Compassion, Freedom, and Faith: What the Torah Really Teaches About Life’s Challenges

Some people falsely claim that the Torah is cruel to animals and lacks sensitivity toward them. What is the Torah’s true approach to animals? Let’s take a look:

• The Torah forbids blocking the mouth of an ox (or any animal) while it works in the field, preventing it from eating from the produce in front of it. This mitzvah exists to spare the animal the pain of seeing its food but being unable to eat it: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.” (Devarim 25:4)

• The Torah forbids cooking meat in milk. One of the reasons behind this is compassion — not to cook a young animal in the very milk of its mother: “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Shemot 23:19)

• The Torah prohibits a farmer from plowing with an ox and a donkey together, because the two animals differ in size and strength, and working together can cause them unnecessary pain: “Do not plow with an ox and a donkey together.” (Devarim 22:10)

• According to the Torah, if you see an animal suffering, you are obligated to help it — even if it belongs to someone you despise: “If you see the donkey of someone you hate collapsing under its load… you must surely help him.” (Shemot 23:5)

• The Torah explicitly forbids a Jew from having his animals work on Shabbat: “…but the seventh day is a Shabbat to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work — you, your son, your daughter… your ox, your donkey, and all your animals.” (Shemot 20:10)

• A person may not acquire any animal unless he accepts responsibility to care for and feed it:
  Rabbi Elazar HaKappar taught: “A person is not permitted to buy an animal, a beast, or a bird unless he has arranged its food supply.” (Jerusalem Talmud, Ketubot 4:8)

• Jewish law requires a person to feed his animals before he eats himself, since livestock or pets depend completely on humans and cannot obtain their own food. A person must prioritize the needs of those who depend on him (Berachot 40a; Gittin 62a), as the verse states: “I will give grass in your field for your animals, and you shall eat and be satisfied.” (Devarim 11:15)

Causing animals suffering is a severe Torah prohibition. Not only that — we are commanded to actively remove pain from animals whenever we can (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 191). The Torah teaches a person to consider the “feelings” of animals, to help an animal in distress, to ensure that animals rest, and to act with compassion and responsibility toward all living creatures.

“Protecting Your Freedom”

Is a secular person who “does whatever he wants” truly free — while a Torah-observant Jew who follows the commandments is considered restricted and limited?

A person who is dragged after his desires is actually enslaved to them. He lacks real control. While a person who knows how to restrain himself, to set clear boundaries — what is forbidden and what is allowed, becomes like a king over himself. He makes decisions based on thought, values, and wisdom, not on impulse.

This is the deeper meaning of our Sages’ statement: “There is no free person except one who engages in Torah.” One who studies Torah learns how to control his impulses, and thus achieves genuine inner freedom.

Such a person can say: “There is an immodest woman here; I will not look — it is against God’s will.” Or: “I want to eat cheesecake, but I ate meat two hours ago — so I won’t.” This applies in every area of life.

This is the secret of true freedom. Only someone who can take something he loves and dedicate it to God demonstrates control over his inner forces. Without Torah, a person cannot free himself from enslavement to the evil inclination. Those who cling to Torah break free from material bondage.

Wasting life chasing after desires is not freedom. If we spend our lives satisfying temporary and fleeting pleasures, we lose the freedom needed to achieve our real purpose: To fulfill Torah, mitzvot, good deeds, refine our character, and draw closer to our Creator.

The Automatic Pump

Did you know that each of us pumps about 1.5 million barrels of blood throughout our lifetime? Not only that — this pumping happens effortlessly, flawlessly, and with perfect precision!

What pump are we talking about? The heart, of course.

The heart is a blood pump: It pulls oxygenated blood from the lungs and pushes it to all the organs and cells. Then it draws back the deoxygenated blood and sends it to the lungs to release carbon dioxide and absorb oxygen again. This cycle occurs 60–100 times per minute for decades.

Every heartbeat sends a quarter to half a cup of blood into the arteries. The heart pumps about 7,000 liters of blood per day — silently, reliably, continuously.

It’s astonishing: How does this apple-sized pump know how much blood to draw? How does it adjust its force precisely to the needs of each organ? How does it automatically speed up during exertion and calm down afterward? An extraordinary miracle is beating in each one of us.

Prayer or Wick?

Why did God command us to pray every day — three times a day?
Why not once a week or once a month?

God wants us to connect with Him. That connection brings divine abundance into the world. According to Kabbalah, daily prayer draws spiritual flow into creation.

In simple terms, think of a king sending his son to study abroad.
The son worries about expenses. The father tells him: “Every evening call me, tell me what you spent today, and within 10 minutes I will transfer the money.” And so it goes day after day.

After a month, the son says: “Father, I calculated all my expenses — instead of calling every day, I’ll give you the total once a month.”
The father answers: “Absolutely not! If I send it monthly, how often will you call me? Once a month. But I want to hear your voice every day. Call daily — you’ll receive. Don’t call — you won’t.”

That is how God relates to us. The word “Tefillah” (prayer) contains the same letters as “Petilah” (wick).

What does a wick do? It connects the candle (the physical) to the flame (the spiritual). Prayer is the wick — connecting us below to God above. The more heartfelt the prayer, the greater the blessing drawn into our lives.

“Seventy Faces of the Torah”

“You think one way, and the Reform Jews think another way. Who says you’re right? There are ‘70 faces to the Torah,’ no? There are many ways to interpret it…”

So my secular friend argued.

But these people interpret the Torah against the Torah. When you show them what is actually written, they respond: “Seventy faces to the Torah!” What does this phrase actually mean?

“Faces” refers to inner dimensions. Every verse has layers of meaning: pshat (simple), remez (hint), drash (expansion), and sod (secret). Each layer has its sub-layers, endlessly deep.

A verse is like a polished diamond — when light hits it from different angles, it reveals new colors. So too each verse has many angles, many legitimate interpretations — as long as they do not contradict the Torah itself.

People like to say: “I think this, the rabbi thinks that — 70 faces to the Torah!” Usually because they want to erase parts of the Torah and continue doing whatever they want. However, the Torah’s “70 faces” are infinite depths of truth — not permission to rewrite God’s Will.