Noam Mohr, a farm-animal researcher for PETA who attended the lecture, said afterward that he agreed that Judaism has a “strong tradition of compassion for animals,” but added that Jewish leaders should also be teaching about the vegetarian diet.

“There are many rabbis that believe that the Jewish ideal is to do what Adam and Eve were required to do, which is not eat meat at all,” he said. “That’s an ideal that all Jews should aspire to, particularly today when the factory farms that produce the meat — kosher and nonkosher alike — are treating animals atrociously.”