Rosh Hashanah marks the new year for people and animals in the Hebrew calendar. So what better time for Jews to turn over a new leaf—one that will benefit themselves and animals, too? A kale leaf, perhaps, or arugula? Here's one "leif" that helps animals: Jewish comedian Carol Leifer hilariously explains why she went vegan:

Ready to help your Jewish friends resolve to turn over a new leaf for the New Year? Forward them the link to PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit. 

Happy New Year!

Have you been wanting to go vegan but just aren't sure how to start? You're not alone. More and more people are discovering that they can feel better, live longer, and stop contributing to environmental devastation and cruelty to animals with a plant-based diet—but that they need a little guidance in making the switch.

Enter the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine's Kickstart Intensive. This two-and-a-half-day program features classes, discussions with nutrition experts, cooking demonstrations, and complimentary meals to get aspiring vegans well on their way. Billed as a "life-changing experience," Kickstart Intensive covers topics such as breaking food addictions, permanent weight control, and power foods for the brain. Attendees will receive a personal year-long support system to help keep them on track, including conference calls and online resources.

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Kickstart Intensive will take place from October 4 to 6 in Washington, D.C. For more information or to register, visit the Kickstart Intensive website. Can't make the event? Request a free copy of PETA's vegetarian/vegan starter kit for helpful information, recipes, and tips to make going vegan as easy as eating asparagus, bananas, and cauliflower.

Nobel Prize–winning physician, theologian, and vegetarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer once said, "The man who has become a thinking being feels a compulsion to give every will-to-live the same reverence for life that he gives to his own." It was Schweitzer's "reverence for life" that inspired our pals at PETA U.K. not only to sponsor the attendance of a vegetarian student at this week's Albert Schweitzer's Leadership for Life International Youth Leadership Conference in Dublin but also to place an ad in the event's program in Schweitzer's honor.

Albert Schweitzer: © LOC, LC-USZ62-30537 Background: © iStockphoto.com/Hiroyuki Akimoto

Showing True Leadership

Harley, the sponsored student, has been vegetarian ever since a friend urged her to watch some PETA videos, from which she learned about the cruelty of factory farms and slaughterhouses. During her sophomore year, Harley petitioned her high school to introduce more vegan options to the cafeteria, collecting 320 signatures from a student body of 400 people!

From the time he was a child, Schweitzer was horrified by the violence he witnessed against animals and would likely be even more disgusted by today's factory farms and slaughterhouses. Chickens, turkeys, pigs, cows, and fish are packed into small cages, filthy sheds, or putrid fish farms for their entire lives—at slaughter, animals often have their throats cut open while they are still conscious or are scalded to death or skinned alive.

Go Vegan 'for Life'

Going vegan might not make you a genius—but it will make the world a better, more compassionate place, which is rather brilliant, don't you think? And PETA can help you get started!

This is what Olivia looked like when she was found:

The little piglet, who had sustained a fractured pelvis, cuts, and scrapes, was found on the side of the road after apparently falling off a transport truck. The Good Samaritan who found her called PETA for help, and PETA's Emergency Response Team called a wonderful activist to take Olivia to the Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL), where she is safe and sound! ARL is working with a doctor to treat the porcine princess, who will never find out what a gestation crate is.

Olivia is well on the road to recovery and even going through physical therapy using an underwater treadmill (you have to watch the video). As one news story about Olivia's stroke of luck put it, "How nice that some people see her as more than sausage and bacon."

Ready to give meat the heave-ho—for Olivia's sake? Order PETA's free vegan/vegetarian starter kit today.

Some Santa Monica citizens are outraged after a group of atheists flooded a city lottery with applications, took over the space where more than a dozen of the city's Nativity displays would normally be set up, and then simply left much of  the space vacant. PETA is reaching out to the atheists to ask permission to set up our own "Give Peas a Chance" billboard in one of the empty areas.

Plate Photo: © iStockphoto.com/Paterne

In our letter to the atheists' spokesperson, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk points out: "From factory farms to holy wars, so many lives have been lost because of an inability to relate to others who are different from us in unimportant ways. Whether we believe in Jesus or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, we can promote peace on Earth by adopting a cruelty-free vegan diet."

Don't just pray for good health—help yourself by clicking here  to request a free vegetarian/vegan starter kit.