| Roberta Kalechofsky | |
| Birth Date: | 11 May 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Occupation: | Author, activist |
| Alma Mater: | Brooklyn College, New York University |
| Genre: | History and biography, short plays, religious genre novels, vegetarian cookbooks, Jewish religious literature |
| Subject: | Feminism, animal rights, Jewish vegetarianism |
| Spouse: | Robert Kalechofsky (mathematician, retired professor, author), until his passing in December 2020[1] |
| Relatives: | 2 sons |
Roberta Kalechofsky (May 11, 1931 – April 5, 2022)[2] was an American writer, feminist and animal rights activist, focusing on the issue of animal rights within Judaism and the promotion of vegetarianism within the Jewish community. She was the founder of Jews for Animal Rights and Micah Publications or Micah Books, which specializes in the publication of animal rights, Jewish vegetarianism, and Holocaust literature.
Kalechofsky was born in Brooklyn[3] and attended Brooklyn College, receiving her B.A. in 1952, followed by an M.A. in English literature from New York University in 1956, and a Ph.D. from the same university in 1970, also in English literature. She taught at the University of Connecticut and Brooklyn College.[4]
Kalechofsky was married to Robert Kalechofsky—a retired mathematics professor from Salem State University who was also a vegetarian—until his death in December 2020.[1] [4] They appeared together representing Micah Books at publisher, writer, vegetarian, and animal advocacy events around North America, including the Boston Vegetarian Society's annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. Their two sons each have earned doctorates.
Kalechofsky was the author of Animal Suffering and the Holocaust: The Problem with Comparisons (2003), as well as poetry, seven works of illustrative fiction, two collections of essays, and a monograph on George Orwell.[4] Micah Publications, which Kalechofsky founded in 1975, has published two haggadot for a vegetarian seder, one of which, Haggadah for the Liberated Lamb, has been exhibited at Harvard University in an exhibit on food and politics, and at the Jewish Museum in New York.[4]
Philosopher Tom Regan has said of Kalechofsky, "[o]f all the historians of ideas with whom I am familiar, if I had a choice between listening to just one of them, I would not hesitate to choose Roberta. She is that good, that worth spending time with."[5]
Kalechofsky founded Jews for Animal Rights (JAR) in 1985 with the aim of upholding and spread the Talmudic prohibition against causing suffering to living creatures, known as tza'ar ba'alei hayyim. The group promotes the ideas of Rabbi Abraham Kook on vegetarianism, and campaigns to find alternatives to animal testing.
She was a member of PETA, but has been critical of their "Holocaust On Your Plate", linking the consumption of animals to the Holocaust.[6]