Musar for Bava Metzia 64:14

Even from an animal he must keep cruely far away, as it is written: "A righteous man knows the needs and capacity of his animal" (Prov. 12:10), so as not to burden it too much and not to let it hunger, and so it is written : "When you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under his burden you shall restrain yourself from passing by; you shall surely work with him to release the animal" (Exod. 23:5). And our rabbis said: "The laws against causing pain to living creatures are from the Torah" (Baba Mezi'a 32b). And if you are a man who inspires fear, and the fear of you is upon other human beings so that they are afraid to refuse your requests, be very careful not to overburden them even by asking them to warm a flask of water or sending them on an errand to the market square to buy merely a loaf of bread. And on this subject it is said in the Torah: "But over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule one over another harshly" (Lev. 25:46). And as to this precept we have been warned that a man should not cause his companion to work at hard labor and not command him to anything unless he does it willingly and knowingly. A Canaanite slave may be directed to do hard labor, yet even in this latter case the pious way is to be merciful to him and not to make the yoke too heavy and not shame him, not by a blow and not by words, for Scripture has permitted you to receive his labor but not to shame him (Niddah 47a). And the master must speak quietly to his Canaanite slave even though there is a quarrel between them, and he must listen to his slave's complaints, and so did Job say: "If I did despise the cause of my man servant or of my maid servant when they contended with me — What then shall I do when God rises up and when He remembers some wrong He claims I did to a slave, what shall I answer him. Did not he that made me in the womb make him (the Canaanite slave) also? And did not the One fashion us (both) in the womb?" (Job 31:13-15).

The commandment requiring us to help the owner of an overloaded animal or human being (22,4) by unloading the excessive load is directed at the natural tendency to ignore the discomfort of our detractors. The Torah demands that we put aside such petty considerations and display empathy with the pain of such a human being. When the Torah phrases the action to be taken by using the words הקם תקים עמו, the emphasis is on the last word, i.e. what you do for the victim you are really doing for yourself. By having demonstrated this kind of empathy you may feel confident that, should the occasion arise, you too will become the beneficiary of someone else's empathy. The Talmud Baba Metzia 31 says that given a choice of helping one's friend unload an overburdened animal and helping an enemy load his beast, you must give preference to loading the enemy's beast; such an act helps restore harmonious relations between him and you (cf. Exodus 23,5).