Prof. Yael Shemesh is an Associate Professor in Hebrew Bible at Bar-Ilan University and the head of Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Center for the Study of Women in Judaism. She holds a Ph.D. in biblical studies from Bar-Ilan University and is the author of Mourning in the Bible: Coping with Loss in Biblical Literature (Hebrew), “The Stories of Women in a Man’s World: The Books of Ruth, Esther, and Judith” (in Feminist Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible in Retrospect) and “‘And Many Beasts’ (Jonah 4:11): The Function and Status of Animals in the Book of Jonah”(JHS 10).
Last Updated
January 23, 2022
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In contrast to Descartes’ theory of animals as automatons, the Torah and rabbinic text express deep concern for animal suffering. One vivid example is the donkey’s rebuke of Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me?” (Num 22:28).
In contrast to Descartes’ theory of animals as automatons, the Torah and rabbinic text express deep concern for animal suffering. One vivid example is the donkey’s rebuke of Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me?” (Num 22:28).
