EXOD811 How is "foe" to be understood? As a foe who is an idolator? But did we not learn: "foe" here refers to a Jew and not to an idolator? But if a Jew, is it permitted to hate a Jew? Is it not written (Leviticus 19:17): "Do not hate your brother in your heart"? [We are speaking here of] a Jew in whom he observed indecency [and whom it is, therefore, permitted to hate] (Pesachim 113b).

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EXOD812 [This verse]. And he has to walk with him as far as a parasang [a distance of about 3.5 miles - AJL] [to make sure all is now in order] unless the owner of the load says, "I do not need you."

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EXOD813 If he unloaded and loaded, unloaded and loaded, even four or five times, he is obliged [to repeat the process if necessary], it being written: "help shall you help" [connoting recurrent helping] (Bava Metzia 32a).

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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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