Robbie is a man who loved his pets. He had stickers on the back of his car memorializing his beloved Tweety and Sylvester, cats who meant the world to him. If Halachah, or Jewish law, allowed it, I’m sure he would have sported a matching tattoo.
As he sat before me in my office at the shul, I recalled that when they died, he asked me a sheaila, a halachic inquiry, whether it would be OK for him to recite Kaddish on their behalf. With that in mind, I weighed another matter he had come to discuss.
“Rabbi, I think it would be a wonderful idea to have a memorial board dedicated to pets,” he said. “I’ll cover all the costs.”
I remember the words that came out of my mouth were, “Wow! That’s a beautiful idea, Robbie!!” My first thoughts were not about the value of pets, the halachic permissibility or the possible misconceptions that could arise, but rather the broken-hearted man who sat before me looking for a way to channel his pain and loss.
Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah has many memorial “yahrzeit” boards. Their somber dark metal is lit with scattered orange bulbs. Some of these lights blink and flutter as if the souls represented by the thousands of names and dates are greeting us.
My fear was that someone might feel we were devaluing human life by creating a similar memorial board for animals. Of course, one has nothing to do with the other. We should try our best not to feel our holiness is devalued by things other people deem holy.
Recognizing the reality, however, I made sure that our new pet memorial board would bear no resemblance to the traditional boards. Instead of metal, we used plastic and glass. On the top is a colorful rainbow with the words, “HaShem’s Little Angels.” I thought that was a reasonable theological definition for a spiritual validation of animal companionship.
We also placed the board in a separate area from the human memorials, in the youth room, as I thought that kids would be delighted by its colors and message. On the center of the board is a beautiful poem about pets and their owners reuniting in heaven called “The Rainbow Bridge.”
Are pets holy? I’m reminded of a question I asked Tom Marshall when I saw him here in Baltimore at a concert a few weeks ago. Marshall is a poet and the writer of many songs by the band Phish. I find their music extremely spiritual, and I asked him if they had that intent when writing the lyrics and music.
“I guess all things are spiritual and holy when truly felt by the heart,” he said. “Whatever a person loves and finds meaning in, that is what connects them to the Ultimate Oneness of everything.”
So yes, I think pets are holy to those who love them. Perhaps not intrinsically but because of the loving relationship and the tremendous gift of life they have given their owners. They are truly messengers of the Almighty.
Many in the Orthodox community while celebrating their deeply meaningful human events — weddings and brises — still roll their eyes when seeing our pet board. Meanwhile, Robbie is upset that the board is not in a more prominent place. Most people embrace the board, which is steadily acquiring more names and messages each year.
To me, it’s a symbol of our Modern Orthodox shul, which is trying to grasp the modern values of the congregants on one hand, holding the fiddle in the other, and trying our best not to fall off the roof.
Rabbi Yerachmiel Shapiro is spiritual leader of Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah Hebrew Congregation, also known as the Greengate Jewish Center.
Photo by Evan Cohen
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