יוֹדֵעַ צַדִּיק, נֶפֶשׁ בְּהֶמְתּוֹ.
"The righteous man considers the life of his animal." -Proverbs 12:10
This brings up a dimension of Jewish ethics which is called tza'ar ba'lei chayim, or not being cruel to animals (Talmud, Baba Metzia 32b), comes into play. Although there is the argument that man was to have dominion over the natural world (Genesis 1:26), it is also amazing how stewardship and compassion also play a(n) [even bigger] role in Jewish thought. Just as a little tidbit, there are more statutes in Torah regarding treatment of animals than there are for something as holy as Shabbos. But in any event, here's a short, but certainly not exhausted and inclusive, list of examples in Jewish law where compassion is shown to animals:
1) One cannot slaughter an animal and its young on the same day (Leviticus 22:28). Rambam states that "[t]here is no differnce between the pain of humans and the pain of animals in this case, for the love of a mother and her compassion upon a child does not depend on the intellect, but rather upon the power of emotion, which is found with most animals, just as it is found in man" (The Guide for the Perplexed 3:48). Rambam was not only an exceptionally learned man, but a rationalist à l'extrême. To have such a man realize the importance of tza'ar baylei chayim in this case is phenomenal.
2) There are three occassions where the Bible forbids the cooking of an animals in its mother's milk (Exodus 23:19, 34:26, and Deut. 14:21). Nachmanides, commenting on Deut. 14:21, realized that if Jews lowered themselves by doing so, they would become a cruel nation.
3) Even if you dislike someone, you are forbidden to take it out on their animals, which is is why when you see your enemy's donkey with a burden, you should help it out (Exodus 23:5). There's a scenario in the Talmud (Baba Metzia 32b) which states that if your friend needs help loading up a donkey or your enemy needs help unloading his donkey, you help out the enemy simply to alleviate the suffering of the donkey.
4) In more modern law, R. Moshe Feinstein, z"tl, believed that raising veal calves in such a cruel environment is not kosher (Igrot Moshe, Even HaEzer, Vol. 4, responsa 92).
The point I try to bring here is considering the suffering of the animal and showing compassion towards an animal is one of the cornerstones of Judaism. It's even one of the seven Noachide laws! The question at hand is whether or not I, as a Jew, could go out for hunting season with my non-Jewish friends. One has to keep in mind the context of the hunt--it's for sport. Although Rambam gives an emphatically negative answer, I'll quote Sefer HaChinnuch: "To kill them [the animals] without any benefit involves wanton destruction and is called bloodshed. And even though it is not like the bloodshed of a person, due to the superiority of a human and the inferiority of an animal, it is still called bloodshed (commandment 186)."
1) One cannot slaughter an animal and its young on the same day (Leviticus 22:28). Rambam states that "[t]here is no differnce between the pain of humans and the pain of animals in this case, for the love of a mother and her compassion upon a child does not depend on the intellect, but rather upon the power of emotion, which is found with most animals, just as it is found in man" (The Guide for the Perplexed 3:48). Rambam was not only an exceptionally learned man, but a rationalist à l'extrême. To have such a man realize the importance of tza'ar baylei chayim in this case is phenomenal.
2) There are three occassions where the Bible forbids the cooking of an animals in its mother's milk (Exodus 23:19, 34:26, and Deut. 14:21). Nachmanides, commenting on Deut. 14:21, realized that if Jews lowered themselves by doing so, they would become a cruel nation.
3) Even if you dislike someone, you are forbidden to take it out on their animals, which is is why when you see your enemy's donkey with a burden, you should help it out (Exodus 23:5). There's a scenario in the Talmud (Baba Metzia 32b) which states that if your friend needs help loading up a donkey or your enemy needs help unloading his donkey, you help out the enemy simply to alleviate the suffering of the donkey.
4) In more modern law, R. Moshe Feinstein, z"tl, believed that raising veal calves in such a cruel environment is not kosher (Igrot Moshe, Even HaEzer, Vol. 4, responsa 92).
The point I try to bring here is considering the suffering of the animal and showing compassion towards an animal is one of the cornerstones of Judaism. It's even one of the seven Noachide laws! The question at hand is whether or not I, as a Jew, could go out for hunting season with my non-Jewish friends. One has to keep in mind the context of the hunt--it's for sport. Although Rambam gives an emphatically negative answer, I'll quote Sefer HaChinnuch: "To kill them [the animals] without any benefit involves wanton destruction and is called bloodshed. And even though it is not like the bloodshed of a person, due to the superiority of a human and the inferiority of an animal, it is still called bloodshed (commandment 186)."
A "bottom-line" ruling: I don't need a rabbinic ordination to figure this one out. The only time in the world where hunting would be considered kosher would be for pikuah nefesh, or preservation of life, which, by the way, trumps almost every other Jewish value. So, let's say you're in a plane and, G-d forbid, it crashes in the middle of a forest. You're not going to get out for at least a few days. The only way to survive is to hunt a deer or rabbit. In this extreme life-or-death scenario, going hunting would be perfectly acceptable, given the circumstances. Short of the necessity to live another day, hunting is forbidden under Jewish law, and any animal hunted in such a manner is deemed treif. I have no problem saying this because it's true: When hunting is done for sport, which in most cases it is, it is an act that de-humanizes a man because, as Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kaidanover puts it, "it is certain that those who shoot arrows after birds and beasts for no purpose at all other than to learn archery, and kill animals for no reason, are destined to stand in judgement for it; for it is not the way of the compassionate to commit evil to any creature for no reason." The Talmud (Yevamot 79a) states that the Jewish people possess three characteristics: [that they are] merciful, modest, and perform deeds of kindness. With this in mind, it's safe to say that I'm not going hunting this weekend with my friends.
Were you going hunting with no desire to eat the animal you may kill? The its not kosher but otherwise killing animal for sustenance is kosher and if you can get to the animal and say the bracha for slaughter, the meat is considered kosher.
ReplyDeleteAs I already pointed out in this blog entry, it doesn't matter whether you have a desire to eat the animal that you end up killing because it is a violation of the Jewish concept of tzar ba'lei chayim (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tza%27ar_ba%27alei_chayim). I also don't know where you get the idea that simply because food provides sustenance means that one can say a bracha over it. By that logic, a Jew could grab a bacon cheeseburger and say a bracha over it. Sustenance is not the sole criterion of saying a bracha over food. Jewish dietary laws (kashrut) are very particular about what constitutes as kosher meat. In Jewish law, meat needs to be slaughtered in a specific way in order to minimize pain to the animal. The fact that that sort of precision does not exist when going hunting is one of the primary reasons that hunting is not considered kosher, which is something that any respectable rabbi could tell you.
DeleteHow about not shooting the animal but using a trap a net or some type of claw, afterwards using kosher shechita on the neck. Like a kosher butcher/knife. Would this still be considered cruelty to animals. The deer seems an easy target.
ReplyDelete