Making Intelligent Choices
The following incident was a real eye-opener. A woman came to me, asking that I bless her dog with a speedy recovery. I was taken aback at this unusual request, and suggested, “Do you have children? How about if I bless your children?”
But she was stubborn. “Rabbi, my children are fine, thank you. It is my dog that is sick and needs the Rabbi’s blessing.”
Although it is not my custom to confer blessings on beasts, I complied with the woman’s request and blessed her dog.
But her entreaty continued to plague me for a long time afterward. Instead of asking that her children remain in good health and succeed in their endeavors, this woman’s head and heart were focused only on her dog. Suddenly, a difficulty I had been grappling with became clarified.
- Reciting Tehillim at the Kotel Hama’aravi
As it is known, Adam Harishon was created on the sixth day, the day of the creation of the animal kingdom. The Abarbanel asks why Adam was not worthy to have a day designated solely for his creation. Why was he created at the same time as the beasts?
The Abarbanel has many explanations, one of which is the following:
Every day, Hashem created elements which have similar qualities. For instance, on the third day, all growing things came into existence, and on the fourth day, the luminaries were created. But on the sixth day, we find a contradiction to this order. Man was created with the beasts. But man is eons away from the beasts! Man has free choice and can use his intelligence to reach tremendous heights, or misuse his G-d-given capabilities to sink lower than the creatures of the earth. Why, then, was he created together with the animals?
This teaches us that one should not think that man and animal are naturally distinct creatures. Kohelet states (3:19), “Man has no superiority over beast.” Physically speaking, there is no intrinsic difference between the two.
The great difference between man and beast is in the level of their intelligence. It is man’s moral obligation to keep as far away from an animalistic lifestyle as possible. By developing his intelligence, he acquires true superiority over the beasts. But if he fails to do this, he will end up like the animals of the earth, just as he began.
