"Compassion is the feeling of sympathy which the pain of one being awakens in another; and the higher and more human the beings are, the more keenly attuned they are to re-echo the note of suffering, which, like a voice from heaven, penetrates the heart, bringing all creatures a proof of their kinship in the universal G-d. And as for man, whose function it is to show respect and love for G-d's universe and all its creatures, his heart has been created so tender that it feels with the whole organic world . . .mourning even for fading flowers; so that, if nothing else, the very nature of his heart must teach him that he is required above everything to feel himself the brother of all beings, and to recognize the claim of all beings to his love and his beneficence." (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, a 19th century philosopher, author, and Torah commentator)
"His compassion is over all His creatures." (Psalm 145:9)
We understand the biblical precept to emulate G-d's compassion when we read Deuteronomy 28:9, "And you shall walk in His ways."
"As G-d is merciful, so you should also be merciful. As He loves and cares for all His creatures, and His children are related to Him because He is their Father, so you should also love all His creatures as your brethren. Let their joys be your joys, and their sorrows yours. Love them and with every power which G-d gives you, work for their welfare and benefit, because they are the children of your G-d, because they are your brothers and sisters." (Rabbi Hirsch)
He also wrote: "Here you are faced with G-d's teaching, which obliges you not only to refrain from inflicting unnecessary pain on any animal, but to help and, when you can, to lessen the pain whenever you see an animal suffering, even through no fault of yours."
G-d made the same covenants with animals as He did with human beings. "As for me, behold I establish My Covenant with you and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the fowl, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. (Genesis 9: 9 & 10)
Then we read in Psalm 145:9, "G-d's tender mercies are over all His creatures."
"Even in the worm that crawls in the earth there glows a divine spark. When you slaughter a creature, you slaughter G-d. " (Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1902-1991, Polish-born Jewish American author noted for his short stories, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1978)
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A couple of months ago I had a little "test". Sometimes these "tests" come my way to remind me that I need to be compassionate at all times, in all situations, and that the things I learn from my studies in Torah, Talmud, and Kaballah are not to be "filed away" some place in my mind, but to be put into action when necessary.
So what was my little "test"?
I was driving down the street one day about 1:00 in the afternoon. It was very hot, I needed to get home, and my schedule for the day was quite full. Suddenly, the car in front of me hit a dove that was either sitting in the street and flew up when the car came by, or simply flew into the car as it was passing. I didn't see what happened. I just saw the bird fall to the street, flapping around. The driver of the car kept going. I don't see how they could not have known they hit the poor little thing. But maybe they didn't.
Anyway, I slowed down as I drove by the bird, looked, and to my horror saw that it was struggling to get up. There were cars traveling in both directions so I felt sure it would be run over any second. I pulled into the parking lot, thinking to myself, "Are you nuts? What do you think you are going to do?"
But I knew I just could not leave the little creature there to be run over. I thought that I would just stand there with my crossing guard stop sign to keep anyone from running over it and call animal control to come get it from the street. That was the best plan I could come up with.
But to my amazement, I saw the bird struggling frantically trying to get out of the street. Surprisingly, it somehow made it to the curb where it collapsed into a little trickle of water running down the street. I watched from a distance to see if it was dead. I thought it was because it was perfectly still.
But as I took a step closer I startled it and it started back out into the street, so I quickly stepped back.
I remembered that there is a wild life refuge center here in town. I took a baby squirrel there about ten years ago. So I decided that I would go get a box and come back, get the bird into the box and take it to the refuge center.
I went and dug a box out of the dumpster at Dollar General, which was the nearest business. As I was driving back I kept hoping the bird would be gone. I thought that possibly it was not seriously injured but only had the breath knocked out of it and it was temporarily stunned.
But, there it was, still lying quietly in the stream of water beside the curb, breathing heavily.
Then, Hashem sent a hero to save the day. I looked up, and across the street a woman was walking by. She looked over at me, probably wondering what I was doing standing there holding a box. It was very hot that day.
I yelled across the street to her, "Are you afraid of birds?" Thinking back on that moment I'm surprised she answered me and didn't speed up her step and get the heck out of the area in case I was dangerous or crazy or something.
But she said, "No. I'm not scared of birds. What's the problem?" And she started towards me. I sighed a huge sigh of relief. You see, I am terrified of birds. I always have been. I think they are beautiful. I enjoy watching them - as long as they are no where near me - and there is no possibility of them getting near me.
I told her what had happened, admitted my fear of birds, and told her I wanted to try and catch the bird and get it out of the street. Without another word she took the box out of my hand, walked quickly to the curb, scooped up the bird before it could struggle into the street, went over to my car and put the box in the back seat.
She said that it would not be able to fly out because of it's injuries. I thanked her and she smilingly said goodbye and walked away.
Even though she said the bird couldn't fly out I was terrified to get into the car with a bird in an open box. I thought that I would have a wreck if it did somehow fly out, or I would simply jump out of the car and let it crash. So I found a paper bag in the back of my car to put on top of the box just to make sure.
Then we were off to the rescue center. Me, a terrified human, and a bird who was probably even more terrified of me than I was of it. I found myself saying a little prayer for the poor bird as I drove. I kept thinking of how I had heard that doves are mates for life, and that this bird's mate might have been sitting somewhere watching the entire scene - worried or sad about losing his/her mate. Or that he/she would simply wonder what had happened - where had the mate gone if it had not seen what happened. I don't actually know if this is fact or fiction, but I was thinking about it as I drove. I was very sad for both this bird, and his/her mate.
I arrived at the refuge center, took the box out of the car, and was walking towards the drop-off area when a girl came around the building. I told her what had happened and she took the bird out of the box, carefully and gently held it in her hands, looking at it.
As she was holding it in her hands gently stroking it's head I looked at it. It was very beautiful. She said it was a ring neck dove.
She turned it over and began examining it. She determined that both of it's legs were broken and it seemed to be seriously injured. She said that it was not very likely that it would survive it's injuries. She said that if a bird can't use it's legs to help it take off it can't fly any more. She also said she suspected it had internal injuries.
She then assured me that if the staff made the determination that the bird would not be able to recover that it would be given a tiny little bit of medication that would put it to sleep. She said that she appreciated me bringing it in - whether or not it survived. She said that it would have suffered in the heat, and possibly gone back out into the street and been killed. And even if it had to be euthanized it would not suffer that horrible fate.
As we stood there talking about the bird I looked into it's eyes. And I felt that it somehow knew that it was cared for. It did not seem frightened in any way. It looked at me as I stood there talking to the girl.
I know it seems unlikely, but I could tell it was saying thank you by the way it looked up into my eyes. It gave me a good feeling to know that - even if it would die, that it would be in a peaceful, quiet, cool and caring place.
I filled in the paperwork, gave them a donation of a few dollars - all I had in my purse - and left. I was actually very sad as I drove home. I felt good about having had the opportunity to help a poor little bird, but sad that it had happened.
Even though my relationship with this tiny little creature that I was terrified of was brief, I still felt somehow "connected" to it. I was thankful that I was in the right place at the right time to be able to do something good. And I was really really thankful that the woman was there to put the bird in the box for me.
G-d is always watching over His creatures. From a tiny little bird to a plus-sized middle aged woman.
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Here is the link to the place I took the bird: www.spwrc.org
