Tzaar Baalei Chaim - Humane Treatment of Animals

Friday, June 26, 2009

Rabbi Mark S. Kram, Temple Beth Or, Miami, FL

So I had a little problem with Beth Or’s custom of “Blessing the Animals.”  No, we don’t have a dog or cat.  Yes, I grew up with and love dogs.  Tebow – our son’s dog named after the famous UF quarterback – will even be living with us for a while this summer.  But to give Hebrew names to animals – ehhhhh.

So I thought about it, did some reading on the origins of the custom (it was Catholic, of course –  seriously, they make some real creative programs – M.E., etc.) and came to a point which I was comfortable doing SOMETHING that Sunday morning at Beth Or.  Pets mean EVERYTHING to many folks.  And they are important to all who own them.  Whether it is the unconditional love we feel and receive – the “smiling faces” waiting for us when we come home – OR the amount of love we shower upon them or the way we treat them – pets play an important part in our lives.

So when the “Cat Killer” was caught finally a short time ago, we felt better.  How could a person inflict that kind of cruelty upon innocent and loving creatures?!  It was beyond belief, especially alleged by a teen that went to school with some of our kids, grew up in OUR neighborhoods and was friends with so many?!

At Chit Chat last week, I found a text by Rabbi Jill Jacobs of Jewish Fund for Justice, who visited Beth Or not long ago, which outlined some of the issues nicely.

While we ascribe feelings to animals, we really don’t know if they have them.  We think that they can be happy or sad, tired and maybe depressed.  What do they feel when they are left alone?  And what are they expressing when we return home after a long day away?  It’s got to be more than – “Can you let me out?  I need to go!!!”

For Jews, and for most people, there is a clear mandate against cruelty to animals - tzaar Baalei Hayim.  In fact, for us, the laws are very clearly defined.
 

Rabbi Jacobs says, “The concept of Tzaar Baalei Hayim demands that we take animal suffering seriously…  Beginning with the first chapters of the Torah, Judaism establishes a fundamental connection between human beings and animals.  Created on the fifth day of the biblical story of creation, animals can be understood as prototypes of the first human beings – Adam and Eve – created on the sixth day.”

Noah puts enough animals into the Ark to sustain all of the species.  And after the Flood, as a concession, God permits humans to eat animals – with caveats: we cannot eat the meat with the blood in it, and God protects animals “against unduly cruel slaughter by banning the practice of cutting a limb off a living animal (Genesis 9:3-4).”  Prohibiting unnecessary cruelty to animals becomes this “overarching principle” of Jewish law. 

Kosher slaughtering or shehita proscribes that the kosher animal be slaughtered with a single stroke of the knife, which causes less suffering to the animal.  I would add that the shechita knife is midrashically “lubricated” according to tradition, by the tear of the shochet considering what he’s about to do!  Jews even feel bad when we kill an animal for food.

That’s why there is no hunting in Judaism – at least for most of Jewish history.  Because in hunting the animal is not killed properly, it would suffer. The two hunters in the Bible, Nimrod and Esau, are both depicted as villains.

Now, I know I’m speaking to Jeff Tucker in this talk, but OK.  And I probably will NOT become a Vegan or Vegetarian, although sometimes, like when particular friend cooks, I think really hard about it!

The conflict of eating animals and using animals – for work, etc., preclude tormenting it.  And we ascribe feelings to animals – even as far back in the Talmud.  For example, the Talmud prohibits both taking eggs and chicks from a nest while the mother bird is present (Deut. 22:6).  And also, it specifies, cooking a kid in its mothers’ milk.  The rabbis were clearly concerned with causing “emotional pain” to the mother bird or cow that “should neither see nor participate in the killing of her children.”

But what about other foods, such as foie gras or veal in which the animal is overfed to produce a “delicacy?”  Orthodox authorities, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, a leading halakhic authority says are forbidden on the basis of tzaar baalei hayim.  But he also says,

“Even though it is permissible [to cause pain to animals] in order to satisfy human needs, by slaughtering animals for food, or by employing animals to plow, to carry burdens or other such things, it is not permissible otherwise to cause them suffering, even when one stands to profit from such practices (Igg'rot Moshe, Even haEzer 4:92)."

One may not beat one's animal or force it to work excessively or unnaturally. Many interpret the Torah's prohibition against plowing a field with an ox and a donkey tied together is not allowed.  Why?   Because we are responsible to prevent injury or pain to these animals, who naturally work at different paces (Deuteronomy 22:10).

The nineteenth-century legal work Arukh ha-Shulhan forbids working one's animal night and day, without a break, saying that such a practice violates the prohibition against tzaar baalei hayim (Hoshen Mishpat 307:13).  On the Shabbat, not only are we NOT supposed to work, nor are our son, daughter, servant, your animal, or the stranger who lives with you! (Ex 20:8).  Like humans, animals cannot be expected to work seven days a week, but must be allowed one day a week to recuperate.  Thus you cannot have your dog retrieve the paper for you on Shabbat.

We are taught to have compassion on animals and relieve an animal who is suffering from carrying too heavy a load – even if the animal belongs to our enemy!  And we find that among the rules that allow us to break Shabbat – like for saving a life – we can do this in order to care for an injured animal; or save it if it fell into a pool of water, or assist it if at birth it is suffering or in danger of dying.

In the Talmud, the rabbis further decree that a person may not purchase an animal unless he has made provisions to feed it, and a person must feed his animals before he feeds himself (interpreting Deut. 11:15).

So how do we evaluate the actions of a wayward teen in our community or our actions in what we do, how we treat and what we eat?

Jewish law has a great deal of compassion for animals.  We look at them as creatures of God.  And creatures with feelings and emotions. 

The Talmud tells the story of a great rabbi, Judah Ha-Nasi, who was punished with years of pain – WHY? – because he was insensitive to the fear of a calf being led to slaughter.

THE REAL QUESTION IS: “If Judaism is so concerned about the proper treatment of animals, how much the more so do we need to be concerned about the treatment of our fellow human beings?!”

Humans are clearly a different category.  We are made betzelem elohim – in the Image of God.  Not so animals.  While there are “godly” aspects in animals – they are creatures we are responsible for, humanity stands separate.  (In part that is why at first I had difficulty with the concept of giving pets Hebrew names, or saying Kaddish for a deceased pet – yes, I’ve been asked.) 

I suppose the rabbis spent so much energy on treatment of animals is to remind us of our duties to people.  Shouldn’t we treat our fellow man or woman better than we treat animals? 

The link of abusing and torturing animals to doing the same to people is also established.  And so, most likely, this young man should be put away – some think forever.  Respect for and treatment of both our fellow human beings and of course other living creatures is the point. 

A Bald Eagle and a Man

This is a fantastic story. We hope you enjoy it.

“Freedom” and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery. It was broken in 4 places. She's my baby.

When Freedom came in she could not stand. Both wings were broken, her left wing in 4 places. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vet's office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.

This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but, I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her dog cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.

In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good, so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.

So the first thing I did was take Freedom out for a walk. It was misty and cold. We went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.

We are the guardians, the stewards, of the planet.  It is upon US to treat all of God’s creation with care, with respect and with high regard.  If we DO, this WILL BE a better place.   AMEN