It turns out, our tradition has some fascinating ideas about this, rooted in the stories of Noah and the Flood.

We find in Genesis 9:1, immediately after the Flood, that “God blessed Noah and his sons, and He said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." According to Bereshit Rabbah, a classical collection of Rabbinic homilies on the Book of Genesis, this blessing connects directly to the sacrifices Noah made. It was the merit of those offerings, the text suggests, that allowed humanity to be fruitful once again.

But what about our relationship with the animal kingdom? Genesis 9:2 continues, "And fear of you and dread of you will be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the heavens, and upon all that crawls on the ground, and upon all fish of the sea: into your hand they are given.” Sounds pretty authoritative. But the Rabbis, in their insightful way, dig a little deeper. The text states that fear and dread were restored, but – and this is a big but – dominion was not fully restored.

See, before the Flood, when Adam was created, he had complete dominion – "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle" (Genesis 1:26). But when humanity became corrupt, and the decree of the Flood was sealed, the animals lost their inherent submissiveness. After the Flood, God gave back some of that authority, re-establishing fear and dread, but not the full control Adam once possessed.

So when was that dominion fully restored? According to Bereshit Rabbah, it was in the days of Solomon. Remember the famous wisdom of Solomon? 1 Kings 5:4 tells us, "For he had dominion over the entire region beyond the river, from Tifsaḥ to Gaza." This dominion, it's taught, included dominion over the animals.

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar offers a powerful illustration of this principle. He says that you can desecrate Shabbat to save the life of a day-old baby, but not for the dead David, king of Israel. This is because as long as someone is alive, the laws of preserving life override almost everything. Similarly, Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says you don't need to guard a newborn from moles or snakes, because even a lion or serpent would flee from it. But when the giant Og, king of Bashan, dies, you do need to guard him from rodents, because the fear he once inspired is gone.

As long as someone is alive, the fear of them remains. Once they die, that fear dissipates. As Bereshit Rabbah cleverly points out, the Hebrew word for "dread" in Genesis 9:2, ḥitekhen, can be linked to ḥayutkhem, meaning "during your life." It’s a subtle but powerful connection.

So, what does this all mean for us? Perhaps it’s a reminder that our relationship with the world around us is dynamic, shifting, and dependent on more than just brute force. It hinges on something deeper – a kind of vital essence, a spark of the Divine, that commands respect and awe, even from the creatures we share this earth with. Maybe it's a call to consider what kind of "dominion" we truly want, and how we can live in a way that inspires respect, not just fear.