I can safely say that a week ago I did not know the names of any gorillas. But this past week, social media was abuzz about the death of Harambe, a silverback gorilla of the Cincinnati Zoo. Harambe became famous after a three-year-old boy wandered into his enclosure, and after Harambe grabbed the boy, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe, fearing for the boy’s life.
I saw and heard very different reactions to this event. Some blamed the parents; others offered money to the parents to help with the child’s medical bills. Some blamed the zoo for acting rashly; others applauded the zoo for their rapid response to the situation.
They recommend in Semicha that we do not discuss politics, and I will extend the advice to zoology as well, as I am no expert in zoology. I do not have much to add about whether the parents were negligent; I did not see how the boy got through the barrier and whether the parents were adequately watching their children.
There’s nothing to gain by playing the blame game when things like this happen. Suffice it to say I am happy the boy came out alive and safe, and it’s unfortunate the gorilla had to be killed.
However, I would like to share one article I read which bothered me, questioning the premise of the zookeeper’s decision: who says the life of a random three-year-old boy is worth more than that of an endangered gorilla?
To value a monkey and a young boy, we can turn to the end of this week’s parsha where the Torah provides a system for valuations in the context of hekdesh, consecrations to the Beit Hamikdash.
A person could donate the value of essentially anything, whether or not he or she owns the item. I can donate the value of my laptop, your laptop, a table or even a silverback gorilla.
I can even donate the value of a person. By saying “dmei Ploni alay, the value of Ploni is upon me” I obligate myself to pay that person’s value. How does one evaluate the value of a person? The Rambam explains that the court would estimate the value that person would sell for on the slave market, which would depend on the skillset and physical condition of the person.
The market value of an endangered species is quite high; I wouldn’t be surprised if an endangered gorilla would carry a hefty price tag on the black market, and a three-year-old child may not fetch as much on the slave market. Does it follow that the gorilla is worth more than a young boy?
Of course not.
The Torah introduces us to another category of value: erchin. Erchin values relate to a person’s age and gender but has nothing to do with a person’s health or skill: every person has an objective value. However, if one makes an erchin vow upon a table, laptop, or silverback gorilla, he or she wouldn’t have to pay anything. Erchin represent a different type of value, an objective value of every human. A gorilla, no matter its market value, lacks the objective value that the parsha of erchin refers.
The Kotzker Rebbe provides a powerful suggestion as why the laws of erchin immediately follow the tochacha. After reading or G-d forbid experiencing the curses of the tochacha, we feel worthless. The parsha of erchin remind us of our intrinsic value. Every person, no matter what he or she has undergone, maintains that objective value.
None of us would sacrifice a child to save a monkey, but a studyshowed that in the spur of the moment, some people are prone to making a similar wrong decision. A study provided subjects with a theoretical scenario of a person’s pet dog and a foreign tourist in the path of a speeding bus. The dog owner must choose between saving her dog or the complete stranger. When the decision was made rapidly and under stress matching the real life scenario, 27% of participants chose to save the dog, with whom they felt a personal closeness.
Fortunately we are likely to never be faced with these types of these decisions in our lives. Unfortunately, even when the stakes are much much lower, we make the same mistake, and we fail to show proper respect to a human being because he or she is a stranger. It may be another driver on the road or on the other side of a phone call with customer service. Let’s never lose sight of the value of a human being and commit ourselves to treat even total strangers with respect.
No responses yet