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ROBERTA KALECHOFSKY Lslims and W03) :inctfrom s. Rather, .ecially in mmunion Hierarchy, Kinship, and Responsibility The Jewish Relationship to The Animal World tHer in the ROBERTA KALECHOFSKY lslims and W03). P·59· lAnswers" ce of Ani­ liatry and Its, p. 30!. oss to Ani­ o. imals," in Under the biblical perspective, a change took of law. Like any body of law, these decisions place in the status ofanimals from what had pre­ rest on precedent and authoritative statements, als," p. 32. vailed in Babylonian and Egyptian cultures: ani­ in this case by rabbis in the Talmud, or by rab­ ifo in Jew­ mals were demythologized-as were humans. bis throughout the centuries whose decisions are NewYork: There are no animal deities in the Bible; there called "responsa." However strong the aggadic are no human deities in the Bible. Animal life tradition might be on any issue, halachic deci­ .-Sherbok, was neither elevated nor degraded because of sions take precedent in governing the behavior {Theology the demythologizing process. Animals were no of the observant Jew, though they do not always longer worshipped, singly or collectively, but express the underlying ethos of the tradition. they were accorded an irreducible value in the As in any culture, sentiment is often stronger divine pathos, which is expressed in the cove­ than law. nantal statements, in halachic decisions or laws, The biblical and Talmudic position with re­ and in aggadic materiaL These three branches spect to animals is summarized in the statement of Jewish expression determine the tradition by Noah Cohen: known in Judaism as tsa'ar ba'alei chaim (cause no sorrow to living creatures). Aggadic mate;ial The Hebrew sages considered the wall of parti­ is made up of stories and legends, sometimes tion between man and beasts as rather thin .. , called midrashim, such as the story of how God the Jew was forever to remember that the beast led Moses to the burning bush because Moses reRects similar affections and passions as him­ ran to rescue a lamb who had strayed. Halachic self. ... Consequently he was admonished to seek material comprises a body of decisions regard­ its welfare and its comfort as an integral parr of ing specific issues that have the binding effect his daily routine and instructed that the more ROBERTA KALECHOFSKY ings often more I he considers its well being and contentment, the with men." 3 Inexplicable as this may seem to the more would he be exalted in the eyes of his modern mind, it suggests that animals had legal ideas necessarily maker.! standing, as indeed their inclusion in the cove­ the animals inclu nantal statements would make mandatory. The but also the welll The story the prophet Nathan tells David covenantal statements point not only to the ani­ ered more impo when Nathan chastises him for his behavior in mals' legal position, determining things that are many Sabbath la, stealing Bathsheba from her husband expresses due them such as proper food and care, but also to come to the ai the kinship the biblical Jew felt for animals, to their position in the divine ethos and reflect Jesus' observal which embraced the animal as part ofthe family: the centrality of the animal in God's concern. every sparrow," e concern for the a There were two men in one city; the one rich "As for me," says the Lord, "1 will establish My fers over animal and the other poor. The rich man had many Covenant with you and with your seed after you, English clergym flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing, and with every living creature that is with you, wrote one of th< save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought the fow!, the cattle, and every beast of the earth abuse, believed t and nourished up, and it grew up together with with you; all that go out of the ark, even every trine of Revelatil him and with his children. It ate from his own beast of the earth." or station exeml food and drank from his own cup, and lay in his sibility of pain, I bosom, and was to him like a daughter. (Samuel feelings thereof II, 12: 1-4) And in that day 1 will make a covenant for them mercy to brutes with the beasts of the field and with the fowls would render eql Judaism accepts a hierarchical scheme to cre­ of the heaven, and with the creeping creatures a doctrine ofreve ation, but hierarchy did not exclude feelings of of the ground. And I will break the bow and the whose writings 0 loving kinship. With respect to animals the rule sword and the battle out of the land and 1 will otal for Jewish might be stated as kinship yes, reverence no. make them to lie down safely. advocates. Rabbi In the creation story, in the biblical termi­ (Hosiah 2: 20) nology in the commandment of biological fruit­ The free move fulness, and in the blessing of life given equally Animals are included in the covenant