Ki Tetsai
Deut. 21:10 - 25:19

           Do you have a pet? Perhaps you have a dog or a cat. Maybe you go for more of the caged variety - like birds or turtles or fish (although fish do not live in a cage!).  The Torah teaches that  man is called to oversee the animal world.   God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."(Genesis 1:28).   The Hebrew word for “rule” is “radah”   means to dominate, control, oversee- in the way that a king, for example would rule his kingdom. The Scriptures are full of illustrations of how man uses animals.  The system in which man would approach God necessitated the use of animals. Many kinds of animals were used in the process of making atonement for sins. From the time of Noah to this day, God has provided animals for food (Gen. 9:3).  The Messiah rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. (Zech. 9:9; Jn. 12:14-15).  While God has given man the blessing of overseeing the animal world, man also has been given the responsibility of caring for animals. This is illustrated in this week’s Torah portion in a command having to do with birds. "If you happen to come upon a bird's nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, in order that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days. (Deut.22:6-7) Torah forbids one to be so cruel as to take a mother bird if one is taking   her eggs.  According to most commentators, the goal is to be merciful to the mother. This concept is also brought out in the command not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk. In fact according to the laws of Kashrut (dietary laws), an animal must not only have a split hoof and chew its cud, but it must also be killed in a very specific way so as not to make the animal suffer.  Both the Torah and the tradition clearly teach that although we may take animals for food and labor, we must be humane and merciful in doing so. 

    According to Nachmanedes (Ramban), this commandment was also meant to teach people to show compassion to one another, as well as animals.  God has called us to be kind and merciful to both animals and people.  Isn’t it amazing that there are many people who will be kind as can be to a little puppy dog and then turn around and curse another person! Also, in  showing mercy to animals, we are reminded of God’s care and mercy toward us.  In fact Yeshua applies this concept to God’s compassion toward people.  In Matt.  6:26 Yeshua says, Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?  We learn from this passage that God does indeed care about animals and since we are created in His image and likeness, certainly God will care for us if he cares for animals. May we be people of the “book” and imitate the character of God in showing mercy and kindness to all living beings. Shabbat shalom!