Blessing the Animals

 The story of Noah is a Biblical favorite, from board books for infants through religious school curricula, and beyond. We come to think of Noah as the man who was righteous beyond his generation, who heeded God, planned ahead, and saved all the animals on the Ark, preserving both animal life and humankind through his family in the process. Returning year after year to this story, to teach it to both children and adults, I have come to appreciate that there is far more to it below the surface narrative we tell babies and young children. 

In the first portion of Genesis, we retell the two creation narratives. These describe the creation of humans, animals, and the Earth, and both charge humans with being the caretakers of the world and all that is in it. Then we reach our second portion, featuring Noah – righteous and blameless in his generation. 

So Noah ends up on the boat with all these animals, spending far longer tending to them in close quarters than most of us would probably be willing to endure. And we’ve seen the depictions: from illustrations in books and professional artwork, to animations and memes – sure, the giraffes had to stick their heads out the windows, and the unicorns missed the cruise. Yet there’s one that stands out to me. It hung in Matt’s grandparents’ house, and now in ours. At first, it bothered me – everyone is working hard, crammed in, and Noah is off on one end, contemplating his life choices. And I’ve come to consider the fact that God could have destroyed all the animals and recreated them after the flood, but instead, orchestrated this scenario. 

As we prepare to bless our animals, joining the growing trend of doing so on Shabbat Noach, a new angle appeared: Noah needed to tend to the animals. Usually, the wickedness of Noah’s generation is described in terms of impulsive, self-centered behavior. I often teach that I understand the yetzer hara (“evil inclination”) as our ‘lizard brain’ drives toward survival and self-preservation, whereas the yetzer hatov (“good inclination”) is our ‘wizard brain’ that drives higher-order thinking, self-control, and selfless behaviors. This pairs nicely with language from social-emotional learning. If the humans of Noah’s generation were acting from their selfish, impulsive yetzer hara, they would not be fulfilling the commands of Genesis 1 and 2 to guard and tend the world, including the environment and the animals. So maybe, Noah needed that Ark experience to truly grasp the enormity and the necessity to care for this subset of the world, before being “released” back into the wild to rebuild and repopulate the world. 

Despite generations of humans seeing ourselves as more capable, smarter, more developed than animals around us, we know that we live symbiotically – we rely on the whole system to support and balance each piece. While we take environmentalism, animal care, and related values seriously, we also put great love, care, and effort into our animal companions who live closest to us – even when they can be a handful at times. We take this moment to bless them as a representation of our responsibility to the world and all its inhabitants, and in gratitude for the unconditional love and companionship our furry (or otherwise) friends bring to our families and to our world. 

 I hope you will join us at Carriage Hill in the Cedar Lake Shelter House for an outdoor service. Well behaved pets are welcome, and those who wouldn’t care for the environment or company can be represented with a photo. Following service and blessings, we’ll share a potluck picnic and then visit Carriage Hill’s Historical farm (without our pets). See the calendar for more details and sign up for the potluck here.