Question: I have pets which I regard as equal to all the rest of my family but I’m being challenged on that view. I remember being told when I was young that all things are created equal and should also be treated as such as life is life regardless of what embodies it. Can you help? I would extremely grateful and it would save a life.

Answer: Equality is something that is very difficult to apply; even among humans. We don’t consider any two people to be perfectly equal in any important way. After all, one is bound to have some talent that is missing in the other and lack something he has.

We can’t even treat people with real equality: in an example I’ve used elsewhere, would a hospital seriously consider the application of someone without any medical training for a position as senior consultant? Obviously not. It’s not his fault his parents couldn’t afford to send him to medical school, but no one in his right mind is going to treat him as the equivalent of a qualified doctor. All of us are humans and therefore clearly deserve respect and, when needed, support. We should really see each other as brothers and sisters…even if we can’t actually treat each other equally. This is true of people.

Animals, on the other hand, are clearly treated quite differently by the Torah. Their rights, for instance, are secondary to our needs: see Gen. 1:28 “And G-d blessed them and He said to them: be fruitful and multiply and fill the land and conquer it and dominate the fish of the sea and the bird of the heavens and all life that crawls upon the land.” In other words, we may use animals for our needs (even if we must avoid wantonly and irresponsibly destructive behavior).

It is also permitted – and sometimes even required – to slaughter animals for our food and other needs. We wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing to a human being because his life is sacred to us. But animals, in the Torah’s eyes, are different.

Having said that, we are required by Torah law to care for the animals in our possession and to avoid causing unnecessary suffering to any animal. But they could hardly be called equal.

I hope this helps.

With regards,
Rabbi Boruch Clinton