3. Compassion for All Creatures

(1) And God remembered Noah (Gen. 8:1)...(3) If a storm should arise after a man boards ship, they hurl the animals and all his possessions into the sea, only the man is saved. Those in charge of the vessel do not have the same concern for the man’s animals and possessions as they have for the man himself, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is as concerned for the beast as for the man, as is said: And His tender mercies are over all His works (Ps. 145:9). Hence, Scripture says: And God remembered Noah and every living thing (Gen. 8:1).

(10) A righteous man knows the needs of his beast, But the compassion of the wicked is cruelty.

(1) ויצר מן האדמה NOW OUT OF THE GROUND THE ETERNAL GOD HAD FORMED ....it teaches you here that when they were created, immediately — on the very same day — He brought them to Adam to give them names...

(4) ... Said R’ Acha: In the hour that the Holy One came to create the human, He ruled [together] with the ministering angels. He said to them: “Let us make a human [in our image]”. They said to him: This one, what good is he? He said: His wisdom is greater than yours. He (God) brought before them beast and animal and bird. He said to them: This one, what is his name? and they didn’t know. He made them pass before Adam. He said to him: This one, what is his name? [Adam] said: This is ox/shor, and this is donkey/chamor and this is horse/sus and this is camel/gamal. And you, [He said], what is your name? [Adam] said to him: I? It would be right/yafeh to be called Adam, since I was created from the ground/adamah. And I, [God said], what is my name? He said to him: It would be right for you to be called my Lord /Adonai, since you are lord/adon to all the creatures.

(1) Go forth from the ark (Gen. 8:16). Scripture says elsewhere in allusion to this verse: Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to Thy name; the righteous shall crown themselves because of me; for Thou wilt deal bountifully with me (Ps. 142:8). Bring my soul out of prison refers to Noah, who was imprisoned in the ark. R. Levi said: Neither Noah nor his sons were able to sleep during the entire twelve months (in the ark) because they were obliged to feed the animals, the beasts, and the birds. R. Akiba stated that they even brought into the ark tree branches for the elephants and glass beads for the ostriches. Some of the animals had to be fed at the second hour in the night and others at the third hour of the night.

(2) Further proof that they did not sleep is presented to us by R. Yohanan. He tells us in the name of R. Eliezer the son of R. Yosé the Galilean that because Noah once delayed feeding a lion, the lion bit him so severely that he left the ark crippled

David was tested through tending sheep, and found to be a good shepherd. He would restrain the larger sheep for the sake of the small ones. First, he would let the small ones graze on the soft grass, and then let the old
sheep graze on the grass that was more difficult to chew, leaving the tough grass for the young bucks. He led them only to the wilderness, in order to distance them from theft. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, told him, "You have proven yourself to be faithful with sheep. Now go and shepherd My flock [Israel].”...So too, The Holy One, blessed be He, chose Moses through [his treatment] of flocks. (Translated by Rabbi Dovid Sears)

(2) ... Our teachers have said: Once, while Moses our Teacher was tending [his father-in-law] Yitro’s sheep, one of the sheep ran away. Moses ran after it until it reached a small, shaded place. There, the lamb came across a pool and began to drink. As Moses approached the lamb, he said, “I did not know you ran away because you were thirsty. You are so exhausted!” He then put the lamb on his shoulders and carried him back. The Holy One said, “Since you tend the sheep of human beings with such overwhelming love - by your life, I swear you shall be the shepherd of My sheep, Israel.”

MISHNA: ...There is a mitzva by Torah law to unload a burden, but there is no mitzva to load it. Rabbi Shimon says: There is even a mitzva to load the burden.

Talmud: ...It is a Biblical obligation to unload without remuneration, but not to load without payment, save only for remuneration. R. Simeon said: To load too without payment...Raba said: From the arguments of both we may infer that [relieving] the suffering of an animal is a Biblical law. For even R. Simeon said [that
unloading needs be explicitly commanded, besides loading] only because the verses are not clearly defined. But if they were, we would infer from the minor to the major.²

(Talmud translation adapted from Soncino translation).

(14) It is forbidden to tell a gentile to castrate our animals. If he takes it upon himself and castrates it, it is permitted. And if a Jew is devious in this matter [and tells a gentile to castrate it], we fine him, (Rama: even if he isn't devious, but the gentile recognizes and understands it is for [the Jew's] benefit) and we make him sell it to a different Jew, and it is permitted to sell it even to his oldest son, but not to his younger son, he neither sells it nor gives it to him. Rama: And it is permitted to give the animal to a gentile for a semi-yield lease, even if the gentile will certainly castrate it (Hagaot Maimoni 16:1-2), for the gentile will only have his [benefit] in mind when he is doing it (Bet Yosef). And it is permitted to sell gentiles animals and chicken, even if the buyer will definitely castrate them. (And some prohibit, the explanation of which can be found in the Terumat Hadeshen 294). However, if the gentile buyer will not castrate them himself, but will give it to another gentile to castrate, all permit (G"Z ibid). Any [action] needed for healing or other reasons, there is no prohibition of "causing pain to animals" (Issur V'Heter Extended 59). And therefore it is permitted to pluck the feathers of wild geese, and there is no potential problem of "causing pain to animals" (Mahar"i 105). Nevertheless, the world withholds from it because of its cruelty.​​​​​​​

(9) Since, therefore, the desire of procuring good food necessitates the slaying of animals, the Law enjoins that the death of the animal should be the easiest. It is not allowed to torment the animal by cutting the throat in a clumsy manner, by poleaxing, or by cutting off a limb whilst the animal is alive.

(10) It is also prohibited to kill an animal with its young on the same day (Lev. 22:28), in order that people should be restrained and prevented from killing the two together in such a manner that the young is slain in the sight of the mother; for the pain of the animals under such circumstances is very great. There is no difference in this case between the pain of man and the pain of other living beings, 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 man but in most living beings. This law applies only to ox and lamb, because of the domestic animals used as food these alone are permitted to us, and in these cases the mother recognises her young.

(11) The same reason applies to the law which enjoins that we should let the mother fly away when we take the young. The eggs over which the bird sits, and the young that are in need of their mother, are generally unfit for food, and when the mother is sent away she does not see the taking of her young ones, and does not feel any pain. In most cases, however, this commandment will cause man to leave the whole nest untouched, because [the young or the eggs], which he is allowed to take, are, as a rule, unfit for food. If the Law provides that such grief should not be caused to cattle or birds, how much more careful must we be that we should not cause grief to our fellowmen.