My Brother has been taking care for his friends Donkey,his friend said he would be back in 4 months it's now been a yr. and his friend is somewhere in Europe or mid east.Now my brother is sick of paying for the upkeep food ,lodging.He ask a Rabbi what should he do.The Rabbi said break his neck my brother said when my friend comes back i will.The Rabbi said not your friends neck the donkeys neck.I told my brother the Rabbi is either fooling or a mental case,he said no the Rabbi is serious :o :o
I would be interested in what the halachic basis of that decision is... I have never heard that..I have no idea but my brother won't do it.
I do not think that Rabbi has a halachic foot to stand on at all.Yes my brother has no intention of killing it anyhow
As far as your brother goes, he may have a situation where the agreement to care for his friends donkey for 4 months constitutes a verbal contract. In that case he may have grounds to charge him for the care of the donkey after the 4 months. I would suggest he consult with a qualified Posek regarding this manner and not just some LOR. Monetary matters between Jews are serious things that need to be handled with care in order to be 100% correct according to Hashem's will.
If the Posek agrees that your brother may charge his friend after the 4 months is up, then I am sure he will be obligated to inform his friend and give him the option of paying what his due and recover the animal or agree to continue to pay for upkeep of the animal as per a mutually recognized payment plan. Of course it goes without saying that all of this would have to be carefully constructed so that your brother never charges interest.
I hope some of these ideas help,
דניאל מיכאל בן אברהם
There is a positive commandment concerning redeeming a donkey:What do they mean by "Unredeemed" ?
http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/8485/jewish/Positive-Commandment-82.htmPositive Commandment 82
Breaking the Neck of an Unredeemed First-born Donkey
Exodus 34:20 "And if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck"
The owner of a first-born donkey, who does not redeem it, prevents the priest from receiving his due.
He cannot benefit from this animal and is commanded to kill it by breaking its neck.
http://www.neveh.org/winston/pesach/pesach01.html
Here is an explanation of the Mitzvah of Redeeming the Donkey:All this has a much deeper meaning than just doing away with a poor donkey... I am surprised that the Torah gives the donkey such a low standing among animals... The poor beast was a very useful animal in the days before the machine age... I am quite surprised that the Jewish sages saw animals like this in such a dim light... I am sure that we are to come away from this passage with something more than just the elimination of a donkey.
http://www.torah.org/learning/livinglaw/5766/bo.html
Parshas Bo
Petter Chamor: Drop the Dead Donkey
The Mitzvah: The Torah commands an Israelite to redeem the first issue of his donkey with a lamb or kid. The owner "redeems" his animal by giving a lamb in lieu of his donkey, or the monetary equivalent, to the priest. The owner cannot gain any benefit from this animal. If the donkey is not redeemed, it has to be killed by axing the back of its neck (Exodus 13:13).
The sanctity of a firstborn relates to the precursor to the Exodus: the Tenth Plague that struck the Egyptians. All the firstborns were killed on that fateful night with the exception of the Jewish firstborns. As a result, the firstborns - both man and kosher animal - were sanctified before G-d.
Curiously, the only non-kosher animal subject to the laws of a firstborn is the donkey.
The promiscuous climate of Egypt is synonymous with that of the donkey; in the words of the prophet, "whose flesh is the flesh of donkeys" (Ezekiel 23:20). The word chamor, donkey is symbol of chomor, materialism, of unbridled indulgence in animalistic, physical desires unchecked or governed by the intellect to give it direction, form and purpose.
The donkey is a non-kosher, lowly animal. And the Jewish nation in Egypt descended to a spiritual low - down to the forty-ninth level of spiritual impurity. Almost at the point of no return, nevertheless they were not "irredeemable". This is in line with the principle that a person should never despair from achieving divine mercy. With repentance, the penitent is able to catapult himself onto a higher echelon than the complete righteous (Talmud, Berachos 34).
The juxtaposition of this mitzvah to the Exodus recalls the Death of the Firstborn. This mitzvah symbolically captures the transformation of the Jewish people in the run up to their redemption.
The "Egyptian" donkey is redeemed by the lamb, a kosher animal that is an analogy for Israel tendered by their Heavenly Shepherd (Ezekiel 34:31; ibid 36:37-38). Their sanctity came to the fore in their "redemption" from Egypt wherein they revoked their "materialistic" donkey-like status upon becoming the chosen nation - with a new "form" living with Torah and mitzvos acknowledging "G-d is My Shepherd" (Psalms 23).
Should the owner refuse to redeem his animal, the donkey is to be axed from the back of the neck, the nape. Noam HaMitzvos explains that this symbolizes the wicked that are "stiff-necked" (see e.g. Exodus 33:3: "you are a stiff-necked people) and their unwillingness to repent from their misdeeds. The wicked are "dead" from a spiritual perspective even when still alive (See Talmud Berachos 18). In the same way that it is forbidden to stare at an evil man (Talmud Megillah 27), accordingly, the irredeemable donkey that will not be transferred into a sheep, is killed from behind making it unnecessary to see its face.
One cannot just "drop the dead donkey". Every one of us has the ability to draw away from our past sins, to sanctity ourselves as the holy firstborn - the Jewish nation itself called G-d's Firstborn (Exodus 4:22). However low we may have fallen, we are never irredeemable. With repentance and the transition, we sanctify ourselves and await the future impending redemption from our present exile.
All this has a much deeper meaning than just doing away with a poor donkey... I am surprised that the Torah gives the donkey such a low standing among animals... The poor beast was a very useful animal in the days before the machine age... I am quite surprised that the Jewish sages saw animals like this in such a dim light... I am sure that we are to come away from this passage with something more than just the elimination of a donkey.
What does redeeming a first born donkey have to do with his brother's case?
Aren't democrats symbolized by the donkey?Great point I'll tell my brother to break a dems neck :::D My brother isn't going to do that he'll either find a petting zoo no not among slutty leftists girls but a real petting zoo or pay the upkeep