Animals at Shabbat

Jasmine the dog in 2007 photo by Bruce Schulman

Jasmine was blessed by Rabbi Lawrence Silverman in 2007. The Rabbi will conduct another blessing of the animals at Shabbat in Plymouth, Maryland today.

I usually post this type of info at http://www.blessingoftheanimals.com but since I’ve been busy and extremely tired I thought it might be good to share it here.

Blessing of the animal events take place in a variety of settings and are conducted by a variety of religious establishments.

However, the Jewish celebrations of animal blessings are not so mainstream as some of the others. The article about the history almost has it right–except they forgot to mention St Anthony of the Desert and obviously don’t know about the new research about the Olvera Street blessing.

When they speculate about the older traditions the problem is that there is little documentation to prove it.

I wonder how many of you celebrate such events…

You can read my short pet blessing history and about the top five animal blessings in the United States on a squidoo page. (Or get the whole scoop from my book, Blessing of the Animals: A Guide to Prayers & Ceremonies Celebrating Pets & Other Creatures!)

Do me a favor and take a minute to vote on the two polls for fun (just scroll down the page once you click on the link to find them).

1. Is your pet a blessing?
   
2. Have you attended a pet blessing or animal blessing?

BTW: Have a great weekend. I’ll be scarce for the next week and a half.

Again, thanks for your understanding during my recovery.