<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou shall be holy people to Me; you shall not eat flesh of an animal that was torn in the field \u2013 to the dog you shall throw it\u201d (Exodus 22:30).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a profound insight here from the Daas Zekeinim M\u2019Baalei HaTosafos. It was very common for people to have a dog that would guard their flocks. The verse is describing a situation where this dog let his master down by not preventing a wolf from attacking one of the sheep. Despite this lapse that might leave the master extremely upset, the Torah mandates the dog be \u201crewarded\u201d with the remains of the sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Normally, the dog wouldn\u2019t receive such good food \u2013 now it\u2019s getting an incredible treat, even though he let his master down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is that this was a rare lapse. Day after day, the dog protects the flock and even puts its life at risk. A wolf would love a piece of him too. Normally, the dog is not given any special kudos for doing its job and it eats whatever scraps remain after all the people of the household have consumed almost everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recognition for all the dog\u2019s prior loyal and unflagging service \u2013 and for which it was never shown any special appreciation \u2013 it receives something special now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So often, we take so much of what others do for granted only to complain when they make a mistake or don\u2019t perform optimally. The Torah is teaching us a vital lesson here: The routine things that others do for us are not routine \u2013 they are often heroic and deserve our deepest hakarat ha\u2019tov (appreciation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Rabbi Michael Skobac<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 Copyright, all rights reserved. If you enjoyed this article, we encourage you to distribute it further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow the link for more \u201cVerses from Tenach\u201d<\/a> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cYou shall be holy people to Me; you shall not eat flesh of an animal that was torn in the field \u2013 to the dog you shall throw it\u201d (Exodus 22:30). There is a profound insight here from the Daas Zekeinim M\u2019Baalei HaTosafos. It was very common for people to have a dog that would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-verse-from-tanach"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
More of Rabbi Michael Skobac<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n