Feed Your Pets Before Yourself
The Talmud discusses at length the blessings for food. Before eating food, one is required to offer a blessing of thanks. There is the familiar blessing for bread and a different blessing for wine. Rav opines, “People are prohibited from eating before feeding their animals.” (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 40a)
One wonders, “I thought we are focusing on our meals and the foods we enjoy. Why the concern for animals?” Because we cannot enjoy our meal while other living beings are in pain. Animals must be fed on time. Their hunger comes before our own. Imagine the suffering caused to a hungry animal while people are sitting at the table enjoying their meals. The rabbis were deeply concerned about animals’ welfare.
They believed that every life that breathes is deserving of our compassion and concern. They were attuned to animals’ needs. These are God’s creatures. We must not be unfeeling to any living being. Compassion begins with our pets. And while this does not necessarily mean serving them “human-grade” food as so many TV ads imply, it does mean we must be cognizant of animals’ needs and not cause them any undo suffering. That begins with feeding them before feeding ourselves.
This is what Abraham’s servant first noticed about Rebekah. After arriving at the town well Rebekah not only offered the servant and his entourage water but the camels. Rebekah exclaimed, “I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking. Quickly emptying her jar into the trough, she ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.” (Genesis 24) Each of the ten camels can drink thirty to forty gallons of water. Our matriarch exhibits enormous strength and determination.
Her compassion for these camels is why she is chosen as a wife for Isaac.
Caring for animals teaches compassion for all living things. Compassion for other human beings begins with caring for our pets.
Some parenting advice. When your young children get impatient for dinner and complain that they are hungry, suggest that they must first feed your dog. And when they ask why, tell them it is because this is the Jewish thing to do.
Teaching compassion begins with showing concern for our pets. Let us follow Rebekah’s example. We most certainly need more compassion in our fractured world.
And this can begin with something as simple as feeding our pets.