Let's Ask the Rabbi

By Raymond Apple

Listed from A to Z, this book looks at a broad range of issues arising out of modern and postmodern human and Jewish experience. Beginning with the first page, readers will want to read more - and ask more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Sep 20, 2011
• ISBN: 9781467892353

Raymond Apple

Raymond Apple is an Australian Rabbi who now lives in Jerusalem. For many years he was spiritual leader of The Great Synagogue, Sydney, and played a leading role in Australian public life.

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Let’s Ask the Rabbi

Replies, Responses & Reflections

Raymond Apple

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First published by AuthorHouse 9/15/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-7269-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4678-9235-3 (ebk)

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CONTENTS

Preface

Abortion

Adoption

Adultery

Afterlife

Agnosticism

Agunah

Alcohol

Angels

Animals

Antisemitism

Artistry

Artificial Insemination

Astrology

Atheism

Autopsies

Bar/Batmitzvah

Beards

Beauty

Ben Sira

Bible

Bio-ethics

Birth Control

Blessings

Blood Donors

Body Piercing

Bread

Bribes

Britain

Buddhism

Business Ethics

Calendar

Cannibals

Capital Punishment

Celebrations

Celibacy

Charity

Chassidism

Cheese

Children

Chosen People

Christianity

Church and State

Circumcision

Citizenship

Climate Change

Cloning

Clothing

Community

Conversion

Corporal Punishment

Creation

Cryogenics

Dancing

Days

Death & Mourning

Democracy

Demography

Demonstrations

Dentists

Diplomacy

Divorce

Doctors

Dreams

Drugs

Ecology

Education

Egotism

Ethics

Euthanasia

Evolution

Exorcism

Faith

Family

Fear

Fish

Food & Meals

Free Will

Freemasonry

Gambling

Genetics

Geography

God

Gratitude

Greatness

Greetings

Heresy

Holiness

Holocaust

Homosexuality

Hospitality

Humour

Hypnosis

Incense

Industrial Relations

Interest

Intermarriage

Internet

Islam

Israel

Jerusalem

Jesus

Jewish Identity

Jewish Types

Jews

Joy

Justice

Kabbalah

Kaddish

Kashrut

Kiddush Hashem

Kohanim

Legal Devices

Literature

Liturgy

Loneliness

Magen David

Malpractice

Mamzer

Man

Marriage

Materialism

Meat

Media

Medicine

Messiah

Mikvah

Minyan

Miracles

Mirrors

Mitzvot

Modernity

Monarchy

Money

Music

M’zuzah

Names

Napoleon

Nature

Non-Jews

Numbers

Organ Donation

Orthodoxy

Ostrich Farming

Parents

Peace

Pharisees

Pidyon Ha-Ben

Pir’kei Avot

Politics

Pornography

Poverty

Prayer

Privacy

Public Service

Rabbis

Refugees

Republics

Rings

Sacrifices

Satan

Schizophrenia

Silence

Sin

Smoking

Speed

Spinoza

Sport

Stem Cell Research

Sterilisation

Suffering

Superstition

Surrogate Mothers

Swimming Pools

Synagogues

Tallit

Talmud

Taxation

Teachers

Ten Commandments

Terrorism

T’fillin

Tikkun Olam

Tolerance

Tombstones

Torah Reading

Torah Study

Transsexuality

Trees

Tzitzit

Vegetarianism

Vengeance

Vows

War

Wealth

Water

Whistleblowing

Widows and Orphans

Wills

Women

Yeshivot

Xenotransportation

Yahrzeit

Zionism

THE AUTHOR

RABBI DR RAYMOND APPLE, AO RFD

Rabbi Apple retired in 2005 after many years as Australia’s highest-profile rabbi and a leading spokesman for Judaism.

After heading London congregations at Bayswater and Hampstead, he was senior rabbi of the Great Synagogue, Sydney from 1972-2005, and was the guide and mentor of other synagogues and organisations, including the Women’s Tefillah Group.

He was born and educated in Melbourne and also studied in London. He has degrees in arts, law, history, religion and education. He has a Doctorate of Laws honoris causa from NSW University and is a Doctor of the University (D. Univ) of the Australian Catholic University and an honorary Fellow of Sydney University.

