{"id":51562,"date":"2019-03-18T16:12:51","date_gmt":"2019-03-18T14:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51562"},"modified":"2022-10-11T11:37:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T08:37:48","slug":"dont-muzzle-your-ox-dont-harden-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/dont-muzzle-your-ox-dont-harden-your-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Muzzle Your Ox, Don\u2019t Harden Your Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[660,476,706,360],"acf":{"old_id":"51562","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"178","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Our care extends beyond our fellow to the stranger and the alien, and beyond them, to encompass other living beings","content":"

In the middle of laws governing human punishment and inheritance laws, the Torah states a simple prohibition: \u201cYou shall not muzzle and ox while it is threshing (25:4).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The edit seems straightforward and clear: while an animal is involved in the harvest of a crop, it will naturally seek to eat a bit to satisfy its own hunger. We are prohibited to prevent that natural desire, particularly as it is the very labor of the ox that makes our own harvest possible, and as we are seeking to use the crop for food, we ought to be able to understand the urge of the ox to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some medieval commentators have tried to shift our attention away from the idea that these ideas express an empathy for animals, and extend our notion of belonging and compassion beyond the limits of our own species to include the rest of God\u2019s creatures as well. The law of shooing away a mother bird before gathering the eggs, or of not plowing with an ox and a donkey on the same plow \u2013 these can be explained away for their utility in training human compassion (one who learns to care for an ox will certainly care for a fellow human). <\/span><\/p>\n

But the problem with that line of thinking is two-fold: first, many people care more for their pets than they care for the poor or minorities in their midst. Second, the Torah itself gives no indication that the law isn\u2019t self-explanatory: don\u2019t do this because it ought not to be done.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what if we let the Torah speak for itself? We owe our animal companions and co-workers the recognition that they have needs as do we. They have a sense of self-worth that may not be the same as a human\u2019s sense, but it is real nonetheless.<\/span><\/p>\n

Proverbs 12:10 reminds us that the righteous know the needs of their beasts, perhaps because that is one of the requirements of righteousness. We are required not only to be stewards of God\u2019s creation, but also to act as empathic companions and caretakers for our fellow creatures. Bounded compassion is no compassion at all. Our care extends beyond our fellow to the stranger and the alien, and continues to flow beyond them, to encompass the other living beings with whom we share this precious, fragile planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

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