Debunking Viral Claim About the Talmud and Minors
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I have a dog that I love dearly. She has brought joy to my life and brought smiles to the faces of many. I've heard many people say that animals don't have souls or that their souls are different from ours. When I look at my dog I feel as though her soul is on a higher level than a lot of people I've met, partially due to her selfless nature. There is no question in my mind that that she knows right from wrong and she will do everything in her power to cheer up someone who needs it. Animals think, express emotion and feel pain and pleasure. Many humans aren't even sensitive enough to know when another person needs emotional support!
How does Judaism view the spirituality of animals – and specifically dogs? Do animals have souls? Is there a special place in Heaven for precious animals? I hope you can shed some light on this issue.
You are asking a very deep question.
The great kabbalists explain that all living things – human and animal – have souls. However, not all souls are created equal. As described in Genesis 2:7, every human being has both a "nefesh" and a "neshama." The nefesh is defined as an animal soul – the life force, the instinctual, animalistic drives. The neshama, in contrast, is a purely spiritual component, a divine spark which distinguishes man from animal. This is the part of us which yearns for spirituality and closeness to God.
Humans and animals all engage in emotional responses such as love, fear, loyalty, imagination, memory, intelligence, etc. We run from danger, have survival instincts, and are driven to procreate. This all emanates from the lower animal soul.
But there exists in humans another spiritual entity that is very different and much higher. Humans also have a divine, spiritual soul. Only this soul has the ability to forge a relationship with the Divine, transcendent dimension of existence. This is where humans enter the unique realm of making free will moral decisions. Only humans have the ability to choose higher "soul pleasures" – like helping the poor, even at the expense lower "body pleasures" like hoarding more food for ourselves. You'll never see a hungry dog say to his friends, "Let's not fight over this," or "Let's save some for Fido who came late."
As human beings, we are locked in a constant battle over which soul will lead our lives. The measure of true “humanity” is the degree that one controls the animal soul, because otherwise a person is acting like an animal. (Actually, as the Sages explain, he is worse than an animal. Wasting spiritual potential is something that only a human is held accountable for.)
In light of this, the Torah prohibits the consumption of blood (see Leviticus 7:26). The Talmud explains that the "animal soul" resides in the blood of the beast, and since the animal soul is essentially coarse and unrefined, eating blood internalizes that trait. The Torah's message is "Don't take the animal instinct, the animal life force, and increase its prominence within your personality. Minimize that part of you, and maximize the aspect of you which is spiritual."
(For meat to be kosher, the blood must be removed either by a process of soaking the meat in salt and then rinsing it out, or by broiling it in a flame. Ironically, Jews throughout the ages have been accused of the "Blood Libel" – i.e. killing Christian babies in order to use their blood to bake matzah. As absurd as this claim is, it is even more so in light of the Torah prohibition against eating blood!)
All this is not to demean animals in any way. That is how they were created, and of course they serve an important purpose in the world. They are mentioned throughout the Bible and the Talmud for their great qualities. For example, a dog in Hebrew is called Kelev – a contraction of the words Kol Lev –meaning a "full heart." Thus we can learn from a dog the meaning of loyalty.
Interestingly, one verse in the Torah says that if a Jew has a piece a non-kosher meat, he should "throw it to the dogs" (Exodus 22:30). Another verse says that at the Exodus from Egypt, no dog barked (Exodus 11:7). The Midrash explains that dogs are singled out for non-kosher meat as a special reward for not disturbing the Jewish Exodus.
There is another great difference between animals and humans. The divine human soul is completely independent of any physical substance. For a human being, when the body expires, the divine spiritual soul lives on eternally. Whereas since animals lack a divine soul, when the body expires, their animal soul expires, too. So even though they have an important place in this world, there is no heaven for animals.
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I disagree. Since childhood, I have had departed family & animal Souls visit me. I am not mentally disturbed. I am 75 now & in the worst of worst depression because if one of my therapy Cats dying in june. She was 17 & gave me so much strength. Now my remaining little 7 year old has stage 2 CKD (kidney disease) Daisy who died had visited me & she's on my security cameras videos as large Orbs & streaks of moving Light. I disagree that animal Souls are lesser than humans, I believe they are much more pure because they are incapable of hate. I want to be with my Fur abies when I die.
The only heaven worth going to would be one with your beloved animals as well as your beloved people from life.
"No Heaven will Heaven be without my Cats to be with me "
I have a cat. This one is third one.
He can read my mind and understand me well. No verbal communication, by 6 sense. Not many people are lost 6 sense but I have. They /pet come to us for reasons. Leaning about unconditional love and keep our soul clean. They are like a angel to me.
They ARE Furry Angels. Men wrote the Writings.
I disagree. If was like you said they would not have personality and each dog and cat, for instance, they have personality so this 100 percent they have nefesh and ruach but not a neshama. Absolutely they back to the source that is Hashem and fuzes with Kadosh Baruch Hu.
Yes & I want to be with mine on the OtherSide or it will not be Heaven for me
I’m taking care of a man who is married, kisses his dog, caresses it for several hours during the day and puts that dog to sleep with him in his bed. When asked he said that he loves his dog like he loves his wife and that the dog reciprocates his love for him. He is having issues with his wife who is very much against his behaviour and when I tell him about the Torah and the prohibition he says I don’t care about the Torah.
Good! Men wrote it. Our hearts relay the truths
in the Torah it says their is animals in heaven so I yes I do believe there is animals there. I have to disagree with this sorry. but it says animals will be in heaven as well lions and horses it even says. so yes animals will dwell with us there.
God loves them to. so much h saved them on the arc so I know for fact they will be with us. especially the ones that saved our lives.. here on earth. they have a place as well. if it was not so he would not love them and provide for them. but he does.
No heaven for animals? I find it hard to believe that God would create animals that feel love and pain and fear, and yet not give them souls. That does not agree with my concept of a loving, caring God.
I agree! I believe animals have a place in heaven. It may not be the same heaven where humans souls are but it’s a form of heaven where is only for animals.
Earth is the heaven for animals and we will return it to them. We will steward them as we did in the beginning. The joys in the world to come will be immeasurable. If your joy is the return of your beloved pets soul to its reformed body who is anyone to deny you. Everything has a soul but not everything is guaranteed eternal life. Not even angels as the right to bestow immortality is God's and his alone. Death will soon have no dominion, and part of that dominion is keeping things from ever returning from the darkness.