Abstract
The focus of this chapter is to investigate whether religious views inform ethical views. The laws surrounding non-human animal rights within Judaism is used as a case study for this exploration. Historically and to some extent today, non-humans are severely constrained in their freedoms and imputed value by the dominant Western religious paradigms. It is therefore instructive to see to what extent an ethical attitude toward non-humans is present, or absent, and whether the religious prescriptions are justified by moral reasoning. Within the Hebrew Bible and Judaic commentary there is a textual bases for inclusion of non-humans within the sphere of moral concern. This leads to a some questions: has our moral sense towards non-humans been informed by a religious tradition? And if so, has this led to changes in our secular understanding regarding the ethical treatment of non-humans? Or, has there been a moral intuition there all along, which has incidentally been expressed in a religious mode? There is significant contrast historically between the dominant Western religious paradigm (Christianity) and resultant philosophical moral theory - in which there is a marked absence of consideration toward the suffering of non-humans, and the minority paradigm (Judaism) in which there is a body of laws governing the treatment of non-humans in consideration of their capacity for suffering and self-determination. I suggest that the movement of both secular and contemporary Christian culture towards inclusion of non-humans on the continuum of ethical concern speaks to the existence of a longstanding awareness of the rights of non-humans. This moral intuition regarding the ethical obligation to consider the suffering of sentient beings of all stripes is most robustly expressed in the laws and code of ethics within Judaic culture.
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Change history
11 January 2023
This book was inadvertently published with Dr. Weisberger as deceased at the time of publication in a footnote for chapter 12. This footnote is now removed to correct the erroneous information.
Notes
- 1.
Citations from the Hebrew Bible are referenced to The Soncino Edition of the Pentateuch and Haftorahs with Hebrew Text, English Translation and Commentary. Ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz, Late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, 2nd edition (London: Soncino Press, 1968) Talmudic interpretations of the preceding passages can be found for: Deuteronomy 25:4 p. 854; Exodus 20:10 on p. 298, also see p. 767; Deuteronomy 20:14 p. 792; Deuteronomy 22:6–7 p. 843; Numbers 22:32 p. 673; Leviticus 19:26 p. 503; Exodus 23:19 p. 318.
- 2.
“Tracking Animal Cruelty. FBI Collecting Data on Crimes Against Animals.” FBI, accessed February 1, 2016, https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/-tracking-animal-cruelty.
- 3.
Code of Jewish Law (Kitzur Shulhan Aruch), Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried, transl. by Hyman E Goldin, (Hebrew Publishing Company, 1961) Volume 2, p. 116.
- 4.
Ibid. Hertz.p. 854. With regard to the Christian attitude toward kindness to animals, Hertz quotes the historian William Edward Hartpole Lecky (1838–1903) as saying: “In the range and circle of duties inculcated by the Early Fathers, those to animals had no place.”
- 5.
Regenstein, Lewis (2008) Commandments of Compassion: Jewish Teachings on Protecting Animals and Nature. P. 4 Retrieved from: http://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/archive/assets/pdfs/faith/commandmentsofcomp.pdf. Lecky also wrote, in History of European Morals, from Augustus to Charlemagne (1869) that “the rabbinical writers have been remarkable for the great emphasis with which they inculcated the duty of kindness to animals.” Two important works from the Middle Ages demonstrate this. The twelfth or thirteenth century Hebrew work Sefer Chasidim (or Hasidim): The Book of the Pious states: “Be kind and compassionate to all creatures that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in this world. Never beat nor inflict pain on any animal, beast, or bird, or insect. Do not throw stones at a dog or a cat.” The sixteenth century Code of Jewish Law (Schulchan Aruch) clearly states that “it is forbidden, according to the law of the Torah, to inflict pain upon any living creature. On the contrary, it is our duty to relieve the pain of any creature, even if it is ownerless or belongs to a non-Jew.”
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Weisberger, A.M. (2022). Animal Rights within Judaism: The Nature of the Relationship Between Religion and Ethics. In: Sherma, R.D., Bilimoria, P. (eds) Religion and Sustainability: Interreligious Resources, Interdisciplinary Responses. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79301-2_12
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