This coming week we will start the "9 days" as the month of Av enters. This is a time of mourning for the entire Jewish People which focuses on the destruction of the first and second Temples. Our sages teach us that one of the reasons that the Second Temple was destroyed, which represented the start of our current exile, was due to the sin of baseless hatred among the Jewish People. Therefore one of the things we can all focus on during this period is to "fix" this sin and see how we can make sure that we are treating each other properly. 

Our sages teach us that the Torah tells that when there is an (un-slaughtered) animal carcass "we should give it to the dogs" to eat. This is a reward for the fact that when the Jewish People left Egypt the dogs did not bark at them. We find that there is another non-kosher animal as well who is rewarded and that is the donkey. The donkey is the one non-kosher animal who has sanctity (if it is a firstborn) and we are commanded to redeem the firstborn donkey. Our sages explain that the reason the donkey is rewarded with such sanctity is because when the Jewish People left Egypt the donkeys helped them carry everything they took out of Egypt.

Why does the donkey attain a certain level of sanctity whereas the dog is only given some bones and meat? The difference is that the dog was just quiet, he didn't do anything actively, whereas the donkey actually helped out and aided the Jewish People. This teaches us that even if a person is "a donkey" and they aren't a very righteous person but they lend a hand to their fellow, they actively look to help out, they can attain for themselves and for their children for generations a certain level of sanctity.

May these words be a merit for a speedy recover for Miriam bas Gittel

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath