Reply To: Lo sichanem

Nom, we feel compassion for animals too. We don’t say yagiu rachamecha on them, however. A jew feels compassion for everyone, but davening or bentching them is too far. Every value has limits; this is why they’re called middos, measurements, and are measured by the crucible of Halacha.

See the chazon ish in emunah ubitachon, this is one of his central themes. Mussar helps you feel, but halacha directs those feelings. Mussar tells you to have rachmanus on the oppressed, but Halacha tells you who is in fact, the oppressed. When these definitions are inverted, catastrophic consequences ensue.