EXOD156 …there is one annual holiday meal during which the Bible mandates meat eating: The Passover feast, at which every Jewish family is instructed to consume the Pascal Lamb Exodus 12:21 – 27. So basic was participation in the eating of this lamb that a Jew subjected himself to the punishment of karet -- which involves the possibility of premature death at the hand of God--by refusing to participate in this ritual Numbers 9:13. It is, therefore, clear that Judaism in the past did not sanction a complete vegetarian lifestyle. However, Jews have not sacrificed Paschal lambs since the destruction of the Second Temple (70 C.E.), and so the issue today is a moot one. (Also… Rabbi Kook ... [believes] that in messianic times all sacrifices will consist of vegetation, not animals). Therefore, there is now no meal at which a Jewish vegetarian is specifically enjoined to eat meat.