(א) בשר בנפשו אָסַר לָהֶם אֵבֶר מִן הַחַי, כּלוֹמַר כָּל זְמַן שֶׁנַּפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ, לֹא תֹאכְלוּ הַבָּשָׂר:
(1) בשר בנפשו FLESH WITH ITS LIFE-BLOOD IN IT — God here prohibited to them אבר מן החי the eating of a limb cut from a living animal, that is to say that בשר בנפשו (literally, flesh together with its life) means so long as its life is in it you shall not eat the flesh. (Sanhedrin 59a)
(4) You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.
(10) You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
(8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Eternal your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements.
How do each of these passages relate to the idea of not causing an animal needless pain (tza'ar ba'alei chaim)?
(א) אָסוּר מִן הַתּוֹרָה לְצַעֵר כָּל בַּעַל חָי. וְאַדְּרַבָּא, חַיָב לְהַצִּיל כָּל בַּעַל חַי מִצַּעַר, אֲפִלּוּ שֶׁל הֶפְקֵר, וַאֲפִלּוּ שֶׁל נָכְרִי. אַךְ אִם הֵם מְצַעֲרִין לְאָדָם, אוֹ שֶׁצָּרִיךְ הָאָדָם לָהֶם לִרְפוּאָה אוֹ לִשְׁאָר דָּבָר, מֻתָּר אֲפִלּוּ לְהָרְגָן, וְאֵין חוֹשְׂשִׁין לְצְַעֲרָן, שֶׁהֲרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הִתִּירָה שְׁחִיטָה. וְלָכֵן מֻתָּר לִמְרֹט נוֹצוֹת מֵאַוָּזוֹת חַיּוֹת אִם אֵין לוֹ נוֹצָה אַחֶרֶת, רַק שֶׁהָעוֹלָם נִמְנָעִים מִשּׁוּם אַכְזְרִיוּת.
(ב) סוּסִים הַמּוֹשְׁכִים בַּעֲגָלָה וְהִגִּיעוּ לְמָקוֹם מְקֻלְקָל אוֹ לְהַר גָּבוֹהַּ, וְאֵינָן יְכוֹלִין לִמְשֹׁךְ בְּלִי עֵזֶר, מִצְוָה לַעֲזוֹר אַף לַנָּכְרִי מִשּׁוּם צַעַר בַּעֲלֵי חַיִּים, שֶׁלֹּא יַכֶּה אוֹתָם הַנָּכְרִי מַכָּה רַבָּה לִמְשֹׁךְ יוֹתֵר מֵאֲֹשֶר בְּכֹחָם.
(ג) אָסוּר לִקְשֹּׁר רַגְלֵי בְּהֵמָה חַיָה וָעוֹף בְעִנְיָן שֶׁיִהְיֶה לָהֶם צַעַר (עַיֵן לְעֵיל סִימָן פז סָעִיף ז).
(ד) אָסוּר לְהוֹשִׁיב עוֹף עַל בֵּיצִים מִשֶׁאֵינוֹ מִינוֹ, מִשּׁוּם צַעַר בַּעֲלֵי חַיִּים.
1. It is forbidden, according to the law of Torah, to inflict pain on any living creature. On the contrary, it is our duty to relieve the pain of any creature, even if it is ownerless or belongs to someone else. However, if they cause trouble, or if they are needed for medicine, or for any other human need, it is permissible to kill them, and we disregard their pain, for the Torah has permitted the slaughter of animals. Therefore, it is permitted to pluck feathers from a living goose with which to write if no other pen is available. However, people usually do not do so because of cruelty.
2. When horses, drawing a cart, come to a rough road or a steep hill, and it is hard for them to draw the cart without help, it is our duty to help them, even when they belong to someone else. We do this to prevent the owner from killing them while trying to force them to pull more than they can.
3. It is forbidden to tie the legs of an animal or bird in a way that causes them pain.
4. It is forbidden to set a bird on eggs that are not of their species, for this is cruelty to animals.
What might be a general lesson or principle you can derive from the laws on cruelty to animals?
