May One Put Their Pet ‘Down’?
Jan, 2019
There is little yeshiva can prepare a rav for when it comes to certain questions. A telephone shailah that I received last week is a perfect example of this feature of the rabbinate.
“Rabbi, I need your guidance” the women on the other end of the phone began. Through her tear-choked and shaken voice, she continued. “I know there is some debate regarding end-of-life issues and euthanasia, and I need to know if I need to follow the advice of my doctor”
Such calls cause one to sit up straight, pay close attention to every word, and daven to Hashem to save the rav from michshol.
She then got to the thrust of her shailah.
“My dog is seventeen years old –quite old for any dog, especially this breed. She has not been eating for the past few days and the doctor (her veterinarian) says that she is dying and in severe pain. He asked me to bring her in so that they can have her placed in an animal hospital and make her comfortable in her last days.”
Relieved that the shailah did not involve a human life, I responded sincerely, “I am so sorry to hear about your dog. Can you please explain what precisely your shailah is?”
“Well, I don’t trust these doctors. They say that they only wish to make her ‘feel comfortable in her last days’, yet I know that they will probably just euthanize her. Is that allowed? Don’t we believe that every moment of life is precious (chayay she’ah)? What should I do?”
Although al pi kabala one should not destroy any living thing –even a blade of grass-for no reason, it goes without saying that the heady concept of chayay sh’ah is unique to human life.
Aside for the fact- as we shall soon see-that there was a modicum of a real shailah involved in her question–the last thing a rav should ever do is to laugh at or be cynical or snide toward any question or questioner.
Perhaps we are familiar with the story said over of the Beis Halevi, when an older woman knocjed on his door in a state of panic.
“Rabbi, I think my cat just licked her from her milk bowl, and I was planning on serving him meat for dinner. What should I do? How long must he wait?”
His talmidim began to snicker. But the Beis Halevi asked for a few minutes so that he may retire to his study and review the shailah. Upon returning, he told her that the cat need not wait between milk and meat, as only Jewish humans must, and she may serve the cat the meat dinner.
Upon her departure from his home, the Beis Halevi strongly reprimanded his students, explaining that one is to never laugh at anyone who comes to a rav with a shailah! Aside for hurting the feelings of another Jew, there is another matter to keep in mind. Coming to a rav when one is in doubt about halacha is both precious and fragile. Precious, because it through this act that mesorah is kept alive, and respect for where psak comes from is maintained. Fragile, because people often one is unsure if they know enough to even ask a question, fearing that they may be wasting the rav’s time. Should indeed this cat-owner be made to feel insecure in her knowledge, or not worthy of the rav’s time, then the next time she has a genuine and severe shailah she may think twice about asking. He then explained that it was for this reason that he asked for a few minutes to chazar her ‘shailah’ – so as to counter their scoffing, so that she should feel confident for the next time.
The self-evident truth is that people feel very close to their pets, and I am not alone as a rav in having received hundreds of pet-shailos over the years. Some of these were fascinating questions, and some quite common.
I could write a (small) book dedicated only to my ‘rabbinic animal stories’, and will share with you in this and the next column some of the more interesting tales and shailos that arose in this arena over my tenure.
As to the initial question of euthanizing a pet, this actually touches upon an interesting discussion, and is a more common shailah brought to rabbanim than one may think.
In a well-known teshuva, Rav Yechezkal Landau (d. 1793) discusses the following case (shu’t Noda B’Yehudah, tanyana, y’d #10). A man inherited a sizeable swath of land, which included a forest in which a great number of indigenous animals and creatures were found. Would the owner be allowed to take advantage of this by hunting these animals for sport?
Although the Noda B’Yehudah concludes that hunting for sport is something a Jew should not be involved in, he also writes the following:
“Rav Yisroel Isserlein (known as the Terumas Hadeshen, d. 1460; this source can be found in his Pesakim V’Ksavim, siman 105) writes that so long as there is a human need or benefit then there is no tzar baalei chaim {see also Rema, eh’e 5:14}, but also, that this prohibition of tzar baalei chaim is only activated when causing tzar while alive, the act of killing any types of non-human living things, however, is never tzar baalei chaim. And so it is alluded as well in Chullin 7b….”
In other words, there is no direct issur in killing animals (although, as Noda B’Yehudah and others point out, there may sometimes be an issue of baal tashchis).
Surprisingly however, not everyone agrees with this ruling. The Shita M’kubetzes (Bava Basra 20) brings from the Ri Migash (d. 1141) who states that killing an animal can indeed sometimes fall under the rubric of tzar baalei chaim. The Shoel U’meishiv (tanyana 3:65; d. 1875) rules the same and marshals as evidence the sefer hachinuch (mitzvah 440) who explains that one of the reasons behind the mitzvah of shechita is the humane nature in which the animal is killed. In other words, during the death of (any) animal one too must be cognizant of tzar baalei chaim.
I would add another source for concern. The sefer chasidim amazingly writes (#589), “So that no one should have difficulty in Hashem’s allowing the slaughtering of kosher animals –(asking) “Is He not concerned for tzar of His creations?” -that He created a world where we witness animals eating other animals”.
Still, so long as the euthanization is being done in a benevolent way – the drug pentobarbital is often used to put the animal to sleep and then to put it to death –it would likely be muttar according to all views.
We see that her question was not ‘silly’, and indeed opens up a fascinating discussion.
Nevertheless, as we shall see next week, some pet owners may go too far, and often seek rabbinic approval for things out of the bounds of halacha.
For Part 2, search: ‘Pet Peeves’ Pets in Halacha, Part 2
Leave a Reply