The
rabbis strongly disapproved of hunting as a sport (Encyclopedia Judaica 8:1111).
A Jew is permitted to capture fish, flesh, or fowl only for purposes of human
food or another essential human need, but to destroy an animal for "sport",
fashion, or vanity constitutes wanton destruction and is to be condemned. Based
on the statement "not to stand in the way of sinners" (Ps. 1:1), the
Talmud prohibits association with hunters (Avodah Zorah 18b). A query was addressed
to Rabbi Ezekiel Landau (1713-93) by a man wishing to know if he could hunt in
his large estate, which included forests and fields. The response stated:
In the Torah the sport of hunting in imputed only to fierce characters like
Nimrod and Esau, never to any of the patriarches and their descendants.... I cannot
comprehend how a Jew could even dream of killing animals merely for the pleasure
of hunting.... When the act of killing is prompted by that of sport, it is downright
cruelty. (Yoraah De'ah, 2nd Series, 10)
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