[Avodah] tzar baalei chayim??

[T613K at aol.com]

From: Harvey Benton <harvw613 at yahoo.com>
"

shimshon  and the foxes
setting fire to the philistines' wheat.........
was that  allowed?


hmz

 
>>>>>
 
I had the same question when I learned that perek but did not find any  
meforshim that addressed that question (admittedly I did not make a very  
extensive search).  We don't find anything in the sefer indicating that  Shimshon 
was ever criticized or punished for setting fire to the foxes' tails,  so I 
guess it was mutar.  I speculate that tzaar baalei chayim is assur  only 
when one hurts an animal needlessly, and that in this case there was an  
overarching, and acceptable, reason that this action needed to be taken.   But it 
still was somewhat disturbing to me.  Even lacking a tail, I can  imagine 
that being burned alive would be very painful.  Certainly it makes  Shimshon 
sound like a hard and frightening man -- which of course is how he  wanted 
the Plishtim to think of him, so we come back to, in this case,  the strategy 
was justified because of a greater need in terms of ultimately  saving the 
Jews from the Plishtim.  Others in this forum have speculated  that animals 
lack true consciousness and therefore lack the actual capacity to  feel pain 
-- and that the issur of tzaar baalei chayim is only to sensitize US  not 
to be cruel -- but personally I don't buy that line of reasoning at  all.
 
 
 


--Toby Katz
=============
Romney -- good  values, good family, good  hair


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