<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16443"></HEAD>
<BODY style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" id=role_body
bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 rightMargin=7 topMargin=7><FONT id=role_document
color=#000000 size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: Harvey Benton <harvw613@yahoo.com><BR>"<BR><BR>shimshon
and the foxes<BR>setting fire to the philistines' wheat.........<BR>was that
allowed?<BR><BR><BR>hmz</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>--Toby Katz<BR>=============</STRONG><BR>Romney -- good
values, good family, good
hair<BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------
</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px"><FONT
lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR></FONT> </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>