A Yiddish proverb says, “A Jew with a dog? It’s either not a Jew or not a dog.” Up until fairly recently, it was uncommon for Jewish households to have dogs as pets.

Some Jewish texts describe them as “unclean” and “scavengers” and label them as aggressive.

Why, then, do some Jewish people have — and love — canine companions today, even granting them “bark mitzvahs”? The answer is that it’s complicated.

Tribe 12, a Philadelphia nonprofit for Jewish young adults, will delve into the relationship between Jewish people and dogs throughout history on Aug. 26 — National Dog Day.

Amanda Graff, Tribe 12’s engagement manager, will lead the Torah-based event “Dogs in Jewish History” as the last installment of the “Taste of Torah” series. The monthly series will be rebranded as “Jewishly Speaking.”

“I’ve been trying to think of interesting, unique and enjoyable topics for our monthly Jewish learning series,” Graff wrote to the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “I also like to bring in interactive elements to coincide with text and source-based learning.”

Graff, who “loves all animals,” said that Tribe 12 has hosted programming at local cat cafes, and some members requested dog-friendly events. “Dogs in Jewish History” will be held outdoors at Washington Square Park, allowing attendees to bring their four-legged friends.

Dogs were largely portrayed unfavorably in the Hebrew Bible. The image of the dog was often used to “characterize and demean Jewish populations in medieval Christendom,” according to “A Jew’s Best Friend? The Image of the Dog throughout Jewish History.”

During the interwar period, dogs were still considered “a gentile pleasure” and almost unheard of in Jewish homes in the shtetl.

Graff spoke to the Jewish trauma instilled in Holocaust survivors and their descendants due to Nazis’ use of dogs to terrorize Jewish people.

“As a result, dogs have traditionally been viewed as not really ‘Jewish,’” she explained.

But there’s another side to the story — other texts praise our furry friends.

“The focus is on the positive history of dogs,” Graff said.

The most notable mention, she said, comes in Exodus 11:7, which recalls that dogs did not bark when the Jews fled Egypt, allowing them to pass without alerting the Egyptian captors. Exodus later advises to avoid eating meat torn apart by “wild beasts” in the fields and throw it to the dogs instead.

“Although at first, reading this makes it seem like dogs are dirty scavengers, Rashi later clarifies that the reason this text mentions dogs specifically, rather than just discarding the meat or leaving it for other animals in general, is because this is a reward for their silence during the Exodus,” Graff said.

She also plans to discuss the Hebrew etymology of the word “dog” — “kelev,” which includes the words “kol lev,” or “of the whole heart” — a halakha about using seeing-eye dogs on Shabbat, and a brief history of Azit, a “beloved [fictitious] Israeli paratrooping dog.”

Graff hopes that attendees have fun, pet dogs and learn something new about Judaism.

“I think it’s important to provide many pathways to Jewish learning, especially for someone who has never really engaged with Jewish texts or topics, or is bored of the way they have engaged before,” Graff said.

She added the Aug. 26 event is designed to be an “all-levels” learning environment, where attendees don’t have to come with a background in Hebrew.

“Dogs [are] a topic that many people can connect to, regardless of any Jewish element, so it makes it easier to access and engage with it,” Graff said. “It’s cool to be able to bring texts from the Torah and Rashi into something as relevant to the average person as dogs.”

Tribe 12 also brings dogs into the conversation for some Jewish singles events, an endeavor that Tribe 12’s Director of Engagement and Lead Matchmaker Danielle Selber has found to be effective. The group is planning the third iteration of “Love at First Bark: A Singles & Dog Gathering.”

“I am often told that the hardest part of a singles event is the first five minutes, where it is hard to get into conversations or know how to approach people,” Selber wrote to the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. “A dog solves that problem immediately!”
It’s socially acceptable to come up to someone and ask, “Can I pet your dog?”

“There is a barrier that is immediately dropped, and a familiarity and camaraderie that occurs organically in that exchange,” Selber said.

For now, Jewish dog owners are invited to gather at the park for an informative evening complete with wagging tails and picnic-style snacks.

“My hope with this learning is not only to provide a space for us Jewish dog lovers that do very much exist, but to show that dogs are, in fact, incredibly Jewish,” Graff said.

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com