"Whatever God created has value." Even the animals and the insects that
seem useless and noxious at first sight have a vocation to fulfil. The
snail trailing a moist streak after it as it crawls, and so using up
its vitality, serves as a remedy for boils. The sting of a hornet is
healed by the house-fly crushed and applied to the wound. The gnat,
feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it, is a specific
against the poison of a viper, and this venomous reptile itself cures
eruptions, while the lizard is the antidote to the scorpion.[191] Not
only do all creatures serve man, and contribute to his comfort, but
also God "teacheth us through the beasts of the earth, and maketh us
wise through the fowls of heaven." He endowed many animals with
admirable moral qualities as a pattern for man. If the Torah had not
been revealed to us, we might have learnt regard for the decencies of
life from the cat, who covers her excrement with earth; regard for the
property of others from the ants, who never encroach upon one another's
stores; and regard for decorous conduct from the cock, who, when he
desires to unite with the hen, promises to buy her a cloak long enough
to reach to the ground, and when the hen reminds him of his promise, he
shakes his comb and says, "May I be deprived of my comb, if I do not
buy it when I have the means." The grasshopper also has a lesson to
teach to man. All the summer through it sings, until its belly bursts,
and death claims it. Though it knows the fate that awaits it, yet it
sings on. So man should do his duty toward God, no matter what the
consequences. The stork should be taken as a model in two respects. He
guards the purity of his family life zealously, and toward his fellows
he is compassionate and merciful. Even the frog can be the teacher of
man. By the side of the water there lives a species of animals which
subsist off aquatic creatures alone. When the frog notices that one of
them is hungry, he goes to it of his own accord, and offers himself as
food, thus fulfilling the injunction, "If thine enemy be hungry, give
him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink."[192]
The whole of creation was called into existence by God unto His
glory,[193] and each creature has its own hymn of praise wherewith to
extol the Creator. Heaven and earth, Paradise and hell, desert and
field, rivers and seas—all have their own way of paying homage to God.
The hymn of the earth is, "From the uttermost part of the earth have we
heard songs, glory to the Righteous." The sea exclaims, "Above the
voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the Lord on high
is mighty."
Also the celestial bodies and the elements proclaim the praise of their
Creator—the sun, moon, and stars, the clouds and the winds, lightning
and dew. The sun says, "The sun and moon stood still in their
habitation, at the light of Thine arrows as they went, at the shining
of Thy glittering spear"; and the stars sing, "Thou art the Lord, even
Thou alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all
that is in them, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven
worshippeth Thee."
Every plant, furthermore, has a song of praise. The fruitful tree
sings, "Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy, before the
Lord, for He cometh; for He cometh to judge the earth"; and the ears of
grain on the field sing, "The pastures are covered with flocks; the
valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also
sing."
Great among singers of praise are the birds, and greatest among them is
the cock. When God at midnight goes to the pious in Paradise, all the
trees therein break out into adoration, and their songs awaken the
cock, who begins in turn to praise God. Seven times he crows, each time
reciting a verse. The first verse is: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall
come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty in battle." The second verse: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall
come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King
of glory." The third: "Arise, ye righteous, and occupy yourselves with
the Torah, that your reward may be abundant in the world hereafter."
The fourth: "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!" The fifth: "How
long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy
sleep?" The sixth: "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open
thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread." And the seventh
verse sung by the cock runs: "It is time to work for the Lord, for they
have made void Thy law."
The song of the vulture is: "I will hiss for them, and gather them; for
I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have
increased"—the same verse with which the bird will in time to come
announce the advent of the Messiah, the only difference being, that
when he heralds the Messiah he will sit upon the ground and sing his
verse, while at all other times he is seated elsewhere when he sings
it.
Nor do the other animals praise God less than the birds. Even the
beasts of prey give forth adoration. The lion says: "The Lord shall go
forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He
shall cry, yea, He shall shout aloud; He shall do mightily against his
enemies." And the fox exhorts unto justice with the words: "Woe unto
him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by
injustice; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth
him not his hire."
Yea, the dumb fishes know how to proclaim the praise of their Lord.
"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters," they say, "the God of glory
thundereth, even the Lord upon many waters"; while the frog exclaims,
"Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever."
Contemptible though they are, even the reptiles give praise unto their
Creator. The mouse extols God with the words: "Howbeit Thou art just in
all that is come upon me; for Thou hast dealt truly, but I have done
wickedly." And the cat sings: "Let everything that hath breath praise
the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."[194]
II
ADAM