Για να το διαβάσετε στα Ελληνικά, κάντε κλικ εδώ
The turtle, after laying its eggs, leaves them alone. Is she a bad mother?
Is the tiger, who hunts and kills other animals, violent?
During the Creation of the World, the animals were created before the human being (G-d created the animals on Thursday and Friday morning and the human being on Friday afternoon). Likewise, the Parasha of this week Tazria, where we learn about the laws of purity for the human being, comes after the previous Parashot where we read about the laws of purity of animals (kosher). Why are humans last? Are they less important?
Animals, like humans, eat, drink, sleep, communicate and give birth. Scientists say that many animals have memory and intelligence and have the capability to think. Then what is their difference with humans?
Animals cannot choose what they do. All their actions are dictated by their instincts. Therefore, there are no bad animals, even if they do actions that seem evil in our eyes. They do not choose it, they do it by instinct.
On the contrary, the human being, besides his intelligence, has the freedom of choice. On one side, there are his instincts, which make him think only about himself and his short-term gain. On the other side, he has the G-dly soul, which wants him to do the right thing, to think about the others and the long-term gains. The human being can choose, and this is its big difference from the animals.
Is this a good or a bad difference? This depends on us. If we choose correctly, we can achieve a lot, for us as well as for the whole world. The animals can do good only by instinct, when they will benefit from it. But if we succumb to our bad tendencies, we can act worse than animals.
In other words, we can be the best, or the worse of all.
This is the reason why we were created last. If we utilize our capacities in the right way, we are like the important guest that arrives last to an event, when everything and everyone are ready. This is why man was created last: our Sages explain that G-d wanted the human being to arrive to a completed world, like an important guest.
But if we utilize our capacities in the wrong way, this fact is interpreted differently. Our Sages say that even the mosquito that was created before us is better than us.
Let’s all decide to perform good actions that will make us the best creations of the world, and not the worse.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hanna
