PURELY COMMENTARY for openers
Can Your Loving Pet Be a Member of the Tribe?
B
ertie, our loveable dachshund, left us a couple of years ago. He was willful, stubborn, loving and adorable. He thought he was Jewish. He got me to thinking. So, is there such a thing as a Jewish dog? Is it a Sadie or Schmaltsy or Nuddel? Not a Fido or Spot. Every Friday night when Sandy I lit candles (no matter Hermanoff where we were), Bertie would suddenly show up from another room wagging his tail. He stuck around because he knew we were going to cut the challah at some point. There definitely was food in his future. And when we cut the challah, there he was again, wagging his tail waiting for the end piece that Michael, my husband, would cut off. He ate first. We followed. While buying his dog food one day, I spied a yarmulka and tallis for a small dog. It was marked down — the only one left. Should I or shouldn’t I buy it for Bertie? He would never keep a sweater on — he always managed to wriggle out of them. I was sure he would not tolerate the duo, but I bought it anyway. It was Passover, and we were preparing for the seder. So, I put the yarmulka and tallis on him, and he loved it. He fell asleep with it on and didn’t want to take it off. He even posed for pictures. Yes. He was definitely proud to be Jewish. But to be sure, I had to do some research. A LONGTIME SABRA? I learned that there is a national dog of Israel: the Canaan dog. It apparently has survived in the desert regions of Israel for thousands of years. The Hebrews used the dog in biblical times as a guard dog, and it is still used by Bedouins and Druze
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APRIL 29 • 2021
cone did not pass the test for being a Jewish dog.
Bertie
today. Professor Phillip AckermanLieberman from Vanderbilt Jewish studies writes that the relationship between dogs and Jews has been a fraught and complicated one. Though dogs fared poorly in the Hebrew Bible, of late they have been honored as family pets and even granted “bark mitzvahs.” We know people who have sent out printed invitations for their “bark mitzvahs.” No fountain pens needed unless they’re edible. After all, humans can have bar and bat mitzvahs, why not dogs? A few years ago, we made a shivah call. A couple, a guy with his significant other, came in, sat down and joined in on the conversation. The significant other who was not Jewish and had never been to a shivah before, was asking questions about the shivah rules and regulations. In the meantime, the family dog sauntered in wearing a cone on his head. He had just come from the vet. “Is that part of the shivah?” the significant other asked. You could hear a pin drop. Then someone started to snicker. And another. And then the whole place was giggling. Obviously, the
PHOTOS SOUGHT Did you know there’s a website where you can send videos of your Jewish pooch at dogs@forward.com? They ask that you “send your family photos or videos of your Jewish dog, and we’ll feature our favorites on the site.” The site also says that: • Jeff Goldblum in the 2008 film Adam Resurrected, plays a Holocaust victim walking the line between human and canine personalities. • In Exodus 11:7 it reads, “no dog shall snarl at any of the Israelites.” What could be more supportive of God’s plan to redeem the Israelites? • The protagonist of Nobel Prize winner S.Y. Agnon’s novel Only Yesterday Balak is the Hebrew word for dog spelled backwards. •The Canaan dog was recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1997, the creation of this breed was a natural part of the founding of the State of Israel. There’s a charming book on Amazon (five stars) that seals the deal: How to Raise a Jewish Dog (Sept. 5, 2007) by the Rabbis of Boca Raton Theological Seminary. The fictional “Rabbis” delve into how specific sounds, TV preferences, tricks and food preferences prove your dog is Jewish, but the way they present “the smell segment” is the winner. They begin: “What self-respecting Jewish family would not, if given the choice, pick a Jewish dog? Yet one typically does not even give a thought about one’s dog’s religion. And even if one did, how could one possibly ensure that the dog you’ve chosen to invite into your home to become a treasured part of your Jewish family — is, in fact, Jewish? “Worry about this no more, my
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