Taco The Jewish Dog
SHURKIN, MICHAEL R.
Taco The Jewish Dog MICHAEL R. SHURKIN My father always insisted that our dog was Jewish. He gave him a Jewish name, Ohev Golden. Ohev, my father explained, was Hebrew for love, although I later...
...Taco will be Jewish because Taco will be raised and cared for in accordance with Jewish law...
...He was, however, family...
...His love for us and ours for him was true...
...As for Ohev, I can't speak for his religious convictions, but I do know there was little law in his life, Jewish or otherwise...
...Lastly, a J ew can't spay or neuter a pet, for that is considered cruelty to animals and strictly outlawed...
...The most common solution is to briefly sell the pet to a non-Jew (like hametz during Passover), and have the operation done while it is someone else's property...
...Dogs, he explained, helped Israel leave Egypt so that the Jewish people could reach Sinai and receive the Torah...
...If it tries to go the wrong way, you can only stand still and let the dog pull at the leash until it gives up...
...People would see Cain's dog and recognize that Cain's life was in the dog's paws...
...According to my wife's plans, Taco will live a life defined to some extent by Jewish practice...
...He'll be a kosher dog...
...According to Rashi, their reward came in Exodus 22:30 ("You shall be holy people to Me...
...Does Jean-Paul Sartre's definition of a J ew as someone who is defined as such by others apply to canines...
...Obedience was not his thing...
...let us bow down and kneel, bend the knee before the Lord our maker...
...Or did begging at the table for a piece of lox or brisket make Ohev Golden a cultural Jew...
...Jewish tradition has more to say about dogs and their religious faith...
...And then there's the question of cleaning up after the animal, which creates whole new set of issues...
...Perhaps...
...The 18th-century rabbi Eliyahu HaKohen, from Izmir, Turkey, picked up where Rashi left off...
...But would this make the dog Jewish^ Will Taco be more Jewish than Ohev Golden...
...My wife has a slighdy different take: she insists that her dogs will be Jewish, even the Chihuahua she someday hopes to own and name Taco...
...Rashi has made clear that dogs need not eat kosher food, and indeed the only c o m m a n d m e n t given to dogs is keeping silent during the Exodus...
...He cites Talmudic sources to argue that consequently any person who weakens his or her ability to learn Torah (such as by excessive fasting) shall be avenged by a dog...
...Perek Shirah, which is of unknown authorship but is traditionally attributed to King David, ascribes particular songs to various natural phenomena and animals, songs that praise God and express the essential nature of rhe singer...
...They followed his order with loving obedience, and God promised to reward their love...
...Perhaps that's enough...
...In addition, Jewish law defines dogs as muktza, an object that has no purpose during the Sabbath and thus cannot be handled...
...Exodus 11:7 states that dogs wisely kept silent during the final plague in Egypt ("but not a dog shall snarl at any of the Israelites, at man or beast—in order that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel"), and the Midrash explains that before the Angel of Death descended, God commanded dogs to be quiet...
...Taco The Jewish Dog MICHAEL R. SHURKIN My father always insisted that our dog was Jewish...
...According to an ancient Kabbalistic text, Perek Shirah, dogs not only believe in God and are intensely loyal to him, but also daven and know at least some Torah...
...Walking the dog is another problem...
...Ultimately Jewish law applies to what Jews do with their dogs, not what dogs do...
...Rashi explained that the text singles out dogs to honor their help, and that we are commanded to give non-kosher meat to them as an eternal sign of gratitude...
...They were not to touch him...
...you must not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field...
...Ohev, my father explained, was Hebrew for love, although I later learned that "lover" was a better translation and a more accurate description of our randy retriever...
...Rabbi HaKohen says that Cain's punishment was to be assigned a dog that followed him everywhere...
...Ideally one should just let it out in a yard or some other space where it can move freely...
...Dogs may not eat leavened bread during Passover, or to be more exact, since a Jewish petowner may not possess hametz, he or she cannot feed any to his or her dog...
...But many laws affect the life of a dog...
...If that is not an option, you can put the dog on a leash only if you're vrtthfn an eruv, an area defined as private space by Jewish law...
...However, because the dog is muktza, one must keep the leash slack and try to walk with the dog...
...Then there is the Sabbath...
...Cain, for example, was guilty of nullifying Torah, because he killed Abel, who is regarded by some as a Messiah and an early incarnation of Moses...
...This might not be Taco's choice, but Jewish tradition itself suggests that dogs do choose to serve God...
...But can a dog—according to Judaism—be Jewish...
...The song given to dogs is verse six of the 95th Psalm, which is part of the prayer "lechu n'rannah"— one of principle prayers in the Friday-night service welcoming the Sabbath...
...One can't push or pull a dog to go in a particular direction...
...A Jew may only pat a dog during the Sabbath, not stroke it, for stroking tends to pull out hairs, which is forbidden...
...Taco, in fact, won't just be Jewish, he'll be Orthodox...
...But can dogs practice Judaism...
...But does a Hebrew name make a dog Jewish...
...you shall cast it to the dogs...
...Come," the dogs sing (howl...
...The next line, which most traditionally-educated Jews would know by heart, is "for he is our God, and we are the people He tends, the flock in his care...
...A dog can never be kosher (unless it's a hot dog), but a Jew's treatment of it can be...
...Practically speaking, this means that dogs can't be moved...
...Golden was for both the breed and the then Prime Minister of Israel...
Vol. 29 • August 2004 • No. 4
