Rabbis launch appeal to fund siddur for pets

The book, he says, will see pet-owners “through all the precious and challenging moments of their lives, enhancing the joys and, we hope, softening the pain”.

Rabbi David Mitchell with Nova[Missing Credit]

Rabbi David Mitchell, co-senior rabbi of West London Synagogue, who has three cats, says it was the death of his cat Newton in 2017 that set him thinking “what was in the Jewish vocabulary” to mark the loss.

As he recalls in a reflection in the book: “We were not prepared for the hole that his absence would create.

“As a rabbi, there was something even greater that I hadn’t prepared myself for, the way that so many friends and congregants began to pour out their deep grief at the loss of their own pets.

“Suddenly, people who were well-known for making hard-nosed business decisions, began to well up as they told me about their decade-long grief for a faithful dog. Others opened up about unresolved feelings from childhood over their beloved pet.

“Some relayed how the death of a horse, or a hamster could still reduce them to floods of tears, and how, when their pet had passed, they were inconsolable for days.”

The third author, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism, tells his dog Nessie in the video: “You’ll want to know what blessing we say over a dog on Friday night and you’ll also want to know whether you are entitled to have a piece of challah…

“And what about Pesach, when you can’t eat bread, do you think matzah is a toy or real food? All these things and far more will be covered.”

One of his previous books was entitled Things My Dog has Taught Me.

Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg and Nessie[Missing Credit]

The 150-page book also features guests contributors. In one poem, Rabbi Shoshana Boyd-Gelfand recalls how she finally succumbed to her dog-loving daughter’s pleas for a pet and hopes that it will teach her children “patience, responsibility and tenderness”.

The rabbis have set a target of £10,000 to underwrite the 150-page publication. “We’re looking for people to contribute ideally in memory of one of their pets,” Rabbi Mitchell said.

Any royalties will “go towards a discretionary fund for animal welfare charities,” he said.

“There are a lot of animal lovers in the Jewish community. I hope [the siddur] will be high on many a person’s Chanukah shopping list.”

www.kickstarter.com/projects/izzun/an-animal-siddur

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