4 | APRIL 29 • 2021 

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 
I lit candles (no matter 
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 

today. 
Professor Phillip Ackerman-
Lieberman 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 

cone did not pass the test for being a 
Jewish dog. 

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 

Sandy 
Hermanoff

PURELY COMMENTARY

Bertie

continued on page 8