He was an army reserve chaplain for 15 years and from 1988-2006 senior rabbi to the Australian Defence Force. He had two terms of office as chairman of the Religious Advisory Committee to the Services.

He has taught at Sydney and NSW Universities and is Emeritus Master of Mandelbaum House at Sydney University. He has lectured at universities and seminaries in several countries.

For 30 years he was judge/registrar of the Sydney Beth Din. He is life rabbinic governor of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australia and New Zealand, of which he had two terms as president. He is patron and past president of the Australian Jewish Historical Society, religious consultant to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, and has held office in many public bodies.

He has had a long involvement in inter-faith dialogue and is joint president of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews and a life member and former chairman of the NSW Council. He was a founder of the Christian-Jewish Luncheon Club in Sydney and of the Australian National Dialogue of Christians, Muslims and Jews.

In Freemasonry he is Past Deputy Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of NSW and the ACT.

He writes the weekly Oz Torah, with a world-wide email circulation. He has written articles, academic papers and books and has frequently appeared on radio and television.

He is an Officer of the Order of Australia and holds the Reserve Force Decoration, the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal and the Centenary of Federation Medal.

He and his wife have four children and a number of grandchildren.

Preface 

LET’S ASK RABBI APPLE

Parents, children, young adults, community members all used to come to me (or at me) with their questions on God, Judaism, ethics, even life itself. The questions and the questioners both became much more diverse when my weekly Oz Torah (originally known as HaShavua) went world-wide and I would find myself fielding queries which usually received written answers in Oz Torah but sometimes, being of a more personal nature, required a response that by its nature could not be for general exhibition. I kept a file of my written answers and it is from that source that the material in this book has been drawn. A few changes have been make in order to make the answers less specific in terms of place, date and circumstances, but it will quickly become clear that some arose out of particular controversies.

Everybody knows the story of the child who kept asking their father questions and was constantly answered with the words, I don’t know … but keep asking. If you don’t ask you’ll never find out! The fact is that though some questions are easy to deal with and need only a cursory look at an encyclopaedia (or a Let’s Ask Rabbi Apple), there are many cases where the question is inevitably better than the answer and indeed sometimes there can be no simple answer at all. The Bible recommends, Ask your father and he will tell you: your elders and they will inform you (Deut. 32:7), but at times neither a parent or elder nor a rabbi or other presumed expert knows the answer, and even God Himself does not respond (at least immediately; in the long run His answer always does appear, though it may be less in terms of words and sentences and more through the unfolding of history).

What made me feel that I could handle at least those questions for which an answer is more or less possible? I am not a real expert on anything but I do have a degree of knowledge on a range of subjects. But my rabbinical career has taught me that you can’t fob people off, nor can you say, "M’darf nicht fregen – Don’t ask!" You have to gird your metaphorical loins and try to find a reasonably adequate response to genuine questions. I well recall a halachah class in my student days where the teacher asked us where we would find the answer to a particular she’elah. A fellow student said quite glibly, "I would ask a chacham! The teacher said, Sorry, but you are the chacham!" So, taking his advice, I have tried to the limit of my capacity to be the chacham. I hope my readers enjoy the result.

I express my gratitude to my son Benseon and my friend Ann Toben for their assistance with this book.

Abortion 

Q. Is there a Jewish view of abortion?

A. Judaism regards children as a blessing, and procreation as a religious and moral obligation. Through children a couple cement their own relationship and ensure personal and cultural continuity. Through children they enrich the world: who knows whether the child they bring to life may not become a Mozart or an Einstein? To deny a child the opportunity to live and to take its place in the world is to impoverish the creation. Abortion is therefore a vote against the future. For a woman to claim the right to decide what will happen to her unborn child is the ultimate selfishness: it ignores the potential rights of the child. It is a mark of moral anarchy: has any human the right to assume God’s prerogative to permit or deny life? Abortion on demand cannot be endorsed by halachah.

