Printer Friendly

Email to A Friend

Friday September 22, 2006

Dog pays strange visit after man’s death

jerusalem (ynetnews.com) | Meah Shearim residents believe a dog arrived at a neighborhood to ask for absolution following the death of 95-year-old Nahman David Dovinski.

Dovinkski was described by neighbors as a righteous man who was waiting for redemption. Upon returning from his funeral, which took place Saturday night, Sept. 16, Dovinski’s family found an unfamiliar dog sitting on the doorstep of his home. The family removed the dog from the neighborhood, but it returned to the same house. Other attemps to expel the stray also proved unsuccessful.

A neighborhood rabbi arrived at the house and instructed that the dog be served a Shabbat meal, in hopes that this would convince it to go. Only after the dog was told “you are forgiven” three times did it taste the food.

Seeking an interpretation of the dog’s visit, neighborhood residents turned to Rabbi Meir Brandsdorfer, one of the senior rabbis in the haredi congregation. He recommended reciting Psalms and Mishnahs.

The rabbi left Dovinski’s home at around 5 a.m. Sunday and headed toward the Mount of Olives to say Kaddish on Dovinski’s grave. Neighborhood residents and family members report that the dog willingly left the house during the Kaddish.

A crew from Jerusalem municipality’s veterinary services came and picked up the dog, as hundreds of residents from Meah Shearim and other neighborhoods watched and escorted the vehicle.

Did you find this article interesting? Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and you'll be notified each week when "J." goes online. We'll tell you about the most important stories of the week and give you a link to each one.

This page contains a BETA version of Amazon contextual links. They are marked by the dashed underline.  Your purchases support our site. At times they point to items which are not related to the actual link. Please alert us by email if you discover objectionable links.