which tablish justice f to the animals and to the human race, Rabbi establishes the Sabbath: of their rights Elijah Schochet sees a "unity of man and beast: natural psychil since ruach hayyim ('spirit of life') can refer to The seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your Torah... , Just both man and beast, as can nefish hayyah ('living God; you shall not do any work, neither your reach outward creature')." He points out that in the Book of son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female and moral perf Jonah the animals are clad in mourning sack­ slave, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is ing to act just cloth, "just like their human counterparts," and within your settlements. proper time. ~ state is the COil take part in the public ritual ofmourning? Such (Exodus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 5:14) passages strike a modern reader as quaint, but cifically for thi they suggest the biblical sense of closeness be­ Cohen extrapolates from the covenantal tween animal and human. statements a doctrine of equality between hu­ Being also a n The other side of this relationship, which is mans and animals. "Does not the Bible itself in laws governin inexplicable to the modern mind, is that retribu­ treat them [animals] as humans with whom the mans and anima vides a good sUI tive justice could be extended to animals: "In­ Lord can execute treaties and covenants?" 4 Vol­ herent in 'covenant' is 'responsibility,' and Scrip­ taire, who was no friend of religion, wrote, "the with the observ~ ture does not spare animals from responsibility deity does not make a pact with trees and with concerning the for their deeds ... and at times animals would stones which have no feelings, but He makes it on the principle seem to be treated as though they were coequal with animals whom He has endowed with feel­ creation toward 93 HIERARCHY, KINSHIP, AND RESPONSIBILITY yseem to the ings often more exquisite than ours, and with Laws and other indications in the Pentateuch :lals had legal ideas necessarily attached to it." 5 Not only are make it clear not only that cruelty to animals is in the cove­ the animals included in the Sabbath covenant, forbidden but also that compassion and mercy ndatory. The but also the wellbeing of the animal is consid­ to them are demanded of man by God." 8 lly to the ani­ ered more important than the Sabbath, and These laws make the effort to balance human :lings that are many Sabbath laws could be suspended in order need against what would constitute cruelty to­ care, but also to come to the aid of a stricken animal. ward animals, and they consistently reveal the JS and reflect Jesus' observation that "God notes the fall of scope of Jewish concern regarding animals. As 1's concern. every sparrow," expresses this traditional divine James Gaffney pointed out, "the fullest and concern for the animals. God cares for and suf­ most sympathetic treatment in any comparable I establish My fers over animal life. The nineteenth-century religiously oriented encyclopedia in English is seed after you, English clergyman Humphrey Primatt, who that ofthe EncyclopediaJudaica, a reminder that at is with you, wrote one of the earliest tracts against animal the Hebrew Bible laid foundations on which it LSt of the earth abuse, believed that "Mercy to Brutes is a doc­ was possible and natural to build."9 Any dis­ lrk, even every trine of Revelation.... and Superiority of rank cussion of laws, however, inevitably involves in­ or station exempts no creature from the sen­ terpretation, which itself depends upon which enesis 9:9-10) sibility of pain, nor does inferiority render the system of hermeneutics one uses to interpret feelings thereof the less exquisite."6 Not only passages in the Bible. Interpretations oscillate enant for them mercy to brutes but also ultimate justice that between whether human beings have an abso­ with the fowls would render equity and equality to animals was lute duty to animals, or a relative duty depend­ :ping creatures a doctrine ofrevelation for Rabbi Avraham Kuk, ing upon human need, such as might be re­ ile bow and the whose writings on the subject have become piv­ quired in medical experiments or in eating 1O land and I will otal for Jewish vegetarians and animal rights meat. advocates. Rabbi Kuk said: Furthermore, in establishing the biblical and (Hosiah 2:20) later Jewish teaching on animals, we have from The free movement of the moral impulse to es­ the outset the problem of interpreting the first )venant which tablish justice for animals generally and the claim document, Genesis; we are a long way from of their rights from mankind are hidden in a knowing what words such as "dominion" and natural psychic sensibility in the deeper layers of "subdue" meant two and halfmillennia ago.
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