20 Mar
Learning to Treat Animals with Respect
Byline: Friday, March 18th — 6:00 PM
This past week, the Haredi leader Rabbi Dov Lior went on public record saying, “Whoever avoids eating meat or has chosen a vegetarian lifestyle for the sake of having mercy on animals is wrong. . . .We still are not compassionate towards people in our times, so having mercy on animals is irrelevant. . . .Only when the world ascends spiritually and we have mercy on people, will we be able to be vegetarians.”[1]
Of course, this is the kind of comment that is bound to create interesting discussions. Is Rabbi Lior correct? One could certainly argue that in the Torah, animals are not considered mere machines, as the French philosopher Descartes presumed. Rather, they are sentient beings endowed with consciousness and even possess a moral standing. [2] Furthermore, there are numerous biblical precepts designed to heighten our sensitivity to their pain. The Sages refer to these laws under the proscription of tsa’r ba’ale chayim (“causing animals pain”). Animals are not only sentient; they are endowed with a moral conscience as well-as many zoological studies have shown.
This is a subject one could literally write volumes about and still hardly scratch the surface. Animals in the Bible have a moral standing, and as such, no person can act with callous disregard toward them. Perhaps one of the best examples is the law against cooking a calf in its mother’s milk (Exod. 23:19). For now, we shall focus on the humane aspect of the law. Over two millennia ago, Philo of Alexandria writes that the prohibition aims to teach the importance showing mercy and restraint toward the animal kingdom because they—like us—are sentient beings. “Let no person satisfy one’s appetite at the price of disregarding an animal’s feelings.” [3]
A parallel may be seen with respect to the Torah’s prohibition of sacrificing a newborn animal until it was least eight days old (Exod. 22:28-29; Lev. 22:27). Philo continues and writes, “Nothing could be more brutal than tear the young from its mother’s care, when her maternal instincts are so heightened especially after having just given birth. . . “Milk,” continues Philo, “was intended to promote the welfare of its young. To eat a mother’s young with its milk is an act of unnatural excess.” [4]
That is to say, the Torah prohibits this combination is because life is co-mingled with death—a most unnatural combination of that which gives life, and that which receives it.” Several medieval rabbinic commentaries express more or less the same sentiment as Philo.[5] Jewish mystics also express a similar thought, therefore, it is improper to mix life and death [6]. Continue Reading
