大象传媒

From Julia Neuberger, Senior Rabbi at the west London Synagogue:听

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Tomorrow morning, in synagogues around the world, we鈥檒l be reading the story of Balaam and his ass. Balaam was sent by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites, and ends up blessing them instead. In the course of this, he鈥檚 riding his ass along the road, and the ass stops and won鈥檛 go any further. She turns to the side of the path and crushes Balaam鈥檚 foot!听 He then beats his ass (I think one of the messages of the whole story is about cruelty to animals) and she goes on a bit, but then stops dead. He鈥檚 furious. He really lashes out at her, whereupon she turns round to him and speaks, reproaching him for beating her, and telling him she鈥檚 been a loyal and faithful animal to him. She can see an angel standing in the middle of the track, whilst Balaam can鈥檛 see it at all.

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At that point Balaam sees the angel, bows down to the ground, and hears God tell him to be grateful to his ass, for without her intervention, God would have killed him. It鈥檚 a wonderful story, and the heroine is without doubt the ass. Yet the Hebrew Bible doesn鈥檛 often give us animals as heroes. Nor does more recent history. It鈥檚 only in recent years we鈥檝e had a memorial in Hyde Park to the animals that fought in world wars. It鈥檚 only recently that the play War Horse has been a runaway success. Animals speak in children鈥檚 stories, or in Rudyard Kipling鈥檚 Just so stories, not in adult literature. But here we are with a talking ass in the Bible, an ass who reproaches her owner.

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And that basic message of hers dates back at least 2000 years- animals can feel and express their emotions. That鈥檚 something we ought to remember when we speak lightly of strays and feral dogs, and when we disregard the animals still caught up in wars and conflict worldwide. They too are sentient beings, and can express themselves, even if we don鈥檛 actually hear them speak.听