Reading the Bible and rabbinic literature to reimagine the bonds between animals.
Moving beyond debates about the ethics of animal consumption to focus on animals' intimate lives, Beth A. Berkowitz examines the contribution of religious traditions and sacred texts to contemporary conversations about animals. Reading the four "animal family" laws of the Bible alongside their rabbinic interpretations from ancient times to today, she examines the bonds that animals form with each other and reimagines family to include new forms of life and alternative modes of kinship.
Humanitarian politics—and biblical law—tend to take for granted that human interests supersede animal interests and that our moral obligation extends only to avoiding unnecessary suffering, but necessity is determined by humans. What Animals Teach Us About Families looks at animal emotions, animal agency, family diversity, and human response to reconsider the obligations and opportunities the animal family presents.
Beth A. Berkowitz is Ingeborg Rennert Chair of Jewish Studies and Professor of Religion at Barnard College.
"What Animals Teach Us About Families draws on some of the most ancient legal writings about animals, as well as cutting-edge science, to offer an important, moving, and wholly modern perspective on animal families and the need to support and protect them."—Lauren Choplin, Communications Director, Nonhuman Rights Project
"Meticulously researched, exegetically ingenious, and beautifully written, Beth Berkowitz's book is an invitation to think about the trauma animal agriculture inflicts on animal families, and an exemplar of how and why to do so."—Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat
"This remarkably unique book is a groundbreaking, compassionate exploration that deepens our understanding of kinship through an ethical, interspecies lens that challenges us to reconsider familial bonds, drawing profound moral insights from the animal world that resonate deeply with Jewish ethical traditions."—Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz, Founder and President of Shamayim: Jewish Animal Advocacy
"Teachings are fundamental to how we understand who we are. This unique, interesting, and heartfelt book searches both traditional teachings about animal families and animal family traditions themselves. It's a compelling and expanded view, sure to change how you see human-animal and animal-animal bonds."—Carl Safina, author of Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe
"Berkowitz's latest book firmly establishes her as the most innovative and compelling scholar writing on the place of animals in Jewish texts. She pushes beyond mining scripture for wisdom and helps the reader discover, alongside generations of rabbinic readers and writers, how the Bible's attention to animal families might transform our own sense of kinship today."—Aaron S. Gross, author of The Question of the Animal and Religion
"Berkowitz is uniquely well-versed not only in rabbinics (her area of specialization) but also in biblical studies and animal studies. Scholars in all three of these fields will recognize her book as cutting-edge work."—Ken Stone, author of Reading the Hebrew Bible with Animal Studies
280 pp.6 x 9Illus: 2 b/w illustrations, 2 tables
9780520405233$27.95|£24.00Paper
Jan 2026