Jerusalem Post published an interesting article that opens the debate on zoos is our modern world. So what do you think?
This past Passover, I spoke at a retreat in San Diego for Upscale Getaways and was blessed to be joined by my grandchildren. One of the highlights of the fabulous program was the day we spent at the San Diego Zoo, America’s greatest wildlife park. The kids were electrified by the animals of their grandmother’s Australia – the koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils – as well as by the giant Rhinos, hippos and elephants. The only bummer was the meanie China had taken back the Giant Pandas in a move that seemed strangely political.
And while it’s not nearly as vast or diverse, on Sabbaths in New York City, I love taking our children and grandchildren to the Central Park Zoo smack in the middle of Manhattan.
When I was in yeshiva in Jerusalem as a teenager all those years ago, I remember hearing the roar of the lions and the bellow of the elephant from the Biblical Zoo, which was just down the road from our dormitory. It gave me a sense of awe and wonder to know that I loved so close to those majestic animals.
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But now zoos have come under incredible assault, as places that are utterly immoral prisons of cages for animals that should be allowed to roam free.
The Torah mandates the prevention of unnecessary pain to animals as a cornerstone of divine ethics. Causing undue distress to living creatures is forbidden. The ancient rabbis ruled that one must feed one’s cattle before feeding oneself, and even the Ten Commandments include domestic animals in the Sabbath rest, as we read just last week in the weekly Torah reading of Va’etchanan.
Read more: jpost
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