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Why dont jews have dogs? It is clear in the gemara Bava Kema daf tes vav; daf mem vav, and Ksubos daf mem aleph that there is no issur to have one, d’oraysa or derabanan. The gemara brings a braisa that says that it is assur to raise a “kelev ra” in your house.
This implies that it is only assur to have a kelev “ra” which is a danger to people. a regular kelev is fine.
This gemara is brought down in Rambam and Shulchan Aruch (see ain mishpat there).
Whats more, the mishnah in Bava Kama daf ain tes amud beis says that one may not raise a dog unless it is chained. THE TUR AND SHULCHAN ARUCH CHANGE IT TO KELEV “RA”. See the tosfos yom tov who points this out. (the tosfos yom tov says they got it from the braisa mentioned earlier, whereas the beis yosef implies that the mekor is from Rashi. This is not a stirah; the tosfos yom tov is saying where Rashi himself got it from. The tosfos yom tov also brings a raiah to this from another gemara, bava kama daf peih)
So there you have it, Braisa, Gemara in many places, Rif, Rashi, Tur and Shulchan Aruch in several places, Tosfos Yom Tov, all clear that it is mutar to have dogs as pets
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And it is muttar to have monkeys as pets, and yet Jews don’t.
I know plenty of jews who have dogs.
Maybe you meant to ask why yeshivish jews often don’t have dogs. Probably because they have a lot of kids, and that takes up all the affection they would have wanted to give to a BLAZED DOG
Going to have to agree with PBA who beat me to it…Jews have lotsa kids, tuition, religious obligations, etc. They don’t need a dog to fill that void. Also, there are plenty of Jews I know that have dogs.
Kesef Mishna brings the Gemora supporting the Rambam in Mesechtes Bava Kama 15:2 not to have a dog in your house.
and Rambam Hilchos Talmud Torah 6:14, and Hilchos Nizkei Mamon 5:9, Chazon Ish on Choshen Mishpat Likutim 18:9.
Who says they don’t? I know lots of people who do, my neighbors included. My parents, rather late in life had a dog, because he wandered into their yard on the day of Shloshim for my grandmother (who had lived with us and taken care of us for almost 30 years) O”H, which would also have been her birthday. My parents were as far from being dog owners as I would be from having a pet monkey (to quote another poster), but Max would not leave their yard, and he was incredibly adorable,loving, and fiercely protective of our family, especially my mom O”H. We like to think my Bubby sent him to us.
Tonigh, Motzei Shabbos I saw a man dressed yeshivish walking a dog. First time I’ve ever seen a man with a black hat with a dog.
My mashgiach has a dog
I was just walking this shabbos with 4 other woman when we heard a dog bark. We ALL jumped in fear. It seems to be a very jewish middah to be afraid of dogs.
my grandparents associate dogs with their terrifying experiences during the Holocaust. The Nazis used brutal dogs to maintain order in the camps & on marches. The dogs would literally tear people apart for stepping out of line.
I think that fear of dogs got passed down to survivors’ families and descendants.
I don’t believe there was a groundswell of dog ownership in der alte heim, pre-war, either.
people were poor in der alte heim, could barely put food on the table for the family. my grandparents had cats, in order to get rid of the mice, but a dog served no useful purpose & would require food they couldn’t afford.
I think dogs get a bad rap. They didn’t bark as we were leaving Mitzrayim.
Sheep herding uses dogs. When we get back to bringing the Pesach offering we will need sheep and in turn some dogs.
If you had monkeys, you wouldn’t be afraid of them either.
Quark,
Miami Beach (I know you’re gonna say ohhhhhh that’s OOT)
It’s a normal Yeshiva
quark, no im very used to dogs. And its not just me- most females I know and some men too. Its very strange, dontchya think?
“It seems to be a very jewish middah to be afraid of dogs.”
A middah? It’s one thing not to like dogs, but a middah to be afraid of them?
it is a jewish trait to be shy. so a midda can be passive.
