PLEASE DON’T HURT US

“Hashem opened the mouth of the she-donkey and it said to Bilaam, “What have I done to you that you struck me these three times?” (Bamidbar 22:28) “The angel of Hashem said to him, “For what reason did you strike your she-donkey these three times? Behold! I went out to impede, for you hastened on a road opposite me.” (Ibid verse 32)

On Bilaam’s eventful journey to meet with Balak, king of Moab, something most unusual happened. Bilaam was travelling to curse the Children of Israel at the behest of Balak, who was afraid that they would decimate his nation as they had done to the kingdoms of Sichon and Og. Bilaam chose to travel on his trusted she-donkey. God was angry that Bilaam had decided to go and he placed an angel, invisible to Bilaam, in the path of the beast. The angel had a drawn sword in its hand and the donkey swerved off the path into a field. Bilaam struck the animal in an attempt to turn it back on to the road. Again, the angel appeared. This time, the path was narrow with a stone wall on either side. The donkey moved to the side and pressed Bilaam’s leg against the wall. Once again, Bilaam struck the poor beast. For a third time the angel appeared. But now the path was so narrow there was nowhere to go, so the donkey simply collapsed onto the ground. “Bilaam’s anger flared and he struck the donkey with his staff.” (Bamidbar 22:27)

In Sefer Chasidim, the 12^th century work on ethics by Rabbi Yehudah HaChasid, the author notes (#666): “Any wrongdoing that a person causes pain and anguish to his fellow man is punished, even if he causes pain to an animal for nothing, such as putting a load on it that is more than it can bear and beating it if it cannot walk. In the future he will have to give a reckoning because the [prohibition to cause] suffering to animals is derived from the Torah. As it is written in the matter of Bilaam, ‘Why did you strike me?’”

The concept of tza’ar ba’alei chayim, causing pain to animals, is discussed at length in the Talmud (Bava Metzia 32b). There the sages state that this concept is derived from the Torah. This is  also the ruling of Rabbi Moshe Isserles in the Shulchan Aruch (Choshen Mishpat 272:9). Rabbi David ben Zimra (Egypt 1479-1573, in Teshuvot HaRadvaz 1542) writes that there is neither an explicit negative commandment nor an explicit positive commandment in the Torah that speaks of causing harm to animals. Rav Asher Weiss (Minchas Asher Devarim 51) explains that even though there is no precise mitzvah relating to this concept, nevertheless it is the “will of the Torah” not to cause harm to animals. One can distill what the “will of the Torah” is in one of two ways: The first is by studying the mitzvoth that Hashem gave us, from which we learn proper behaviour, ethics and morals. The second is by studying the narrative portions of the Torah and deriving from those episodes how Hashem expects us to live.

Sefer Chasidim closely examined the portion of Balak and derived from the incident of Bilaam and his donkey that God does not look well upon those who cause suffering to animals. Rambam did likewise. In his philosophical magnum opus Moreh Nevuchim (Guide for the Perplexed), Rambam writes (3:17): “There is a rule laid down by our Sages that it is directly prohibited by the Torah to cause pain to an animal, and is based on the words: “Why did you strike your she-donkey?” etc. (Bamidbar 22:32). The object of this rule is to make us perfect; that we should not assume cruel habits: and that we should not uselessly cause pain to others: that, on the contrary, we should be prepared to show pity and mercy to all living creatures, except when necessity demands the contrary: “When your soul longs to eat meat,” etc. (Devarim 12:20). We should not kill animals for the purpose of practising cruelty, or for the purpose of play.”

On the subject of killing animals for sport, there is a fascinating halachic response from Rabbi Yehezkel Landau (Prague, 18^th century, in Noda BiYehudah Tinyana Yoreh Deah 10). A Jewish man inherited enormous tracts of lands which included fields and forests, and he wanted to know if he was permitted to hunt animals. One of the topics Rabbi Landau deals with in his response is causing pain to animals. Many types of traps can cause terrible pain and suffering to animals. He is only prepared to permit hunting if the animal is killed outright but not where it is left to suffer. At the end of the response, he writes that hunting for sports is not an appropriate Jewish pastime as “the only hunters we find in the Bible are wicked men like Nimrod and Esau and this is not the way of the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.”

There are several other places in the Torah, besides the story of Bilaam, where it is clear that Hashem does not want us to harm animals. Rashi (Shabbat 128b) cites as a source, the mitzvah of removing a heavy burden from an animal (Shmot 23:5): “If you see the donkey of someone you hate crouching under its burden, would you refrain from helping him? You shall help repeatedly with him.” Meiri and Raavad (cited in Shita Mekubtzet, Bava Metzia 32b) point to the verse in Devarim (24:4), “You shall not muzzle an ox in its threshing.” In this case, the anguish caused to the animal is passive. The ox is in close proximity to food – the grain that it is threshing – but it cannot consume it because of the muzzle. The Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 294) writes that at the root of the prohibition against slaughtering an animal and her young on the same day is “to fix in our souls the trait of compassion and to distance us from the trait of cruelty, which is a bad trait. And therefore, even though God permitted us [to eat] species of animals for our sustenance, He [also] commanded us that we not kill it and its child on one day to fix the trait of compassion in our souls.” He also discusses suffering of animals in mitzvah 550 where we are prohibited to plough with an ox and a donkey at the same time: “And I say that from the explanations of this commandment is the matter of [causing] pain to animals, which is a prohibition of the Torah. And it is known that for species of animals and fowl, there is great anguish in dwelling with those that are not its species and — all the more so — to do work with them.” Ibn Ezra (Devarim 22:10) notes that an ox is a much more powerful animal than a donkey and thus, if the two are connected to the same plough, the donkey will have to strain itself to keep up with the ox. Baal HaTurim (ibid) explains that since an ox is a kosher animal and regurgitates its food, when the donkey is placed next to the ox, it will feel anguish at the fact that the ox is eating and it is not.

There are many more mitzvoth which taken together clearly reveal that the “will of the Torah” is that we not cause undue harm to animals. Ramban (Devarim 22:6) explains that this is not necessarily because animals have the same emotions and sentience as human beings, or in modern parlance, that they have “rights”. Rather, these mitzvoth (he is discussing chasing the mother bird away before taking her chicks or eggs) are intended to instil in us the qualities of kindness and compassion, and to root out the negative trait of cruelty. In this way we emulate God, about whom King David said (Tehillim 145:9), “Hashem is good to all; His mercies are on all His works.”

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom. Rabbi Liebenberg.

Rabbi’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/dbLjwiEXUuE?si=iUMU9cjKm8CWFh1j

Lee and I will be away on annual leave from 13-28 July. Wishing you all a peaceful and restful winter holiday.  Please contact the office for assistance.

FAST OF THE 17^TH OF TAMMUZ – SUNDAY 13 JULY

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