God: not a member of PETA

I'm reading through Numbers at the moment, and I'm pretty shocked at the sheer number of sacrifices that the Isrealites had to make. I'm a firm believer that everyone will be veg*n in heaven, but reading through the rules and regulations that God had made it sound like a daily bloodbath at the temple.

I understand intellectually that there had to be a sacrifice of life in order to be with God, but I just don't get why it had to be the way it was. It seems so ... cruel. I think part of the reason I don't get it is because we live in a democracy and there is no culture that lives like this any more. Back then, every culture sacrificed to their gods, so God asked the Isrealites to do the same.

Also I'm wondering if Jewish people in Israel do this today.

I'm also kind of hung up on the specifics of the temple and all the furniture used. Like the table had to be X cubits by X cubits made from a certain kind of wood and overlayed with gold with gold sculptures of this exact height. Why be so detailed about it? The only thing I can think of is that God figured if He had to live there for a couple hundred years, it might as well be in a style He liked. Also, if it were up to the Levites or whoever was in charge of building the temple, there would just be a lot of arguing over what everyone thought it should look.