Chaye Sarah 5774

“She [Rivka/Rebecca] said, ‘I will also draw [water] for your camels, until they will have finished drinking.’” (Bereishit/Genesis 24:19)

In this week’s Torah portion, Avraham sends his servant Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzchak (Isaac). Eliezer meets Rivka by a well where she is drawing water. Demonstrating sensitivity and compassion for animals, Rivka insists that Eliezer’s camels receive water. This display of concern and caring for animals is one of the determining factors for Eliezer to choose her as a wife for Yitzchak.

Kindness to animals and the prevention of cruelty (suffering) to animals, tza’ar ba’alei chayim, are important obligations in Judaism. Jewish wisdom recognizes a parallel between the way a person treats animals and the way he or she treats people.

Torah has many laws that emphasize kindness to animals. For example, an ox and a donkey may not be yoked together for plowing because the ox is stronger than the donkey (Devarim/Deuteronomy 22:10). Torah prohibits killing an animal the same day as its young (Vayikra/Leviticus 22:8) and a mother bird must be shooed away from her nest before her eggs are taken (Devarim 22:6). The Talmud (Berachot 40) exhorts that a person may not eat until all of his or her animals have been fed.

Specific laws apply to animals on Shabbat, the Sabbath. Just as people refrain from work on Shabbat, animals, too, must rest (Shemot/Exodus 20:10).  Certain caretaking tasks must not be done, or must be done differently, so that one does not violate Shabbat. For example, animals must be milked by hand on Shabbat so they will be comfortable, but a Jew may not benefit from or use the milk collected on Shabbat. (It can be given to baby animals.)

If an animal is in pain or in danger of dying, it is permissible to perform certain acts that would normally not be allowed on the Sabbath. For example, an animal may be moved and medicated. To alleviate an animal’s suffering or to save its life, it is permissible to ask a non-Jew to do things that Jews are not permitted to do on the Sabbath.  

Parents, if your household includes pets, then you know that having animals at home is an excellent opportunity to train your children to be kind to animals, and by extension, to other people. Pet ownership also teaches children to take responsibility and to think of others’ needs before their own. Children benefit from taking charge of feeding, watering, walking and cleaning up after their pets.