EXOD814 If the owner went and sat down [doing nothing], telling him "Since it is your mitzvah, if you want to unload, unload," he is exempt, it being written: "with him." But if the owner were old or sick, he is obligated [to perform the mitzvah by himself] (Bava Metzia 42a).

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EXOD815 This tells me [that he must help] only if its owner is with him. Whence do I derive [that he must do so even] if his owner is not with him [but the animal is alone]? From "help shall you help" -- in any event (Bava Metzia 31a).

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EXOD816 See [[EXOD396]] Exodus 20:10 cattle SACTAB 217-8

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EXOD817 When we envision a farm, our minds fill with pictures from childhood songs of animals blissfully grazing in pastures green. Tragically, the reality of today's farms is a different scene entirely: Egg-laying hens are raised in overcrowded cages and debeaked with hot searing knives. Male chicks are “useless,” and so they are discarded at birth by being thrown into garbage bags to suffocate or into shredding machines to be turned into food for the other chickens. Calves that are raised for veal are taken from their mothers a day or two after birth and placed in tiny dark cages with their heads chained in place. Beef cattle are overfed, castrated, dehorned, and branded without anesthetics and finally shipped in overcrowded trucks to be slaughtered. And this is just scratching the surface of the modern industrial reality of mass-produced animal products that lurks behind the plastic-wrapped morsels we find in the supermarket. Today's farms, often termed “factory farms” for their production-line approach to animal rearing, offer a sharp contrast to the Jewish tradition’s teaching of tzaar baalei chayim, the commandment of preventing suffering to animals. In the Talmud, the Sages conclude that tzaar baalei chayim is a Toraitic obligation. Based on the interpretation of the biblical command to unload a pack animal (this verse), the Rabbis conclude, “We have learned that tzaar baalei chayim [the prevention of suffering to animals] is a biblical obligation” (Babylonian Talmud, Bava M’tzia 32a-b). This majority opinion is later supported in the halachic commentaries and codes. From this point, the Rabbis go on to instruct that tzaar baalei chayim is so important that we are permitted to break other mitzvot in order to prevent any suffering to animals, including the laws of Shabbat and Yom Tov (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 128b). That is, the very laws that the Rabbis protected with fences upon fences, must, in certain circumstances, be broken in order to spare an animal from pain. It is from the core of the halachic body of literature concerning the prevention of suffering of animals that the use of the term tzaar baalei chayim has been expanded in recent years to express the more general value placed upon the compassionate treatment of animals scattered throughout our tradition. The Torah and the Rabbinic literature overflow with passages that guide us to be compassionate in our treatment of animals. (By Rayna Ellen Gevurtz, "Kindness to Animals: Tzaar Baalei Chayim")

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EXOD818 Two donkey drivers who hated each other were going down the road when a donkey belonging to one could no longer bear its load. The other driver saw this and at first walked by. But then he remembered [this verse]. So he returned and helped his enemy in loading and unloading. Then peace came between them. The two entered an inn, ate and drank together, and became fast friends. Tanhuma. Buber Ed. Mishpatim 1

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EXOD819 See [[DEUT1118]] Deuteronomy 22:4 lift SPERO 151-2

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EXOD820 In this way it is hoped that both parties will come to eliminate any feelings of hatred.

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EXOD821 People are entitled to receive help from others only if they do what they can to help themselves first.… the obvious implication of the words "with him" [in this verse] is that the animal's owner must work with the passerby to help raise the animal. But, notes Rabbi Avrohom Feurer, "If the owner… refuses to do so because he expects the passerby to do it himself because it is a mitzvah, the passerby is excused…"(see Mishnah Bava Mezia 2:10). Basing himself on this Torah verse, Rabbi Ephraim of Luntshits (1550-1619), known as the Kli Yakar, the name of his Torah commentary, teaches that "we may derive an application of this idea to the poor among our people who impose themselves on the community by refusing to work though they are able. They cry that we do not supply them with their needs, but they are wrong. God did not command us to help them in those situations where they can help themselves." In short, poor people should not refuse gainful employment they are capable of performing. Only if someone makes efforts to support himself and fails is the community and its members obligated to support him.

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EXOD822 Do not treat the evil unfairly in court. No judge is allowed to tip the scales of justice against a litigant simply because that litigant is a known sinner (i.e., he is “poor” in mitzvos). The judge is forbidden to think, “Since he is a sinner I will rule against him.” The responsibility for punishing such a litigant for his sins rests with Hashem, not with the judge. Every person has the right to fair treatment in court. Judges must rule on the basis of the facts of each case, and they cannot rule against someone simply because of his sins and bad reputation.

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EXOD823 It was taught: Abba Chanan says in the name of R. Eliezer: If an evildoer and an observant Jew are being judged by you, do not say: Since this one is an evildoer, I shall incline the judgment against him. In this respect it is written: "You shall not incline the judgment of your poor one in his quarrel" -- [The reference is to] one who is poor in mitzvoth (Mechilta).

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