Reply To: blessings for animals (in particular, pets!)

Hello yytz and Daniela,

Thank you for your kind words and well wishes on my journey.

Yytz, I have heard of Vision of Eden and am going to check that out for sure!

I think that no-kill shelters are definitely the way to go, as you suggest yytz. I am not sure to what extent they are available where Daniela lives. It is awesome that you are trying to help these poor animals out Daniela! I did find an article from 1992 about Halachic perspectives on pets by Rabbi Howard Jachter of Yeshiva University Kollel Lehoraah (you can find it on the Internet), and in this article, Rabbi Jachter talks about the differing schools of thought on neutering and spaying pets. Daniela, maybe you could discuss this article with your rabbi to see what parts of it he adheres to, as this article does appear to indicate that there is some room to prevent pet reproduction and still follow Halacha. Maybe if your rabbi determines that some of the perspectives in the article are acceptable, then some type of action can be taken where you are that is consistent with your rabbi’s determination? There was some discussion in the article, for instance, about preventing reproduction chemically or otherwise without removal of the reproductive organs — the article suggests that it is the removal of these organs, rather than the infertility itself, that is problematic in terms of Halacha.

This was just a thought I had as when I read this article. I would love to hear what you think?