Yossi Feintuch: A call for human compassion
The Torah this week tries to show a degree of compassion to the bovine species, even within the realm of animal sacrifices. Thus, a newly born calf must not be sacrificed before it is at least eight days young, if only to allow its mom a sense of motherhood, if not bonding, with its child. In comparison to the contemporary factory farm where the (dairy) calf is removed from its mother moments after its birth with evident days-lasting anguish to both, the Torah seems to recognize here the need of the mother bovine to nurture its child.
