6 Nissan 5783 – 28 maart 2023
Yesterday we had a mindset course at school, always interesting to learn new things and see things from a different angle. We were divided into different groups, with different assignments. One group was given the task of thinking of what they could learn from an animal. It was remarkable to hear that they found that assignment difficult. One colleague commented that it was actually special that the assignment was difficult, since children could probably do the same assignment very easily.
It shows the purity and openness of a child’s soul. A soul open to learning good qualities from animals.
King Solomon, the wisest man ever, was known for being able to talk to animals and pointed out the wisdom of animal behaviour. “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; see his ways and become wise” (Proverbs 6:6). King Solomon even had a zoo for which he imported exotic animals: “For the king had ships that went to Tarshish,” which returned “with gold, silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks” (Chronicles II 9:21). The Talmud also teaches that we can learn a lot from animals. “Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘If we had not been given the Torah, we could have learned the virtues of modesty from the cat, respect for others’ property from the ant and loyalty from the dove’ ” (Eruvin 100b). Animals are not only G-d’s creatures, but also G-d’s teachers.
So when you see an animal today, any animal, take a good look at what good trait you can learn from him and put your focus on that for a while.
By Angelique Sijbolts
Sources: 9 Ways Judaism Teaches Us to Be Kind to Animals
© Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further.