However, the unborn child is not yet a person in the full sense of the word. To destroy it is a grave moral offence but not homicide in the technical sense; Rabbi IJ Unterman, a former chief rabbi of Israel, called abortion an appurtenance to murder. This choice of words might be debatable, but it recognises the need for terminology capable of characterising abortion as a moral if not a legal wrong. While Jewish sources agree that there is life in the foetus, it is not identical with the life that comes after birth. Abortion is therefore the destruction not of a life but of a potential life. For Judaism this is not a theological issue involving the ensoulment of the embryo, which is one of the secrets of God, but a technical problem of whether the foetus has an independent legal status.

The consequence is that in certain therapeutic circumstances Jewish teaching permits abortion. The fundamental issue is maternal risk. If there is a proven hazard to the mother’s life or health, including mental health, she has to be safeguarded even if this means destroying the foetus. The mother has a manifest hold on life; her status is therefore certain in contradistinction to the foetus, which is not yet capable of independent living and may or may not prove to be viable.

Adoption 

Q. What is the status of an adopted child in Jewish law?

A. Adoption of some kind was known from Biblical times. Abraham appears to have adopted his servant before his sons were born; Moses was brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter Bitia (1 Chron. 4:18), Ruth’s son was brought up by Naomi (Ruth 4:17), and the sons of Merav, daughter of Saul, were brought up by her sister Michal (II Sam. 21:8).

Adoption is regarded in halachic literature as a great act of piety and humanity; to rear a neighbour’s child and teach it Torah is metaphorically like giving the child birth (Meg. 13a, Sanh. 19b). When called to the Torah an adopted son may describe his adoptive father as his father, though there is a problem if the adoptive father is a Kohen or Levi (Rav Moshe Feinstein, Ig’rot Moshe, Yoreh De’ah 161). The London Beth Din has ruled that the adoptive father’s name may be used on the k’tubah of an adopted child together with the word ham’gadd’lo (or ham’gadd’lah), he who rears him/her, but to avoid embarrassment in public this word should be omitted when the k’tubah is read aloud at the ceremony (Dayan Meyer Steinberg, "Responsum on Problems of Adoption in Jewish Law", p.20). Dayan Steinberg states after summarising the halachic literature, "Not only is there a duty on the child to honour his adoptive parents but he must also carry out the rites of mourning for them and recite kaddish for them" (p.36).

However, in Judaism adoption is not a legal institution. It does not eradicate the natural blood relationship as if the original relationship no longer existed. The blood relationship with the natural parents persists in some sense. Thus whether a child is Jewish or not depends on who the natural mother was, and therefore there is sometimes a need for the adopted child to be converted to Judaism. Knowledge of the identity of the natural parents is a safeguard against a later possibility of incest.

A further halachic problem arises if parents have adopted two children, a boy and a girl, who eventually wish to marry each other; strictly speaking, they are not related by blood, but there may be a strong argument against their marriage, and careful consideration would have to be given to the problem by rabbinic authorities.

Adoptive parents are never certain about how to handle the fact that their child was adopted. Sometimes an adopted child later turns on the adoptive parents and blames them for ruining its life. Elementary logic and morality would surely require extra love from the child towards the adoptive parents. The parents do not need or expect a vote of thanks, but the child should never forget that he or she is what might be termed a child by choice. The parents should not feel uneasy if the child seeks to trace its natural mother or father, but they will almost certainly need to be there in many ways and at many times to provide constant, uncritical support and reassurance.

Adultery 

Q. The captain of a certain football club has left his club after cheating with the vice-captain’s wife. I am aware that adultery is forbidden in Judaism, but what are the sanctions against a person who cheats on their spouse?

A. The Biblical law of adultery (Ex.20:13, Deut. 5:17) establishes the principle of material faithfulness. Husband and wife must be able to trust each other. Cheating on a spouse may be thought to be fun, but it undermines the fabric of one’s marriage. It is all very well for someone to say, I’ve forgiven my husband (or wife). But it’s not so easy, and things can never be the same again. In the Torah the attitude to adultery is plain: If a man commits adultery with a married woman, if he commits adultery with his neighbour’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death (Lev. 20:10). Today, when there is no death penalty in Judaism, there should be a get for the woman who has committed adultery and, according to many authorities, the man who has committed adultery should also give his wife a get. The man and woman who have committed adultery together are not permitted to marry.

