I would find this argument much more convincing if it were supported by people who actually have children. My mother goes beserk over a smiling infant in a way I cannot begin to comprehend (I am usually afraid I will accidentally hurt them). My husband, likewise, has an instant affinity for babies and always tries to communicate and play with them. He was raised Jewish with the idea that it is unclean to have animals in the home and does not find animals particularly adorable. In our culture we are inundated with anthropomorphised images of animals in television and given stuffed toys and pets that we take care of like children. It’s not that surprising that we find animals cute when we focus so much attention on them as if they were little people. I do not know that such evaluations of ‘cuteness’ would hold cross-culturally, especially in cultures where people do kill and eat ‘cute’ animals on a regular basis.
Other hominids have been known to keep pets. I would not be surprised if cetaceans were capable of this as well, though it would obviously be more difficult to demonstrate.
It’s not that they have a strict prohibition on pets, more of a general disapproval from appeal to cleanliness. I don’t know how the super-orthodox interpret the Torah on this matter.
This isn’t a issue from anything coming from the Torah. Rather, a dislike of dogs likely stems from anti-Semites in Eastern Europe having their dogs attack Jews, and later the use of dogs by the Nazis to keep concentration camp inmates in line.
However, there’s is some connection to cleanliness issues also. Some people claim that the Jewish home should mirror the historical Temple in Jerusalem and thus should not have any non-kosher animals in it at all. See this essay which discusses this in more detail.
I would find this argument much more convincing if it were supported by people who actually have children. My mother goes beserk over a smiling infant in a way I cannot begin to comprehend (I am usually afraid I will accidentally hurt them). My husband, likewise, has an instant affinity for babies and always tries to communicate and play with them. He was raised Jewish with the idea that it is unclean to have animals in the home and does not find animals particularly adorable. In our culture we are inundated with anthropomorphised images of animals in television and given stuffed toys and pets that we take care of like children. It’s not that surprising that we find animals cute when we focus so much attention on them as if they were little people. I do not know that such evaluations of ‘cuteness’ would hold cross-culturally, especially in cultures where people do kill and eat ‘cute’ animals on a regular basis.
Other hominids have been known to keep pets. I would not be surprised if cetaceans were capable of this as well, though it would obviously be more difficult to demonstrate.
Where is he from, if you don’t mind my asking? The Jewish cultures in the United States that I’m familiar with are okay with pets.
Monroe, NY (though he is not a Hassid!)
It’s not that they have a strict prohibition on pets, more of a general disapproval from appeal to cleanliness. I don’t know how the super-orthodox interpret the Torah on this matter.
This isn’t a issue from anything coming from the Torah. Rather, a dislike of dogs likely stems from anti-Semites in Eastern Europe having their dogs attack Jews, and later the use of dogs by the Nazis to keep concentration camp inmates in line.
However, there’s is some connection to cleanliness issues also. Some people claim that the Jewish home should mirror the historical Temple in Jerusalem and thus should not have any non-kosher animals in it at all. See this essay which discusses this in more detail.