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
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