Afterlife 

1. Q. What do Jews believe about heaven and hell?

A. Judaism does not prefer the afterlife to this life. Samson Raphael Hirsch says, The purpose of God’s rule does not consist in death and destruction, but in the advancement of life and having men develop and unfold to the greatest possible extent … It is not the dead and those who go down in silence that proclaim His power. It is life, growth and development that declare His greatness and might (Commentary to Psalms, page 307).

How, then, can the Psalmist say, "Precious (yakar) in the sight of the Lord is the death of those who love Him" (Psalm 116:15)? It may be that the verse is saying that the death of the pious is too precious to be easily allowed. According to another view, yakar is a euphemism and the meaning is not precious but grievous – i.e., the death of the pious is grievous in the sight of God. Nevertheless everyone dies, even the righteous.

According to the Midrash, God asks, Had Abraham gone on living, how could Isaac have assumed authority? or Jacob? Moses? Joshua? Samuel? David and Solomon? The Holy One, blessed he He, said ‘Let these depart to make way for others’".

What happens after we die? The world to come, olam ha-ba, is where the soul basks in the radiance of God’s glory (Ber. 17a), and where the scholars have no rest from their studies and the intellect remains active.

According to Pirkei Avot, When you awake, it (the Torah) shall talk with you (Proverbs 6:9), means the future world (Avot 6:9).

If this is heaven, what is hell? Most believe it is the absence of heaven. But the Ba’al Shem Tov asks, Is there such a difference between heaven and hell? Not al all; they are one and the same. Heaven, for the righteous, is to bask in the radiance of God. This is their reward. And what is the punishment of the wicked? They too will be brought to heaven to behold the radiance of the Divine presence, but they will not know what to make of it. To experience the presence of God but at the same time to recognise how distant one is from its reality – there is no greater anguish for a soul.

2. Q. Why do we preface Pir’kei Avot with the statement, All Israel have a place in the World to Come?

A. This is a quotation from the Mishnah, from the beginning of Sanhedrin chapter 10. The context is that the courts have the power to sentence a criminal to death. The implied question is, does a person put to death by the court lose their place in the World to Come? The answer is that the promise of the afterlife remains so long as a person has not rejected basic Jewish beliefs.

Why this passage is borrowed for use before each chapter of Pir’kei Avot may be as an assurance that a non-intellectual who cannot carry out in-depth Talmudic study should not feel rejected so long as they devote time to easier subjects of study such as this. Another view is that living according to the wisdom of Pir’kei Avot gives a person a taste of the afterlife while they are still alive on earth.

3. Q. Some Christians do not yet respect our right to be Jews, since a clergyman told me that if I do not accept his saviour I will go to hell. How worried should I be?

A. You should certainly be worried about the clergyman. One day he will realise that Judaism is here to stay and we have a perfect right to our own conscience and convictions. But how frightened should we be if someone says we will go to hell? The odds are that most Jews would be more amused than scared. Yes, Jewish sources, especially in rabbinic times, often refer to gehinnom, generally in a folkloristic way, because by then there was growing interest in life after death. The Mishnah, for instance, states that there is no place in the world to come for a person who denies that resurrection of the dead is found in Scripture (Sanh. 10). The Biblical passages that are quoted to indicate resurrection come from a variety of books – the Torah, Isaiah, Psalms, Daniel, etc. One of the most explicit passages is Isaiah 26:19, Your dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise – Awake and sing, you that dwell in the dust – for Your dew is as the dew of light, and the earth shall bring to life the shades.

There is no mention of hell in the T’nach, though there are many references to sh’ol, a shadowy place which is the abode of the dead but not necessarily a place of retribution. Sh’ol is a place of silence, where no praise of God is uttered and there can be no further spiritual striving (Isa. 38:18). For Judaism the important place is this world. It is this world that can become our hell – or our heaven. It is this world where our task is to perform commandments and live a life of justice, peace, truth and goodness. Is there a punishment for evil in the afterlife? Maimonides says that the righteous are rewarded by intellectual and spiritual bliss, and it is the deprivation of this blessing which is the punishment of the wicked (Mishnah Commentary, Introduction to Sanh. 10). Since hell does not bother Jews too much, I suggest you don’t lose sleep over the clergyman’s threat.

