1,228. Loading and Unloading Animals

189:1 If one person encounters another and the other's animal is lying down under its load, whether the load was appropriate for it or whether the load was too much for it, there is an obligation to help the owner unload the animal as per Exodus 23:5, "You shall surely help him do it." After unloading, he should not just leave the other in a bind and go. Rather, he should help the other reload the animal as per Deuteronomy 22:4, "You shall surely reload it." If he passed by the other without helping to unload or reload the animal, he has ignored a positive commandment and violated a negative one, "you shall not see your brother's donkey..." (Ibid.).

189:2 If a person unloaded and reloaded an animal and it fell again, he is obligated to unload and reload it again. He must do so even a hundred times as per Exodus 13:5, "You shall surely help him with it" and Deuteronomy 12:4, "You shall surely reload it." Therefore, he should walk with the other the distance of a parsang (about 3.75 mi.) in case he is needed again, unless the owner of the animal tells him that he's not needed.