We know that a Jew is forbidden to eat Treif – non kosher. The Torah tells us something extraordinary. When one’s animal has been killed or has died and is rendered Treif – the Torah tells the owner to dispose of it by casting it to the dog.
Rashi asks, why does the Torah highlight the dog, when in reality one can sell such meat to a non-Jew? Rashi quotes a Medrash which explains that G-d does not overlook the reward for those that do His will. The Torah relates that when the Jews left Egypt, the many dogs the Egyptians had did not bark at them. For this, all species of dogs are forever recognized by giving them our Treif animals to enjoy.
Amazingly, because the dogs in Egypt heeded G-d’s will, all species of dogs, whether they are descendants of those dogs or not, are to be recognized. The underlying message to us is, if we are taught to be grateful because of what the Egyptians’ dogs did 3300 ago, how much more so must we be grateful to those who we and our immediate ancestors have benefited from, especially if they went out of their way to show kindness and graciousness to us.
Why we would expect the dogs to bark during the last plague and when the Jews left? The Talmud tells us that one of the extraordinary senses dogs have, is the ability to recognize and howl when the angel of death is around. During the final plague of slaying of the first born, the angel of death was around, and still, the dogs were quiet.
The Roke’ach writes that dogs have the ability to sniff out a robber. We see today that dogs are trained to sniff out all types of forbidden and dangerous substances.
Perhaps the reason why dogs are lauded for being quiet when the Jews left Egypt, is because the Jews left with an abundance of riches given to them by their former masters. By being quiet the dogs gave testimony that nothing the Jews had in their possession was stolen, rather it was given to them willingly by the Egyptians.
Further in this Parsha, which is filled with laws – as the name Mishpatim indicates – the Torah mentions the law to observe our weekly Shabbos, stating the following: “For a six day period you shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall desist, so that your ox and donkey may be at ease,”
From this instruction, the Torah prohibits a Jew’s animals to do work on Shabbos. The Chidushai Harim asks, from the flavor of the instruction of the Torah of desisting from work on Shabbos – ‘so that’ your ox and donkey may be at ease, it gives an impression that we are only withdrawing from work on Shabbos so that our animals are at ease on the Shabbos. Obviously, that is not the case. So what then is the Torah teaching us?
The Chidushai Harim exposes us to a beautiful concept. The Torah is telling us a Jew with his elevated existence through embracing G-d’s Mitzvos, acquires a spiritual aura with the capacity to radiate and positively affect others – even his animals. A Jew must keep Shabbos so that even his animals will sense that the day of Shabbos is holy ‘and so’ the animals will intrinsically know that it is Shabbos and refrain from the work that it normally does during the week.
Such is the capacity of fulfilling Mitzvos – it uplifts one’s environment.
The Medrash tells the story of R’ Yochanan who was financially strapped and needed to sell his ox. He sold it to a non-Jew. When Shabbos came around, the ox would not budge to do work. Frustrated, the non-Jew went back to Reb Yochanan and told him about his dilemma. Reb Yochanan went over to the ox and whispered in its ear, “Until now you belonged to me and you were forbidden to do work on Shabbos. However, I sold you to a non-Jew and you are now permitted to work on Shabbos. The Medrash continues, “When the non-Jew saw what type of impact the previous owner’s Shabbos observance had on the ox, he was so moved, that he decided to join the Jewish people and converted.
From then on Reb Yochanan’s name became associated with the Aramaic word for ox, Torta, because people recognized that because of his elevated level of keeping the Shabbos, his ox felt elevated as well.
Shabbos does its magic on all!