Agnosticism 

1. Q. What is the difference between an am ha’aretz and an apikoros?

A. The am ha’aretz is an ignoramus and the apikoros is an unbeliever. Both terms have gone through a series of metamorphoses. In Biblical times, e.g. in Genesis 23, am ha’aretz, literally people of the land, probably meant the tribal council. Subsequently the term came to mean a farmer, one of the country people. In the Mishnah there is suspicion that such people are not reliable when it comes to their agricultural dues, partly because of their lack of education and partly because they were reluctant to reduce their income. Eventually the agricultural setting of the term faded and the am ha’aretz simply became an ignorant person. In relation to the apikoros, the Mishnah in Sanhedrin chapter 10 deemed him unworthy of the world to come. On one view this is because he denied Divine providence, but many scholars see his failing as a lack of respect for the sages and the rabbinic tradition. Maimonides gives a precise definition of the term, but by modern times it became a general epithet for someone who rejects religious belief. The link between the am ha’aretz and apikoros is suggested by a story told in a number of versions. A young man who decided to become an apikoros heard that there was a famous apikoros in the big city. Finding his way to the man’s house, the youth asked the person who answered the door, "Are you Yossel the Apikoros? Certainly, came the answer. Then why do you have a volume of the Talmud open on your table? asked the young man, Are you really an apikoros? Young man, said Yossel, Just because I am an apikoros doesn’t mean that I am an am ha’aretz!" An apikoros dare not be an am ha’aretz. Unbelievers have to know what it is they do not believe in.

2. Q. What is one to make of Albert Einstein’s statement that The Jewish God is simply a negation of superstition?

A. Einstein was a loyal Jew, and he was good for the Jews; his Jewishness focused on the Jewish moral instinct. His book Ideas and Opinions explains that he believed Judaism to be concerned exclusively with the moral attitude to life which he called the foundations of happiness and of civilised communities. A telling illustration is a statement he heard from Walter Rathenau, When a Jew says he is going hunting to amuse himself, he is lying.

Einstein did not, however, accept the traditional idea of God. For him, The Jewish God is simply a negation of superstition. To him, God meant the animating force in the universe, not a personal Deity who could be worshipped. Nonetheless, his life as a scientist was not without a sense of spirituality. The most beautiful thing we can experience, he said, is the mysterious … He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.

Einstein valued the intellectual dimension of Jews and Judaism. The Jewish contribution to civilisation, he believed, derived from the tradition of study and commitment to social justice. Both aspects offended totalitarian regimes like Nazism, for whom Jews and Judaism had to be eradicated. Einstein was a man of the world, but he was a fervent supporter of Jewish identity and nationalism. Hence though he said he would have preferred a quiet life of research and contemplation, he openly identified with Zionism and lent his name and reputation to Zionist fundraising efforts. He believed that Zionism gave our sorely oppressed Jewish nation a place to be, the opportunity to create a moral society.

Agunah

Q. In the aftermath of 11 September, 2001, what is the halachic status of the wives of men who died?

A. Jewish law has no presumption of death. On the contrary, there is a presumption of life. A person who was alive when last heard of is presumed to be still alive unless there is evidence of their death. If there is no evidence of death, their spouse is not deemed to be a widow or widower. A woman whose husband is missing is an agunah (chained to the subsisting marriage) unless there is evidence that the husband is dead. But from Talmudic times onwards the rabbis applied every leniency in the case of agunot and frequently found ways of ruling that the wife could now enter into a new marriage, though if the original husband should turn up after she has remarried she cannot live with either the first or the second husband, despite the fact that she acted in good faith.

There was a major rabbinic endeavour to free agunot in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center. A former member of the Israeli police service’s victim identification unit, advised the rabbinic panels involved in the issue. In some cases, bodies were found, in other cases in which no bodies were found, death was sometimes ascertained by comparing DNA samples with DNA found in the rubble of the towers. Some other cases were resolved by determining that there was no way the men could have escaped from the floors where they were when the attack occurred. In one case, the man’s whereabouts were known because he telephoned his wife immediately after the attack. In another, the man’s computer was found, and the time stamps on some of the files proved that he had been in his office at the time of the attack.