(6) If, along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young. (7) Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life.
How do the following commentators understand Deuteronomy 22:6-7?
THE HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS
Maimonides: Since the desire of procuring good food necessitates the killing of animals, the Torah enjoins that this should be done as painlessly as possible. It is not allowed to torment the animal by slitting the throat in a clumsy manner, by piercing or by cutting off a limb while the animal is still alive. It is also prohibited to kill an animal with its young on the same day to prevent people from killing the two together in such a manner that the young is slain in the sight of the mother, for the suffering of animals under such circumstances is very great… and does not differ from that of humankind, since the love and tenderness of the mother for her young ones is not produced by reasoning but by imagination, and this faculty exists not only in humankind but in most living beings… The same reason applies to sending away the mother bird… If the Torah provides such grief should not be caused to cattle and birds, how much more careful must we be that we should not cause grief to our fellow human beings! (Guide of the Perplexed III:48)
TO KEEP US FROM BEING CALLOUS
Nachmanides: The ruling on the mother bird is not based on the Almighty’s pity for the animal. Otherwise God would have forbidden us their slaughter. The reason however for the prohibition is to teach us compassion and the avoidance of cruelty. Butchers and slaughterers become hardened to the suffering by their occupation. These precepts of not slaughtering the mother and young on the same day and sending away the mother bird are not inspired by feelings of consideration for their suffering but are decrees to inculcate humanity in us.
TO PRESERVE SPECIES
Sforno: Behold, by sending away the mother bird from the nest, one performs an act of lovingkindness benefiting the masses, namely, the preservation of the birds of the field who are ownerless property. This is accomplished by sending forth the mother bird. The Torah says that even for such a minor act of lovingkindness, one will be rewarded by enjoying the fruits thereof in This World, while the principal remains intact in the World To Come.
HUMILITY RECOGNIZING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE
Ibn Kaspi: Besides the eradication of cruelty the Torah wished to make us conscious of our own status, to remove pride and self-importance… In our pride we foolishly imagine that there is no kinship between us and the rest of the animal world, how much less with the plants and vegetation. To eradicate this foolish notion God gave us certain precepts some concerning mineral, others, vegetable, others, animal, and others human. Above all we are bidden to be compassionate to all other human beings… “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Next in order come our relations with the animal which we are only allowed to slaughter in an approved manner – “when thy soul desires flesh,” since we were originally designed to be vegetarian as stated in Genesis. It was only after the flood that the consumption of meat became widespread which is tantamount to eating our parent, since it is nearest to our substance. For this reason the Torah commanded us to show pity to them – not slaughter the mother and young on the same day, to send away the mother bird, not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk… In a descending scale come the precepts governing the plant world, since they are further removed from us. They are not so stringent again as those affecting the animal world. We are forbidden to cut down fruit trees and the like. After this comes the soil and inert matter which is still further removed but akin to us. Thus the land itself must be rested every seven years. To conclude: The Torah inculcates in us a sense of our modesty and lowliness, that we should be ever cognizant of the fact that we are of the same stuff as the ass and the mule, the cabbage and the pomegranate and even the lifeless stone. (Adnei Kesef)
ONLY GOD COMPREHENDS
Sefat Emet: Humans have mercy upon humans, but not upon animals, for humans do not grasp or comprehend the animal mind at all. We humans do not understand either animal consciousness or animal compassion. In the same way, angels do not understand the human mind; we are like animals to them. Only God, who knows all, comprehends at once the mind of angels, humans, beasts and all the rest of Creation.
- Translations of Maimonides, Nachmanides, and Ibn Kaspi were adapted from Nehama Leibowitz, Studies in Devarim, 1993. The translation of Sforno is adapted from Pelcovitz, Sforno, 1997. The translation of Sefat Emet was adapted from Arthur Green, The Language of Truth, 1998.