Monkeys on the Run: People and Ba’alei Chaim

Adapted from the writings of Dayan Yitzhak Grossman

November 21, 2024

AP News reports:

Forty-three monkeys escaped from a compound used for medical research in South Carolina.[1]

Most of the monkeys have since been recaptured:

Just eight monkeys remain free from the group who more than a week ago broke out of a South Carolina compound that breeds the primates for medical research, authorities said…They have been lured back with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and other treats, officials said.[2]

The Gemara tells the story of an animal that sought refuge from an unpleasant fate:

But the sufferings of Rebbi (R’ Yehudah Hanasi) came as the result of an event and left as a result of an event.

“They came as the result of an event”—what was this event? There was once this calf that they were leading to slaughter. It went and hung its head among the folds of Rebbi’s garment and it cried. Rebbi told it, “Go; for this you were created.” They said (in Shamayim), “Since he does not show mercy, let suffering come upon him.”

“And they left as a result of an event”: One day, Rebbi’s maidservant was sweeping the house. There was a litter of baby weasels that had been cast upon the floor, and she was sweeping them up. Rebbi told her, “Leave them be. It is written, ‘And His mercy is upon all His creations.’” They said (in Shamayim), “Since he shows mercy, let us show mercy to him.”[3]

As we have previously noted,[4] the Trumas Hadeshen (R’ Yisrael Isserlin) explains that “although it was absolutely permitted to slaughter the calf for the purpose of eating it, R’ Yehudah was nevertheless punished and received suffering for doing so.” He proposes this passage as the basis for a custom to avoid inflicting pain upon animals even when doing so would benefit human beings, despite the fact that this is not technically prohibited.[5]

We have also previously noted[6] the sympathy of the Imrei Shefer (R’ Eliyahu Kalatzkin) for the 19th century anti-vivisection movement:

It is also not clear that it is permitted to cause a living creature to suffer such terrible pain for the sake of examinations and experiments, and we only find that this was permitted for the sake of healing—not for the sake of examination, which is only a matter of possibility, that perhaps some benefit to medical science will emerge from it. Among the scholars of the nations there are also those who are upset and complain about the acts of cruelty that the investigators perform in their examinations of the bodies of living creatures, and they founded the Society of Anti-Vivisectionists.[7]

Another authority who was generally supportive of the 19^th-century animal welfare movement was R’ Yaakov Zev Kahana, author of Toldos Yaakov and She’eiris Yaakov, a great-nephew of the Gra:

How good and how pleasant it is that in our times, men of science and sensitivity have innovated the idea of alleviating the pain of all living creatures as much as possible, and they have established various societies to supervise this, to see to it that animals should not carry more than is appropriate for them, and if horses have dry skin infections or moist skin eruptions[8] or boils, they will issue an order against traveling with them until they return to their original strength. And if any of these things are found in anyone’s possession, he will surely be punished, both with money and with imprisonment…They also seize the horses of the wagoners that make their living from them, to ensure that they will be careful not to do so in the future.[9]

Rav Kahana stresses the imperative of consideration for animal welfare and is quite critical of those who are cruel to animals:

Those men who spend their time in the sport of baiting dogs against pigs or against other animals will certainly face judgment in the future…

It therefore appears to me that it is a mitzvah incumbent upon anyone who sees oxen goring each other or chickens striking each other to separate them in such a manner that they will not come to gore or strike each other again, for this is included in the mitzvah of prikah (unloading) that is explained in Bava Metzia 32a…

And even with respect to minors who are accustomed to catch and to trap small animals like flies and mosquitoes, and they inflict severe pain upon them, adults are certainly obligated to separate them from this prohibition, so that they will not do such things any more (and even more so because the trait of cruelty, of not having compassion on another, becomes entrenched thereby)…It is certainly incumbent upon everyone to separate them and to protest against the children who catch flies and mosquitoes and stick straw and needles into their innards.

I remember that when I was young, I caught some mook (?) for sport, in the manner of children, and my father rebuked me. And I also remember that my father and master the Rav would not allow poisonous water to be placed before flies, because before they die they suffer extreme pain, so he would instead drive them out of the house, for expulsion is easier upon them than being given to drink a cup of these bitter waters.[10]^{, [11]}

R’ Avraham Meir Israel, author of Shu”t Vaya’an Avraham and rav in Vienna, recalled an encounter with R’ Michoel Ber Weissmandl, renowned for his hatzalah activities during the Holocaust, for which he risked his own life:

About twenty years ago, I heard this from the mouth of the gaon and tzadik R’ Michoel Ber Weissmandl zt”l of Nitra, when I met him on a train. Through the window, he showed me cows grazing in the marshland[12] that were running wildly to and fro—unlike the normal manner of grazers, who walk slowly, step by step. He explained to me the cause of the cows’ disquiet: that it was because of their sadness that males, to which they are naturally drawn, are withheld from them, so they live with sadness and discomfort. He subsequently expressed his opinion that perhaps the reason that sadness has increased in the world in our times is because people drink the milk of anxious cows. “If it is a tradition, we accept it.”[13]

[1]Jeffrey Collins. 43 monkeys escape from a South Carolina medical lab. Police say there is no serious danger. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/monkeys-escape-alpha-genesis-south-carolina-66a78279a7abe57c5f8fd0953359368a.

[2]Only 8 monkeys remain free after more than a week outside a South Carolina compound. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/monkeys-escape-alpha-genesis-south-carolina-c5c1d310166360b7edf4de4401b84b2d.

[3]Bava Metzia 85a.

[4]Canine Hara: May Animals Be Hurt for Human Benefit? May 16, 2024.

[5]Trumas Hadeshen psakim uchsavim siman 105.

[6]Darchei Noem: May Animals Be Hurt for Human Benefit? May 23, 2024.

[7]Imrei Shefer (Kalatzkin) siman 34 os 16.

[8]See Vayikra 21:20.

[9]Toldos Yaakov Y.D. siman 33 p. 148.

[10]See Bemidbar 5:17-24.

[11]Toldos Yaakov ibid. p. 147.

[12]See Bereishis 41:2.

[13]Shu”t Vaya’an Avraham C.M. siman 5.