Do animals have souls in Judaism?

A living soul

On the sixth day God said: “Let the earth bring forth living creatures (nefesh chayah) after their kind” (Genesis 1:24). The same words describe man after God breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). The Torah links this soul to the blood – “the life (nefesh) of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11) – which is why blood may not be eaten.

What makes humans different

Only the human being is created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). Maimonides explains the image as the intellect, the ability to know God (Laws of the Foundations of the Torah 4:8–9). Jewish thought therefore distinguishes the animal soul, the vital force shared by all living things, from the human soul, which carries free choice, responsibility and eternity. Ecclesiastes asks whether the spirit of man goes up and that of the beast goes down (3:21), a verse later thinkers read as pointing to this difference.

Kindness to animals

Whatever their soul, animals feel pain, and the Torah protects them. One must help unload a fallen donkey even of an enemy (Exodus 23:5), not muzzle an ox while it threshes (Deuteronomy 25:4), and let one’s animals rest on Shabbat. The Talmud calls this tza’ar ba’alei chayim, the suffering of living creatures, and treats it as a Torah prohibition (Bava Metzia 32b). The sages also teach that one should feed one’s animals before eating oneself (Berachot 40a). “A righteous man knows the soul of his animal” (Proverbs 12:10).

Pets and the afterlife

Classical sources do not speak of an afterlife for animals in the way they do for humans; that question is left open in popular discussion. What the law is clear about is how animals must be treated in this life.