Alcohol 

Q. How can you account for the fact that Jews rarely get drunk?

A. Judaism does not forbid alcohol; as everyone knows, wine gladdens the heart of man. (Psalm 104) and is part of Shabbat, festivals and life-cycle events like marriage and b’rit milah. However, intoxication is severely frowned upon. The Torah (Lev. 10-9) bans a priest from intoxicating drink before entering the sanctuary; the sages say intoxication confuses the mind and impedes the speech, as well as bringing the priest and the ritual into disrepute. An intoxicated person may not give halachic decisions or pray (Eruvin 64a-b). Drinking to excess is rare amongst Jews, though some circles relax the prohibition on Purim. They quote a recommendation that a person should become so drunk on that day as to be unable to differentiate between Cursed be Haman and Blessed be Mordechai (Megillah 7b). The intention, however, may be that one should become merry, and that does not require intoxication.

Angels 

Q. Do angels exist?

A. The early chapters of B’reshit introduce us both to giants among men, and to angels and heavenly beings. Modern people are probably amused and bemused to contemplate references to angels in Scripture and the Siddur. Yet they all, with gusto, join in singing "Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh – holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the angelic praise uttered in the halls of heaven. Admittedly, some Reform prayer books delete the specific reference to angels and say instead, We sanctify Thy name on earth as the heavens declare Thy glory: and in the word of the prophet we say, ‘Holy, holy, holy …’. Reconstructionist versions say, We share in the universal adoration of God’s holiness".

Jewish teachers had a range of views about angels. Some saw the existence of angels as a fundamental principle; others feared people might regard them as intermediaries between man and God. Everyone accepts, however, that the angels have no independence from God, and are merely His messengers; malach, angel, really means messenger, someone with a task to perform. Maimonides rationalised the concept of angels; Saadia Ga’on, whilst accepting their existence, insisted that not only were they subservient to God but man himself was superior to them.

The crucial lesson to learn is that God has many messengers. They include human beings. We are all capable of carrying out Divinely appointed tasks. We can protect the beauty of the environment, prepare the world for the Mashiach and spread love, truth and peace wherever we go. Working for God does not literally make us angels, but there is a rabbinic idea that every good deed we do creates an angel and augments the heavenly hosts.

Animals 

1. Q. Do animals have rights?

A. A basic principle of Jewish ethics is tza’ar ba’alei chayyim, not causing pain to any living creature. But while animals are part of God’s concern, man is a higher species. Animals may therefore be used for the benefit of man, but that use must be limited and controlled for the benefit of the animal. Thus animal experimentation to assist medical science is permitted, but scrupulous care must be exercised and animals must not be handled routinely or roughly.

In Never Torture an Animal, Sholem Aleichem presents this exchange between a little boy and his friend: "Your father is a goy! Why is he a goy? Because he has no sympathy for animals. Unfortunately Jews and animals both often suffered from cruelty; Mendele Mocher Sefarim has a story, The Little Calf, in which a Jewish boy cries with a motherless calf, Both of us have had to suffer at the hands of others."

Jewish literature derives lessons from the characteristics of various animals. It is unimpressed with the pig and considers it dirty as well as non-kosher, and it tells a person, "Don’t be a chazzir!" Nor does it like snakes or serpents; the story of the serpent that led Adam and Eve astray shows what harm can be done by snakes in the grass. Judaism admires lions and advises at the beginning of the Shulchan Aruch, Strengthen yourself like a lion to get up in the morning for the service of the Creator. The basis of this dictum is the Ethics of the Fathers, which says, Be strong as the leopard, light as an eagle, fleet as a hart and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father who is in heaven (5:23). The Perek also recommends, Be rather a tail to lions than a head to foxes (4:20). Though Jews had dogs unleashed against them during the pogroms, our tradition thought highly of the dog because of its devotion to its master, which implies that humans can learn loyalty from the dog. There is a saying that when the Messiah comes the dogs will be the first to sense his arrival and will bark joyously (Bava Kamma 60b); likewise human beings should respond eagerly to the advent of redemption.

Bilam’s ass was clever and sensitive and opened its mouth to rebuke its master for his lack of compassion: yet the folk view is that the ass is stupid and has no sense at all. Which is why the rabbis said unkind things about chamor nos’ei sefarim – a donkey carrying books. In today’s world that might be a person who has impressive qualifications but lacks common sense.