I may have misheard, but someone told me that reshaim come back as dogs as gilgulim, and therefore some jews dont like having dogs as pets.
Anyone else heard of this?
shlishi: I know a lot of Jews who didn’t get that memo… LOL
I’m scared of dogs because I was jumped by one as a kid. But if I could afford one, I wouldn’t mind having one for protection, like a German shephard.
That’s a very touching story Oomis ty for sharing it
Goq, is your dog barking in the middle of the night again?
Shrek, it is actually interesting because my father surrounded his house with big German Shepherds for protection and I heard this is common among holocaust survivors.
The frum people who live in NYC are petrified of all animals, as they never had pets. I find people from out of town less afraid of animals.
Do the people in the coffee room think that owning a cat is the same thing as owning a dog? Do yeshivish people own cats, is it “done”?
I don’t have dogs, but I do have three cats. All adopted from the streets of Jerusalem.
If you think a black hatter with a dog looks funny, try a black hatter walking with a cat on a leash. No way I’d let my cats go outside alone in Jerusalem – only with a leash; way too dangerous there. But that’s not the end of it. One of them, the oldest, likes to sit/lie in my shoulders, around the back of my neck. Legs on my left shoulder, shoulders on my right shoulder. I take walks with him around the neighborhood like that.
The looks when I pass a BY are just amazing….. “IEEEGGGGHSS!!!!” 🙂
“I know plenty of jews who have dogs.”
I know plenty of FRUM Jews who have dogs. We, however, have cats.
Frum Jew here with a dog – and a big one at that. We got him 12 years ago, before we started having kids. He has brought both joy and frustration into our lives. He’s great with kids – very gentle. But we have sadly decided he will be our last dog.
I would say 50% of the guests we have on Shabbos are terrified of him. Some of these people are so terrified they’d rather soil themselves than be in a room with him. My kids have friends who will not accept invites to play because of the dog. So you say, just put him away when people come over. Well, we do that, but the dog doesn’t understand why he’s being separated from all the fun, and he then barks and disturbs the neighbors.
The only solution we can think of, is to give in to the fears of our friends and guests and let our dog play out his final years so he can hold the distinction of being our last dog.
Even if it is not assur, the question is why to have one. Not why not to have one. I think the REASON people have dogs is what may conflict with the Ruach Hatorah. (Not the actual having one).
Thanks, Goq. Max was a tremendous nechama to us after my Bubby died. And I cannot emphasize enough that we were NEVER a dog-owning type family, just the opposite. I was terrified of them until my mid-teens.
mod 42 the only dogs i have are in my freezer (turkey) but yes sometimes they will call to me in the middle of the night!
Imaofthree~ I had cats; but when the newest litter of 3 were climbing onto the table onto my husband’s seforim… that was the end of it. now I have a fish :/ .. I’d love to have a kitten again now that all my children are married/out of the house. I’d love the companionship.
Always here, if you do decide to get a kitten again, you can train it to not go on top of your table. Any time it goes on the table, clap your hands and say no, and you can give it a gentle shpritz with a water bottle. good luck.
Quirk, that last one was really funny!
imaofthree, are cats terrified of water?
charlie: I know plenty of people who have both, but only one frum family who does.
What are frum (yeshivishe) people petrified when they find a lizard in their home? Or a louse in their hair???
Being afraid of dogs seems to be a New Yorkish kind of thing. Brooklynish specifically. Out of town we aren’t afraid of dogs (unless they’re ferocious-looking pit bulls and not on a leash 🙂
HaLeiVi, cats hate getting wet. Tigers like water and love to go swimming but regular house cats detest water.
i used to be sooo scared of dogs after my friend’s grandmother’s dog ran after me in the house, and then another one that escaped from a house ran after me in the street once :[
but my aunt took care of one once for some1 and he was the nicest thing and doesn’t even sniff u when u walk in the room….
but then i got my fear back after i heard my teacher’s daughter was chased and was almost killed!
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