Tehillim 145 - Compassion for Animals

Tehillim 145 - Compassion for Animals

Tehillim 145:9 - “Tov Adonai lakol, verachamav al kol maasav” - (The L-rd is good to all, and His mercy is upon all His creations). The One Above has compassion for all that He has created, and He demands the same compassion from people. The Talmud in tractate Bava Metzia relates that Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi—the head of the Sanhedrin (zechuto yagen aleinu)—endured suffering for 13 years: six years because of kidney stones and seven years because of an oral disease. Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi had more horses than the Persian King Shapur, and when the grooms brought them feed, the horses would neigh so loudly that they could be heard three miles away. The horses were fed precisely when Rabbi was attending to his needs; thus, their neighing drowned out his groans of pain, and even those who had disembarked from ships in the harbor could hear them. The following incident was the cause of this suffering. Once, Rabbi was sitting and studying Torah beside the Babylonian synagogue in Tzippori. A calf being led to slaughter passed by, broke free, and, whimpering piteously, hid its head beneath Rabbi’s cloak, as if saying: Save me. But Rabbi said to it: “What can I do? Go, for this is what you were created for.” It was decreed in Heaven: “Because he showed no compassion to the animal, suffering will be brought upon him.” The decree was rescinded when, one day, his maidservant, while cleaning the house, discovered a weasel’s nest with its young beneath a covering and wanted to destroy it. Rabbi said to her: “Leave them, for it is written: ‘He is merciful to all His creations.’ (Tehillim 145:9) It was decreed in Heaven: “Because he showed compassion, compassion will be shown to him as well”—and he was healed. For 13 years, Rabbi suffered from several illnesses, and throughout all those 13 years, women in the Land of Israel did not suffer miscarriages, and women in labor did not endure pain (despite Rabbi’s transgression, his suffering spared his people from suffering). The 13 years of suffering were intended to instill in Rabbi’s heart the 13 Attributes of Mercy, through which genuine love for the world is expressed—the word “ahavah” - אהבה has a gematria of 13.  (Bereishit Rabbah 33:3, Tomer Devorah, with commentary by Rabbi Benzion Melamed)