New Year for the Animals

Think of the chicken on your Shabbat dinner table, the milk in your coffee, or the leather in your sneakers. Ask yourself: How do animals impact your life? What are your relationships with animals? If you start paying attention to the products you rely on every day, you will see how much you rely on domesticated animals. There are plenty of reasons to celebrate animals on Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot!

Rosh Hodesh Elul, the new moon festival of the month of Elul, marks the day for ma’aser behema, or the counting of domesticated animals, such as cattle and sheep, for tax purposes. During the time of the Temple, this day was the new year to determine the start date of animal tithes.

When the Temple stood, Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot celebrated one way people honored the domesticated animals that allowed people to survive. Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot parallels the more well-known Rosh Hashanah L’llanot (Tu B’shvat), the New Year’s Festival that marked the day for tithing fruit bearing trees.

Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot points to the connection with domesticated animals. “Domesticated animals” include all those historically bred by humans, whether they are kosher or non-kosher, such as cats, dogs, cattle, chickens, pigs, llamas, and goats. Today, animals are  indirectly affected by humans in ways our ancestors couldn’t imagine. Human activities like factory farming and deforestation lead to habitat loss and decreases in biodiversity. Even animals we don’t directly interact with are being impacted by human activity.

Use this day to consider the deep relationship between humans and animals of all kinds. The holiday can serve as a chance to remind people tza’ar ba’alei hayim, the prohibition against unnecessary cruelty to animals. Rosh Hashanah La’Behemot is a perfect day to start conversations about animal welfare — and start taking action to improve the lives of animals around the world.