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Are there any g'dolim (or rabbis of major influence) - past or present - who are known to have owned pets/kept animals for non-agricultural purposes?

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9 Answers 9

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Reb Avrohom Gurwitz had a cat when I was in Gateshead

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  • Did he have it as a classical pet or as a mouse removal device?
    – mroll
    Aug 12, 2016 at 2:29
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There is always this picture of Rav Lopian

ר' אל'ע איז מיט ג-ט

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  • 4
    And the famous comment, "how do we know he was putting the saucer out for the cat, maybe the photo caught him as he was taking it away ..."
    – Shalom
    Sep 27, 2010 at 18:35
  • I'm guessing if that were really his cat it would be documented somewhere.
    – WAF
    Sep 27, 2010 at 20:21
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There is a Tshuva of the Ya'avetz 17 (1) where he says it is forbidden for a woman to have a dog as a pet, 2 dogs for a man, and to play with a dog is "Moshav Letsim" for everybody. One can use a dog as a guard dog if he keeps it on a leash. and keeps them to a minimum.


(1) ואפילו מאן דפליג בכופרים לא שרי טפי מחד לנטורי ביתא לנטורי ביתא בלחוד דהכי מוכח מהא דגר שנפלו לו בירושה שאין מחייבין אותו למכור כי אם על יד ועל כרחך בכופרים איירי דלא מזקי דאי לאו הכי ודאי שאסור לקיימן בביתו אפילו זמן מועט ואפילו אחד לא אם אינו קשור ואפילו הכי לא שרי אלא במי שנפלו לו בירושה להשהותן רק כדי למוכרן מעט מעט שלא יפסיד הרבה. מיהא לגדלן אצלו מכל מקום אסור...דסלקא דעתך אמינא לארמלתא שרי טפי דלא בעיא ליה לטיול אלא לשמור הבית מאריא וגנבי אורחא בהכי לריבויי משום נטירוטא דביתא קמ"ל דאפילו הכי אסור משום חשדא ואין צריך לומר שאסור לנשים בעלמא שאין מגדלות אותו אלא לשעשוע בלבד...וגם משום מושב ליצים אסור לשחור עמהם... ‏

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  • Interesting. Do we know of g'dolim who have had chained guard dogs? Was Rav Ya'akov Emden dealing with dogs that were more dangerous than the ones commonly kept as pets? He seems to be speaking about much more serious danger than most pet owners ever experience, doesn't he?
    – WAF
    Jul 7, 2011 at 2:12
  • Regarding 1), he refers to the well-known sakana involved in owning dogs, which leads to the condition that they be chained up under all circumstances. This sakana is not well-known to me with regard to the dogs that are currently usually maintained as pets.
    – WAF
    Jul 7, 2011 at 3:03
  • I'm pretty sure the gemoroh in baba kamma says yours allowed to have a dog a cat and a porcupine as a pet(maybe missing one more) because they keep the house clean by eating all the bones and stuff left over. This is regarding small dogs, big dogs are meant to be outside of the main city for protection. Mar 15, 2013 at 5:35
  • 1
    @shmuel brin that doesn't matter, gemoroh says your allowed to, therefore your allowed to keep them. Mar 15, 2013 at 17:01
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    This seems like a comment.
    – Double AA
    Aug 11, 2016 at 5:10
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There's a story here about the Zhviller Rebbe keeping pet cats: The Rebbe's Cats.

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  • 1
    Shivaram, welcome to Mi Yodeya, and thanks very much for this very on-point reference! I hope you'll look around and find other material here that animates you, perhaps including our 76 other animals questions.
    – Isaac Moses
    Mar 14, 2013 at 19:40
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I know of a Rosh Yeshiva in South Africa that kept dogs for protection.

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  • Did he personally ever deal with the dogs or did his 'help' handle that?
    – Tzvi
    Sep 27, 2010 at 2:00
  • He personally fed them at times, and often petted them. Sep 27, 2010 at 3:16
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My Chabad Rabbi told me that the Lubavitcher Rebbe bought his wife a dog to cheer her up because she was sad that she couldn't have a baby.

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  • See Joseph Telushkin's Rebbe book, page 366 for an interesting story between Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka and a dog.
    – ezra
    Jan 10, 2017 at 22:21
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The last Lubavitcher Rebbe had a German Shepherd guard dog. Source.

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From the Gemara in Chullin 112 it seems that Shmuel had a dog and would throw prohibited items to it to eat.

שמואל שדי ליה לכלביה Shmuel would throw to his dog.

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The Avos had sheep, camels, oxen and not all of it was for agricultural purposes.

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  • 6
    How do you know this?
    – Isaac Moses
    Sep 27, 2010 at 19:37
  • 2
    Can you cite one or two?
    – WAF
    Sep 27, 2010 at 20:21
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    How do we know that the non-kosher animals were not for agricultural purposes?
    – WAF
    Jul 7, 2011 at 2:10
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    How do you know he kept Kosher? ;-P
    – Seth J
    Jul 7, 2011 at 4:27
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    "not agricultural" does not equal "pets".
    – Menachem
    Jul 19, 2012 at 20:25

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