All Have One Spirit

Qohelet (Ecclesiastes) 3.19 states that humans and animals have the same “ruach”. In most versions of the text this is expressed as “ve-ruach echad lakol”. However, it is clear from the seventeenth century Concordantiae sacrorum Bibliorum hebraicorum that there is a version of the text as “ve-ruach echat lakol”. The first version treats “ruach” as masculine, the second as feminine. In Qohelet 3.21, “ruach” is feminine for both that of humans and that of animals. So, the feminine version of 3.19 is better in context. Why would it have been changed? When “ruach” refers not to breath or wind but to the Divine Breath or Spirit it is almost invariably feminine in the Tanakh. So, as “ruach echat” one can understand that the One Divine Breath is present in both humans and animals. By making it “ruach echad” there may have been an attempt to change the text to remove this equivalence. It is worth noting that the “roshei teivot” of “echat/echad lakol” are “aleph lamed” – the Divine Name El – identifying explicitly the nature of the “ruach” here. This feature further supports the idea that the One Divine Breath/Spirit is the referent in this verse. Thus, with the restoration of the more plausible text, one finds yet another reason to see the Divine in animals and oneself in animals, and to avoid killing them and to avoid any non-vegetarian food.

Divine Breath - Part II

One theological foundation for nonviolence to all living creatures, including adopting a vegetarian lifestyle, is to be found in the idea of the Divine Breath (Ruach HaQadosh = Breath of the Holy One).

Breath maintains life and so is essential, is at the very essence of any breathing creature. By analogy, the Divine Breath is the inherent Divine Life Force, is at the very Essence of G-d. The breath of any breathing creature also can be projected beyond that creature, and can form the substance of sound and word coming from that creature. By analogy, the Divine Breath also can be projected and form the substance of sound and word from G-d. So, while remaining One with G-d at the level of the Divine Essence, the Divine Breath also constitutes the substance of projected creation from G-d. Thus, through the Divine Breath, all is continuous, from the Divine Essence to every creature, even in any and every difference.

This continuity means that one should see the Divine in all and see oneself in all. Therefore, as one loves and reveres G-d, so too one should love and revere all, and as one would wish oneself to be treated with kindness and compassion, so one should treat all with kindness and compassion.