understands his compulsion, but persists in doing it, even when his visiting Grandma Ellie from New York taunts him about his "disgusting habit" and does everything she can to make him feel even worse than he already does about hurting his parents and becoming a weakling if he does not eat meat.

Although Ari's parents have always encouraged their son's quest for moral independence, they never dreamed where their teachings might lead. Ari finds unexpected support from them, however, and even from his "henpecked" grandfather; but the most astonishing revelation is that his teacher, Ms. Greenblatt, is a vegetarian and that her brother Yossi, the famous soccer player, is a vegetarian, too. Ms. Greenblatt washes away Ari's fears so that he no longer has to wash the blood out of his food or be defensive when baited by his classmate, Yonatan, who thinks that being big and being strong are the same.

When Ari tells Ms. Greenblatt that he informed his mother he did not want to eat meat, she praises him. "Good. So now you own your own stomach." This idea becomes Ari's "personal truth."

Kalechofsky dedicated A Boy, A Chicken and the Lion of Judah to her son, Hal," "whose parents did not understand," and "to other parents who might also miss the clues." Ari's practice of washing his meat is based on Hal's childhood habit. Only years later did Kalechofsky learn that her son always hated meat. Now a vegetarian herself, she sees washing the meat as a purification ritual designed to wash away every sign of blood from the flesh so as not to feel there was ever any life in it.

A Boy, A Chicken and The Lion of Judah is an intelligent, adventurous, and beautifully written book. Although it is specially intended for young people seven to fourteen years old, it really is a book for all ages.

Review by Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns (www.upc-online.org)

 
The vegetarian cause is buttressed by many powerful facts and statistics relating the production and consumption of animal products to human diseases, the mistreatment of animals, the destruction of ecosystems, the waste of resources, and spreading hunger. While arguments based on this data are valuable and have undoubtedly contributed to convincing some people to becoming vegetarians, progress has been slow, and the vast majority of people still eat animal-centered diets. Wee also need other approaches, such as books that show the personal aspects of vegetarianism, that appeal to our emotions as well as to our intellect, and that help to overcome the rationalizations that people use to justify their dietary habits.
Roberta Kalechofsky's A Boy, A Chicken, and The Lion of Judah - How Ari Became a Vegetarian is such a book. It provides a powerful vegetarian message while probing the human condition. Although I have read many books on vegetarianism, this is the only one that brought tears to my eyes. This occurred as often during my second reading as during my first reading.
Ari, a nine year old boy who lives in the Negev Highlands in Israel with his parents, has a "secret misery", and initially there is no one to answer his questions or to understand his wretchedness. Because of the strong bond that he has developed with his pet hen, Tk Tk, Ari has decided that he wants to become a vegetarian, but he hesitates to tell his parents to avoid hurting their feelings. He wonders how his parents can be so actively involved in protest demonstrations to protect the environment, and yet be so oblivious to the daily cruelty in the nearby chicken coop and the treatment of geese when their livers are fattened to make pate de fois gras. He doesn't understand how they can be so concerned about saving "the birds in the air" while serving the chickens that were raised in cages for dinner. He doesn't comprehend his "purification ritual" of washing meat in a saucer before eating it, an activity that his grandmother, who is convinced that Ari needs to eat meat in order to be "strong and healthy", considers a "disgusting habit". Ari suffers because he doesn't have what psychoanalyst Erich Fromm called a "socially patterned defect" that would have enabled him to be like almost everyone else, blind to the moral inconsistencies related to their diets.
How Ari discovers others who are vegetarians, overcomes his aloneness and alienation, comes to "own his own stomach", gains his parents' understanding, and much more, is told with sensitivity and compassion in this wonderful book. Readers will be left with much to ponder with regard to their eating habits and their relationships with other people and non-human animals. While the book is aimed at children 7 to 10 years of age, based on my experience and the responses of other adults that I have shared it with, How Ari Became a Vegetarian provides adventurous, thought-provoking reading for people of all ages.

 

A GREAT BOOK ABOUT ISREAL AND HER RELEVANCE TO OIL. A SHOCKING END OF TIMES PROPHECY COMING TRUE IN FRONT OF OUR VERY EYES. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS AWSOME EYE OPENING BOOK!

The first review I wrote for this book was lost (by Amazon).

Mr. Spillman nailed it with the oncoming mission in Israel's oil drilling. There is now a hunt for Israel's fine oil driven by USA's small corporations. Watch now for the big haul to make headlines world wide and the great big bear (Russia) accompanied by China, and many other nations, chase Israel away from their finding.

USA have better be ready for their support is well needed in Israel.

Follow up with the updated and revised edition of Jerusalem Countdown by Pastor John Hagee. This will be a great accompaniment.

This book is one of the best tools we have in modern times to reclaim the true life of Jesus for ourselves - both historically and spiritually. The author has obviously painstakingly researched this work and his thoroughness is captivating as well as revolutionary.

It was very refreshing to read a history of Jesus that is not based on the bible, but still founded on ancient writings. A gnostic awakening into truth.
A profound read, a wealth of knowledge and research was put into this book. Enlightening!!

An excellent pursuit of clarity in unbiased academic research; bearing the fruits of truth and far reaching implications concerning honest analysis of scripture.
Although such light all too often goes unheralded, one can only hope that Dr. Avner Ramu will continue presenting such wonderful commentary concerning historical truths in relation to biblical foundations.

A very detailed and interesting book integrating modern themes in a generally historical book. A must get for historians, Israelites, Jews, Christains, and really any one who is up for good reading.

An outstanding book for the amateur reader as well as the educator who wishes to explain the time period, the people and the religion!

the best book I have ever bought on that subject thank you

First published in 1991, and now in a new edition with an updated 2007 afterword from the author, Chicken Man is a classic National Jewish Book Awards Winner picturebook about a man who lives and works on a kibbutz (a special type of farm in Israel). Chicken man loves the chickens of his chicken coop more than anything, and he's so happy taking care of them everyone becomes convinced he has the best job on the kibbutz. When a new work list is posted, he must change jobs and work at the laundry instead - leaving his chickens wasn't easy, but he resolved to do his best and sing while he worked; this leads everyone to think that laundry is the best job on the kibbutz, and his duty is changed to gardening. But when the chickens stop producing eggs because they were deprived of their favorite keeper, the kibbutz learns that it's the person who does the job that makes the biggest difference, and Chicken Man is reunited with his beloved chickens. The new afterword briefly reflects on how kibbutzes have changed in the modern era (children's houses or work lists are generally not found within them anymore). But the central theme of Chicken Man, the value of making the best of every situation, is a positive message enthusiastically recommended to young readers of all backgrounds.

"Chicken Man" weaves a delightful tale about members of an Israeli kibbutz, all of whom wish they could switch jobs with "Chicken Man." Why? Because, no matter what his job assignment, he is always happy.

Everyone - including the reader - learns that Chicken Man's jobs are far from ideal. His attitude, however, always is. And that makes all the difference. My lectures and workshops for kids and adults convey this message, one that we are never too young to learn.

Hats off to Michelle Edwards!

My address Mr.Ronarong Kaewkanta

This book is very good for me and one likes to read.

Helpful Votes: 1 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 1999-08-17

My address Mr.Ronarong Kaewkanta