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Leading Idea:  Eating Meat

This text parallels strongly elements of the text in Bereshit 1:28-29. Yet there is a striking difference. In the account of creation in Bereshit, God blesses human beings and gives us dominion over all of creation, but only the plant kingdom is given to us to eat for food. In this blessing, God not only gives us plants, but also the animal kingdom as food. In this, it marks a transition for humans from being herbivores to omnivores (eating both plants and animals).

What does this transition signify? What might it say about our relationship to creation and about our nature as human beings? How do we decide what is acceptable to eat and how is this connected to our identity? To what extent are we what we eat?