The Weekly Daf #10
Bava Kama 51-57
Week of 4 -10 Iyar 5754/15-21 April 1994
By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions   

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This issue is dedicated in memory of 
Milton Seltzer and Roslyn Seltzer Leventhal, O.B.M.

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Pulling Together

Torah Law prohibits the use, in tandem, of an ox and a donkey -- and 
similarly any two animals one of a kosher species and the other not -- for 
any sort of work such as plowing or pulling a wagon.  Rabbinical Law 
extends this ban to any two diverse species of animals.

The question is posed as to whether this ban also applies to a case in 
which a man hitches a wagon to a team consisting of a goat walking along 
the seashore and a large fish swimming alongside in the water.  The 
argument can be made that since the goat does not function in the water nor 
the fish on land, therefore this cannot be considered working in tandem.  
It may be contended, however, that the wagon is ultimately moving forward 
as a result of their joint effort.

This question is not resolved in the Talmud and therefore falls into the 
category of all such unresolved issues.  It is forbidden to use this odd 
couple to pull a wagon, but violation is not punished by a human court, 
which acts only on transgressions of whose nature there is no doubt.
Bava Kama 55a

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TPCA --Torah Prevention of Cruelty 
to Animals

Prevention of cruelty to animals is a Torah concept that finds explicit 
expression in the command to help unload an animal collapsing under its 
burden.  This humane concept also underlies a number of the explanations 
offered by leading Torah commentaries for the above-mentioned ban on 
working an ox and donkey in tandem.
 
1.	The donkey is weaker than the ox and will suffer by trying to keep up
	with its stronger companion.
	Ibn Ezra

2.	The ox chews its cud, creating the impression for the non cud-chewing
	donkey that it is enjoying food while the companion goes hungry.
	Ba'al Haturim

3.	All species of animals instinctively cling to their own kind and
	suffer when forced into the company of strangers.  An important
	lesson may be learned from this: never to couple, in one operation,
	humans of opposite natures.  If the Torah showed such concern for the
	suffering of dumb animals, how much more so must we be careful in
	avoiding harm to our fellow man with the intelligence to perceive his
	Creation.
	Sefer Hachinuch

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