Apparently, not every religious sect thinks all dogs go to heaven.

A group of rabbis in the Israeli city of Elad, a religious municipality located near Tel Aviv and which is run by Orthodox Jews, issued an edict this week ruling (against all reason) that all dogs are bad and that those who own them are cursed.

“We have heard and have seen that lately, a serious phenomenon has spread in our city Elad, in which young boys and children walk around publicly with dogs. This is strictly forbidden, as explained in the Talmud and by the Rambam, anyone raising a dog is accursed and especially in our city where many women and children are afraid of dogs,” the anti-canine edict states. The rabbi of neighboring Holon, Avraham Yosef, is quoted as writing: “I do not find any grounds for permitting any dog whatsoever in any manner.”

If dog owners are cursed, I’m definitely going to hell.

The edict goes even further to explain that all dogs are, in fact, “bad dogs,” violating my own beliefs that dogs deserve all the scratches and belly rubs we can give them.

In the past, an Orthodox rabbi in a nearby city said guide dogs and emotional support dogs were permissible, but this goes much further.

The term “bad dog” means “any dog, for it barks on whomever it does not know and because of its bark it is a bad dog even if does not bite,” the [edict] also states. People who keep dogs for medical needs should appear before the local rabbinical court so it may rule on their matter, the edict says.

Obviously, not all Jews believe this. Not even all Orthodox Jews believe this. But if you were looking for a new reason to condemn faith-based policy-making, this is about as simple as it gets.

(via Shutterstock. Thanks to Kealoha for the link)

