At first, humanity was meant to subsist on plants, as it is stated (Bereishit 1:29): “God said: Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing herb upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food.” Animals, however, were forbidden to human beings as food (Sanhedrin 59b). The commentators explain that at that time animals, too, lived on plants and did not prey upon one another (Rashi and Ramban to Bereishit 1:29).
Over time, however, sin spread and the entire world became corrupted. This began with Adam Ha-rishon’s sin, which led to his banishment from Gan Eden, brought death upon him and his descendants, and even caused the earth to fall from its original state and produce thorns and thistles. Yet this punishment did not lead people to learn their lesson. Kayin murdered his brother Hevel. In the generation of Enosh, Adam Ha-rishon’s grandson, people began to sin through idolatry; later, theft, adultery, and murder became increasingly widespread. As human beings sinned, the nature of the animals changed as well. They became more insensitive and cruel, and began preying upon one another, until destruction was decreed upon all flesh. As it is stated (Bereishit 6:11–14): “The earth became corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. God said to Noaḥ: The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood…”
Only Noaḥ, his sons, and everything aboard the ark were saved from the floodwaters. When they emerged, they were given the task of rebuilding the world from the ground up by carefully observing the seven foundational commandments, which form the basis of human morality. Only once the basic moral order between human beings is properly established can humanity continue to rise in its moral relationship with animals. To this end, the distinction between the human being, created in the image of God, and the animal world had to be made unmistakable. Humanity had to recognize its unique calling and responsibility: the task of repairing and elevating the world was entrusted to human beings alone.
The clearest expression of this is that after the flood, human beings were permitted to eat animal flesh, while at the same time being given a severe warning not to murder a person, who was created in the image of God. As it is stated (Bereishit 9:1–6): “God blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and He said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon all that moves upon the ground and upon all the fish of the sea; into your hand they have been given. Every living creature that moves shall be yours for food; as with the green herb, I have given you everything… But your blood, of your souls, I will require… Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (based on Maran Rav Kook, Ḥazon Ha-tzimḥonut Ve-ha-shalom 6–9).
It must be added that the sins of Adam Ha-rishon and of the generations before the flood also damaged the natural order. Plant foods could no longer sustain human life as they once had; in other words, moral decline produced a new ecological reality in which people needed to eat meat. This was not the ideal, but what is necessary for survival cannot be condemned. There is also a certain fairness in this: since the animals were saved from destruction through Noaḥ, his descendants may eat them in order to live.
In the world as it now stands, it is not clear that the animals people commonly eat would be better off if humanity stopped eating meat. If people no longer raised them for food, these species would exist in far smaller numbers. Today, cattle and chickens multiply in great numbers only because human beings care for and breed them; if they were all released into the wild, very few would survive for long. See Rabbeinu Beḥaye, Radak, and Malbim to Bereishit 1:29; Malbim and R. Samson Raphael Hirsch to Bereishit 9:3.
