The Torah way is to be kind and compassionate to all living creatures. In this week’s Torah portion (Deuteronomy, 22:10), we learn that a farmer shouldn’t make two different types of animals work together as it will upset them. God wants us not only to be sensitive to an animal’s physical pain, but even to its feelings.

In our story, a young girl discovers a new way to be kind to animals.

Hop, Skip and a Jump

Shari Smith was walking along the trail behind her bunk, enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze of the early morning. She loved taking a little stroll before everyone else woke up — everything was so quiet and pretty.

She bent down for a moment to tie her shoe and was completely surprised to find four tiny baby rabbits hiding in the grass! Huddled together and sniffing around, they were probably waiting for their mother to return with some food. They looked so cute! She immediately picked one up and held its soft fur to her face and decided she was going to keep him.

Shari ran back to her bunk and took one of her shoeboxes down to make him a little bed. She made so much noise that her bunkmates started to awaken. They asked what she was doing, and she showed them her new pet.

“He’s so small! Where did you find him?”

“In the tall grass behind the bunk, there are some others there. You can go take them for yourself. This one is mine!”

Miriam, the youngest in the bunk, looked concerned. “Shari, how could you do that?”

“Do what?”

“How could you take him away from his mother? How is he going to survive?”

“No problem. I’ll feed him lettuce from my leftover salad at lunch — I never eat it anyway — and I’ll give him water. He’ll do fine.”

Miriam shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s not easy to take proper care of a baby animal. But even if you can feed him, he’s going to miss his mother so much and imagine how sad she’s going to feel to find him gone!”

Shari laughed nervously. “Oh, come on Miriam. Now you’re going way too far. What’s the big deal? They’re just dumb animals. The mother won’t even realize he’s gone!”

“Not true. She’s going to feel so lonely having one of her babies away from her!”

With that, Miriam went quiet and turned away. Shari tried to ignore the sad look on her friend’s face. She was probably just jealous that she didn’’ have a cool pet of her own. Yet as the day went on, she just couldn’t get her friend’s words out of her mind.

Later on that day, Shari joyfully ran to the office after hearing an announcement that she had a phone call.

“Hi Mom! Yes, I’m having a great time! Thank you so much for sending me to camp! You, you what? You miss me? What did you just say? That it feels lonely having one of your babies away from you? … Um, um, I miss you a lot too, but now I’ve got to go, okay Mom? Bye!”

Shari stood next to the phone for a long minute after her mother had hung up. She felt like her mother’s words — the same as Miriam’s — were almost like a message to her from heaven or something.

“Shari, are you okay?” asked the secretary.

“Yes, I’m fine! Excellent, in fact.”

She ran back to her bunk and scooped up the baby rabbit as carefully as she could. ‘” hope I find the spot where the other ones are. Oh, please let me find them!” she whispered to herself. Finally she came upon the other baby rabbits, this time with their mother stomping around anxiously next to them. Shari had never been happier to be part of a “family” reunion.

“Here you go, little bunny. Back to your mommy,” she said, as she gently placed the rabbit down and scooted away. Though Shari couldn’t be sure that the rabbits felt better, she knew for sure that she felt better for being kind enough to care.

Nesanel Yoel Safran is a writer, chef and a teacher/student of Jewish spirituality. He blends these assorted vocations on his blog, Soul Foodie, where you can join him on mystical cooking adventures and glean practical wisdom for the kitchen — and for living. soulfoodiecom.wordpress.com/