God promised that if we keep the mitzvot and sincerely love Him, we will benefit from timely rain and bountiful crops:

"I will give plants in your field for your animals; and you will eat and be satiated." (Deut. 11:15)

Rav Abba Aricha, the celebrated third-century scholar, called attention to the order of the verse: first the animals eat, and then the people.

"Rav taught: one is not permitted to eat before he has placed food before his animals." (Berachot 40)

Why is this? Should not people eat first, since they are more important? Are not humans 'the crown of creation'?

Rav Kook explained that this Talmudic rule of etiquette contains a number of moral lessons.

• Given our important status in the universe, we have a responsibility to look after all creatures.

• Our food (and in the case of the farmer, also his livelihood) is by virtue of the cow, chicken, etc. We need to feed these animals first, as an expression of the fundamental gratitude one should feel towards these creatures, which supply us with our basic needs.

• In purely physical aspects, animals are superior to humans. Is there a person stronger than a bear, faster than a horse, more agile than a cat? Our superiority over the animals is only in spiritual spheres, in our degree of intelligence, and knowledge of God and His holy ways. Therefore, when it comes to physical sustenance, animals take precedence to humans, and by right are served first.

• If we lack food for a short time, we may comfort ourselves with spiritual or intellectual pursuits. This is an integral aspect of the human soul, which is not sustained "by bread alone". Animals, however, have no such alternate outlets when they are pained by hunger. Therefore, it is logical to deal with the animal's hunger first.

  (adapted from Ein Eyah vol. II, p. 180)

  Copyright © 2006 by Chanan Morrison