Of Rabbi's and Rabbits
From the Washington Post :
Harold White, the senior Jewish chaplain at Georgetown University, has presided over several funerals for pets, including four of his own cats.
The important thing is to bring solace to people who have suffered a loss, said White, who wings it with prayers of his own creation, because there is no set ceremony in Judaism for the burial of an animal. I believe an animal who lived with dignity in the home should be buried with dignity.
What if the pet was only half jewish? was intermarried? in a same gender relationship?
When are the hierarchy of the man-made Jewish denominations going to take stock of their trivialization of our faith and its practices, and finally paws and think?
Harold White, the senior Jewish chaplain at Georgetown University, has presided over several funerals for pets, including four of his own cats.
The important thing is to bring solace to people who have suffered a loss, said White, who wings it with prayers of his own creation, because there is no set ceremony in Judaism for the burial of an animal. I believe an animal who lived with dignity in the home should be buried with dignity.
What if the pet was only half jewish? was intermarried? in a same gender relationship?
When are the hierarchy of the man-made Jewish denominations going to take stock of their trivialization of our faith and its practices, and finally paws and think?
posted by Yeshiva Orthodoxy
at 1:13 PM
9 Comments:
Kudos to Harold White for comforting people in their times of sadness and bereavement. I know that when my dog died a year ago, it was a sad time for my entire family.
As members of White's community were suffering with their losses, he did the right thing in not turning his back on them. Should he have disregarded their pain simply because there isn't a specific protocol for animal burials in our tradition?
Your questions of whether the animal is completely Jewish are irrelevant to the main issue. In the case of an unquestionably Jewish family that has lost a beloved dog or cat, why shouldn't they be able to mourn that loss in a Jewish way? Should they disregard their Judaism in mourning the loss?
Too bad there aren't more people like Harold White who help people incorporate Judasim into even the "miscellaneous" major events in their lives.
The point here is not about the extent or validity of one's pain, sadness and loss.
I agree with you that you must deal with things in a "jewish way.However ones individual feelings are not a determining factor; the torah, its practices, traditions and it's set ways are.
The practice of jewish mourning is not done by the death of dogs, cats or mosquitoes but by the passing of a jewish soul, regardless of ones attachment and love for it.
One can't disregard something by observing it.
Thanks for responding.
I don't know the ins and outs of what Harold White did. But I highly doubt that full-scale Jewish mourning -- complete with sitting shiva and tearing one's clothes -- is what was proscribed here for dogs and cats (I'll disregard your comment about mosquitoes). It's doubtful that the same exact prayers were repeated or substituted with various ideas for animals. I highly doubt that there was anything too consistent with funerals for people.
Instead, I presume that there was a ceremony of well-wishing, of professing faith in G-d despite a time of hardship, and of comfort from the head of the Jewish community.
The Torah does not provide for a way that beloved animal companions should be mourned. Does that mean that mourning them in one's own way but infused with actual Jewish teachings -- so long as it is not done in the same proscribed manner as for mourning people -- goes against the Torah? I would say that is not the case. Any time we help others and extend our circle of compassion -- so long as it isn't outright prohibited -- I have trouble seeing that as a bad thing.
Thanks for your civilized tone.
Everything you do should be in a jewish way.
What you can not do is make up prayers, ceromonies or the like simply because it helps you feel more connected or healed.
The torah decided for us when there is a 'mourning" making a ceremony for an animal (I think)is stating that the torah is defficient.
As the famous axiom of the saintly Gaon of Vilna: "Newness" is prohibited!
Cry over your loss if it comes naturaly, but don't
Isn't crying a form of mourning? I think what should be prohibited is mourning in the same sense that is observed for human losses. And I see it as a good thing if repeating Torah teachings (not making up new prayers) are incorporated, at a timely occasion.
I'm reminded of the scene in Fiddler on the Roof where the rabbi is asked if there's a blessing for the czar. He replies with something relevant to the people ("May G-d bless and keep the czar .. far away from us!"). I don't interpret this scene as portraying the Torah as being deficient. Rather, I see it as an example of a Jewish leader not contradicting the Torah and leading his community in a situation the Torah didn't specifically call for.
I fully understand your feelings. Thats precisely the point- their YOUR feelings.
We look in the Torah and its traditions for our guidance. Memorializing a dead animal is simply not, and never was, done.
I realize we might just have to "agree to disagree" pretty soon :-)
Where do you draw the line, though? What forms of mourning are acceptable? Is it okay to cry for a lost pet if the Torah does not call for it? Is it okay to bury a lost pet (perhaps in a pet cemetary) if the Torah does not call for it? Is it okay to thank G-d for bringing an end to an animal's suffering if the Torah does not call for it?
Let's try to get past the loaded terms of "mourning" and "memorializing," because we both agree that their full definitions do not apply to animal deaths in the same way they do to human deaths. But can't some form of bereavement be recognized, and not just in private emotions?
I think not making a ceromony or public demonstration is a starter.
Nobody ever said that this was a public demonstration.
Anyway, I think we've reached the point where we know we won't sway the other person too much :-) Thanks for keeping this up and Shabbat Shalom.
Post a Comment
<< Home