Things that donors know: why is there a kosher stamp on dog food?

Surfer X wondered: why is there a kosher stamp on dog food? Even so, there are no ultra-Orthodox who raise pets

Why do you think there are no Haredim who raise pets? Caring for pets meets a deep psychological need shared by many and religious Jews are no exception. Alongside prohibitions and condemnations, a great halachic preoccupation with practical questions concerning the raising of animals that are not farm or work animals is evident, evidence that observant Jews have nurtured pets since time immemorial. Although the dog is not popular in our sources and is mentioned mainly in insulting contexts such as "You shall not bring a harlot and the price of a dog to the house of the Lord your God, for the Lord your God is an abomination, both of them" (Deuteronomy chapter 22) but our ancestors found substitutes. 

The first pet (if we ignore Balaam's death) is the shepherd's sheep that the prophet gave to King David, an animal that receives care reminiscent of the family poodle of our day "And the shepherd has nothing, because the mother is a little sheep that he bought, and she lived, and she grew up with him And with his sons you shall eat from his cup and drink from his cup, and you shall lie down in his lap. For three years I will come, I am Tarshish, carrying gold and silver, lions and monkeys, and parrots..." (1 Kings, chapter 10). Although dogs were not considered pets, nevertheless a study of the sources reveals that the abhorrence of dogs was not overwhelming. From one particularly bizarre story, given To learn that our ancestors also let dogs into the house. The Gemara in tractate Yavmot tells of a girl who lost her virginity while she bent down to wash the floor and a dog carried out his plan on her. Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi took into account the (very) special circumstances of the case and allowed her to marry a priest (who is supposed to marry a kosher virgin). A guard dog or herding dog should not be inside the house, so it is likely that the mischievous dog was a pet (at least until the unfortunate incident). Tractate Taromot in the Jerusalem Talmud tells of a rabbi who stayed at a man's house and was offended to find a dog sitting next to him. The host explains, "Rabbi, I am paying him a favor. Robbers came to town, one of them entered and asked to take my wife and the dog ate his eggs."

Scattered in the sources are also less spicy stories that teach about an emotional bond between Jews and their dogs, for example the book of the midrash (Pasikta Darev Kahana) a tear-jerking melodrama about canine loyalty. It appears in the book of the legend in Bialik's translation, "Shepherds milked milk. A snake came and drank from it, and the dog saw it. When the shepherds came and sat down to drink from the milk, the dog started barking at them and they did not pay attention to it. Finally, the dog stood and drank from the milk and died. The shepherds buried it and made a tombstone for it." that even "living cemeteries" are not a secular invention. Rabbi Elazar recognizes that the dog "knows its owner" meaning it is connected to its owner and such a connection, as we know, is two-way.  

And now to the question of kosher. The Torah abounds in prohibitions of eating and drinking: pork and shrimp are forbidden, "Gid Hanshe" is forbidden, therefore a cruel piercing of fine cuts such as sirloin and fillet is required. Pizza with pepperoni is prohibited and French wines (Nasach wines) are prohibited. Fruits and vegetables are forbidden if tithes have not been set aside from them (tavel), if they were picked from a young tree (arla) and if they were grown in the shemitah year (sheviit). In all of these prohibitions, a single permission to eat without fear shines in its uniqueness, and this permission, to which an explicit verse is dedicated in the book of Exodus, relates to our question: "You shall not eat wild game meat, but you shall throw it to a dog" (Exodus 22), meaning that it is not only permitted but commanded to give non-kosher meat to a dog . if the dog is allowed to devour White steaks What is the meaning of the kosher stamp? Is it true that someone is trying to cut a coupon and support a kosher supervisor who is not needed? 

It is requested that the bonzo kosher be appointed for puzzling koshers such as those decorating bleach or shampoo bottles, but in our case the kosher supervisors actually have a good case. It turns out that not everything is allowed for dogs either. Although there is no need for the meat to come from a ruminant animal, there is no need for kosher slaughter, goring, salting, washing and other crafts that support our brothers, the Israelites, but the Halacha also imposes some restrictions on them. The first prohibition, strange and not relevant today, is eating a bull that has been executed. The Torah imposes the death penalty by stoning an ox that gores a man to death "And if an ox gores a man or a woman, and if it is stoned, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten" (Exodus 21) Rambam emphasizes that this prohibition of eating also applies to our best friend (And along the way he also demonstrates a slight deviation from political correctness in relation to Gentiles) "When it is stoned, it shall not be sold or given to dogs or Gentiles" (Mishna Torah Laws of Forbidden Foods chapter 4).

The relevant ban on today's dog food is a ban on meat and milk that encompasses not only eating and cooking but also "pleasure". Pleasure in the halachic sense is not pleasure but the production of benefit. And it is forbidden to benefit from such a mixture in any way that includes feeding animals: it is permissible to give a dog a tasty sausage but not a cheeseburger. There is usually no milk in dog food, but there are grains and there is something that makes the food sour. The prohibition of chametz on Pesach is very broad and includes not only eating but also keeping a house and feeding animals.

For example, it was ruled that a dog in need of food contains grains for a medical reason, it must be sold to a gentile who will keep it until the end of the holiday of unleavened bread, since "spirit control" only concerns humans. Kosher-keeping dogs are not unusual among animals. The legends of the Talmud and the Midrash tell about animals that were careful to observe mitzvot, such as the donkey of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair who refused to taste hay from which tithes had not been separated. Well X, keep the bonzo kosher and maybe one day you will find under your table in heaven the soul of your dog waiting for the leftovers from the wild ox and leviathan feast.  

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