GEN659 Ferocious beasts come upon the world on account of false oaths. Pirkei Avot V:10-11 … the animal knows no surcease from his particular activity or pattern of living.  The lion will continue to attack and rend its prey, the ant to gather its food, the beaver to build its dams.  Only man can set a limit to his actions and decide when he has had enough; he can even oppose and rebel against his very instincts, in his search for higher levels and goals of development.  With this capacity man becomes higher than the animal. With his capacity he reflects the Divinity within him, and he attains the stature by which, as the Torah says, the fear of man “shall be upon every animal of the earth.” [this verse]. As long as man cultivates the “image of God” within himself and lives up to it, the animal kingdom will respect and fear him. But when man ignores the “image of God” within himself and grows father and father away from it, then the lower orders of Creation see only another animal before them, and the law of the jungle prevails. Talmud, Shabbat 151a. Only the human being stands erect with his head up, pointing toward his true destiny: Heaven. Woe to him if he loses the Divine grace of being human. For the Jew, though, there is a further height to attain. Like all men, he must fully develop his humanity; but he must also fulfill his special obligations as a Jew: Torah is his responsibility and his sanctity.  “Be you holy, for I am holy.” Leviticus 19:2  SINAI1 318-9