by Rabbi Yisrael Rutman

After a year in office, everybody in the media with a license to comment (which means everybody in the media) is subjecting President Barak Obama’s job performance to intensive scrutiny. Not only on the big issues, like the economy, health care reform, Afghanistan and the Mideast, but little things, as well. Did Obama react quickly enough to news of the attempted bombing of an American airliner? Should he have attended the ceremony marking the tearing down of the Berlin Wall? Did Obama bow too deeply before the Japanese Emperor (Time’s pundit suggested it was no diplomatic snafu, just testimony to the young president’s physical fitness, which allows no pot belly to obstruct the deepest bow.)

So, if the depth of a presidential bow is not too trivial for sober, year-end assessment, then it seems to me that another issue of presidential fitness deserves analysis, as well. I am thinking of the time last June when Mr. Obama swatted a fly during a press conference at the White House. Obama’s expression of pride of kill—”That was pretty impressive, wasn’t it?” I got the sucker,” he said, as he directed a cameraman to the tiny carcass lying at the feet of the commander-in-chief. The scene inspired headlines like the Washington Post’s “Obama Would—and Does—Hurt A Fly.”
The truth is, though it may not even the make the footnotes of presidential history, it’s really not trivial. It’s a philosophical prompt: Does anyone have the right to hurt a fly? Was Obama wrong?

Reverence for life has always been a part of Jewish tradition. Thou Shalt Not Kill refers to killing humans; but long before the ASPCA, we had a prohibition against causing cruelty to animals. In the mitzvah of prikat ohl, the Torah enjoins us to unload an animal, and gives preference to unloading over loading up, due to the suffering of the animal bearing its cargo.

In Judaism, animals are not sacrosanct. Scripture plainly states “You shall slaughter and eat.” (Deuteronomy 12:22). Similarly, one may use animal hides for clothing; one may pluck a feather from a bird in order to make a quill with which to write. The ancient practice of harnessing an animal to a plow or wagon also causes discomfort, if not pain, but we can do that too. And harmful creatures arefair game. One may kill a deadly snake or scorpion, even if it’s not immediately threatening you, and even on the Shabbath, when slaughter for food is forbidden.

The common denominator of these licenses to kill is the existence of some specific benefit to man. In lieu of that, one cannot wantonly cause them harm. In fact, the Torah requires that just as a Jew rest on the Seventh Day, so too must his animals. Not only that, but he must so to it that they are fed before himself and his family.

All this is not to say that there is unanimous agreement among the Sages in these matters. Consider the spider and its web: The Talmud urges us to devote time to preparing for Sabbath ourselves, rather than delegating all the chores to others (usually of the female persuasion). Shopping, baking and cleaning are among the preparations mentioned. Cleaning includes sweeping the floor, making the bed, etc. Some say it also means clearing out cobwebs—along with their inhabitants. Agreement on this is not, however, wall-to-wall, or filament-to-filament. The Kabbalists object. They taught that we must respect the life of a spider, even if it means effectively ceding them corners of one’s domain. Life is sacred, it is the Almighty’s domain, and not for us to blot it out, no matter how insignificant or annoying it may be in our eyes.

The views of Halacha and Kaballah here are not irreconcilable. It’s suggested that it’s only in their natural habitat, in the wild, that we dare not tread on any living thing. But in human neighborhoods, the Kaballists would agree that one may snuff out the life of an annoying little bug, no problem.

However, not all things permitted are desirable. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein advised that while Jewish law permits swatting a fly, it would be better to avoid doing so with one’s own hands, lest it bring out the cruelty in us. It’s one thing to swat, another thing to become a swatter.

As for President Obama, he is definitely entitled to swat, and without even a respectful bow beforehand to the exoskeletal existence about to meet its end. But he might want to consider creating another, less violent no-fly zone, not of the swift hands, but of the anti-bug screen. That too will keep the suckers out.

Sources: Mishna Brura 250:3; Minhag Yisrael Torah; Iggeros Moshe, Choshen Mishpat Vol. 2., 47:1.

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