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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Were King David's dogs pets or work animals? (For evidence that he had dogs, see Shabbat 30b.)– Monica CellioNov 2, 2012 at 20:52
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Related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/30111– msh210 ♦Jul 23, 2013 at 5:13
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seforimblog.com/2020/06/… this cites that a R Nachun Zeev, R Dessler's father-in-law, had a pet dog– Double AA ♦Jun 23, 2020 at 10:11
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9 Answers
Reb Avrohom Gurwitz had a cat when I was in Gateshead
answered Jul 7, 2011 at 9:19
There is always this picture of Rav Lopian
answered Sep 27, 2010 at 16:50
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...
answered Jul 6, 2011 at 23:03
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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?– WAFJul 7, 2011 at 2:12
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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.– WAFJul 7, 2011 at 3:03
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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
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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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There's a story here about the Zhviller Rebbe keeping pet cats: The Rebbe's Cats.
answered Mar 14, 2013 at 9:38
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1Shivaram, 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
I know of a Rosh Yeshiva in South Africa that kept dogs for protection.
answered Sep 26, 2010 at 23:11
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Did he personally ever deal with the dogs or did his 'help' handle that?– TzviSep 27, 2010 at 2:00
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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.– ezraJan 10, 2017 at 22:21
The last Lubavitcher Rebbe had a German Shepherd guard dog. Source.
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.
The Avos had sheep, camels, oxen and not all of it was for agricultural purposes.
answered Sep 27, 2010 at 19:31
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4How do we know that the non-kosher animals were not for agricultural purposes?– WAFJul 7, 2011 at 2:10
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