2. PRAYER FOR ANIMALS

Lord God, Creator of all:

You made human beings the pinnacle of your creation. You gave them dominion: You ordained the pre-eminence of man over beast. But you made us masters, not tyrants. You commanded that we use and not abuse our powers over the animal kingdom. We thank You for our privileges; we accept our responsibility.

Teach us to fulfil the word of Scripture: A righteous person regards the life of his animal (Proverbs 12:10). Give us the sensitivity to treat our animals kindly and with concern, admonished by Bilam’s ass which justifiably rebuked its master. Because You are the Shepherd who watches over human needs, may we always be shepherds who respect the needs of our animals.

Remind us that the messianic redemption will commence with the animals, when The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and a little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11:6-9). May we be worthy of this fulfillment, and let us say Amen.

3. Q. Is animal experimentation ethically acceptable?

A. Animals may be used for man’s benefit, but this use must be limited and controlled, for the animal’s benefit.

Ethicists would probably agree with Albert Schweitzer, who said: Those who experiment with operations or the use of drugs upon animals, or inoculate them with diseases, so as to be able to bring help to mankind with the results gained, must never quiet any misgivings they feel with the general reflection that their gruesome proceedings aim at a valuable result. They must first have considered in each individual case whether there is a real necessity to force upon any animal this sacrifice for the sake of mankind, and they must take the most careful pains to ensure that the pain inflicted is made as small as possible.

4. Q. Is hunting allowed in Jewish law?

A. The Noachide principles prohibit tearing a limb from a living animal which by extension includes hunting for sport. In the Noda Biy’hudah, Rabbi Yechezkel Landau says that hunting is abhorrent to the spirit of the Torah and is the mark of wicked people like Esau (Noda Biy’hudah, Yoreh De’ah 10). This applied to hunting for sport. However, catching animals for food is permitted. In theory, fishing for sport should be prohibited, but it is unlikely to be banned because the fish will – if kosher – probably be eaten. If any sporting activity, including hunting, places human beings in serious danger, the activity is not allowed. One must not put one’s own or anyone else’s life at risk.

5. Q. Do animals know there is a God?

A. According to the Midrash, God rebuked David for boasting that no-one could sing praises as well as he could. Every creature, God told him, has its own way of praising its Maker. The birds chirp. The horses neigh. The cows low. Each has its own voice. Each utters its praise for being alive. The prophet Isaiah goes further and says (43:20) that the animals know that it is God who gives them water and food – in contrast to human beings, who often fail to acknowledge the boons the receive from the Almighty. We should, however, not read too much into these passages, which ascribe human dispositions to the animals.

We should also not take too seriously the question of why certain animals are so fierce and aggressive. The animals are not human beings and are not required to have a moral conscience. Only man has free will and can choose right from wrong. Some animals are placid and others are cruel, but not because they have chosen to be so. As Yehudah HaLevi tells us in the Kuzari, this is all part of God’s design, even though humans cannot necessarily understand His purposes. Nachmanides says that in messianic times, God will prevent wild beasts from doing any harm. The verse, I shall establish peace in the earth … and I shall cause the wild beasts to desist (Lev. 26:6) does not mean that there will be no wild beasts but that their wildness will be tamed. Why were they wild in the first place? Ramban’s view is that at the time of creation they were tame and placid, but Adam’s sin altered the idyll; man learned to disobey God and the animals learned to hunt their prey (Ezek. 19:3). In time to come, however, the cow and the bear shall feed together … and the lion shall eat straw like the ox (Isa. 11:7-8).

6. Q. What is the origin of the idea of feeding your animals before yourself?

A. The rule in the Talmud (B’rachot 40a and Gittin 62a) is, It is forbidden for man to eat (another reading is, ‘to taste any food’) before he has given food to his animals. The principle is derived from a verse in the second paragraph of the Sh’ma, I will give grass in your field for your cattle, after which the text says, And you shall eat and be satisfied (Deut. 11:15) – i.e. first feed the cattle and only then take a meal for yourself. It is not only animals that should be fed first, but employees. The sages quote Psalm 123:2, "As the eyes of servants