צאר בעלי חיים
Tzaar Baalei Chayim
The Humane Treatment of Animals
“If one encounters one's friend on the road and sees that that person's animal is suffering from its burden, whether the burden is appropriate for the animal or is excessive, it is a mitzvah to remove this burden.
-Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Rotzeah 13:1
“When you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering, you must be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of a man who hates you lying helpless under its load, you must refrain from deserting him; you must be sure to help him unburden the animal.
-Shemot (Exodus) 23: 4-5
“It is forbidden to sit down to your own meal before you have fed your pets and barnyard animals. As it says, ‘and I will give feed to your animals,’ and only after that does the verse say ‘and you shall eat and be satisfied.’
-Deuteronomy 11:15, Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 40a
“We must emulate G-d’s ways. Concerning G-d it is written, ‘And [G-d’s] mercy is upon all [G-d’s] creatures’; so we, too, show our mercy to animals.”
-Chabad Lubavitz, Aryeh Citron
“One must not only refrain from causing an animal pain but actively intervene to relieve it….[W]e are obligated to assist an animal; and, on the Sabbath, this obligation takes precedence over all rabbinic restrictions.”
-Canfei Nesharim, Rabbi David Sears
“I consider therefore the following opinion as most correct according to the teaching of the Bible, and best in accordance with the results of philosophy; namely, that the Universe does not exist for man’s sake, but that each being exists for its own sake, and not because of some other thing…each part is declared to be the product of [G-d’s] will, and to satisfy by its existence the intention [of the Creator]. This is expressed by the phrase, ‘And [G-d] saw that it was good’ (Gen i.4, etc.).”
-Moses Maimonides
“It is a great principle that there are holy sparks in all there is in the world. Nothing is void of sparks, even trees and stones.”
-Yisrael Ba’al Shem Tov
Compiled by Sean Samitt
Hillel: The Jewish Student Center at ASU
3rd Cheshvan 5773 / 19 October 2012
Shabbat Noach
