Animals Rejoice and Be Blessed!

The Jewish Community Center of Harrison held an unusual but enjoyable, fun-loving Blessing of the Animals Ceremony outside its patio Friday evening.

Between 30 and 50 people showed up for the event, and it wasn't just members of JCCH, anyone who heard about it was welcomed to attend. 

Veterinarian Gary Yarnell, of Rye-Harrison Veterinary Hospital, coordinated the event with Rabbi Aubrey Glazer. He brought his 7-month-old Labrador, Gracie, and Caylee, an 11-year-old poodle. 

Yarnel said that Glazer approached him a couple of months ago with the idea and he quickly fell in love with it.

"I had been on a committee called, Synagogue 2000, which was trying to find relevancy for conservative Judaism with modern life. This idea came up along the way and there's just so many people in town that love their animals and consider them part of the family and would love to have them blessed," Yarnel said. "I had been officiating at the churches in town and we never had anything at the synogogue so this is our turn to see what we can do."

The ceremony began with Glazer's introduction and Cantor Israel Singer, (who had a monkey puppet on his shoulder) singing in Hebrew accompanied by violinist Jared Mcinerney, a student of Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale.

A few volunteers read a blessing at a podium before everyone was asked to place their hands on their pet's head and recited a sacred blessing. An owner of a pet store even provided some treats.

Glazer said he received positive feedback from his congregants, adding that the ceremony was created by Rabbi Josh Snyder who has performed the ceremony in a few different contexts with college students. The ceremony also honored Rav Kook; who was appointed the rabbi of Jerusalem and died in 1935. Kook's vision was of a peaceable kingdom for humans and animals.

Glazer was so moved by the powerful ritual that he wanted to introduce it to his congregation.

"It's the first time in my history as being a Rabbi holding the ritual. In New York, St. John the Divine has a Blessing for the Animals on the feast day of Francis of Assisi on October 4 every year-- but in the Jewish religion it's not often done so we're one of the first synagogues in New York to offer this ceremony," he said.

He did receive some interesting responses from people wanting to bring their animals to the ritual.  "Two of the phone calls I received were from congregants who wanted to bring a pig or a chicken!" he said.

When asked about the purpose of the ceremony Glazer explained that contemporary Judaism doesn't believe that animals are demonic, but that they have an important role in our lives here on earth.  

"We believe that animals are part of a larger kingdom on earth that God created and it's our responsibility to relish and appreciate all the creatures," he said.

Mcinerney said he has been playing violin for 10 years and is a member of JCCH, but Friday was certainly something different.

"It's really nice to have members of the congregation participate in musical blessings. I'm not surprised that they are doing the animal blessing, but I've never seen this done before," Mcinerney said.

Cantor Israel Singer hopes the blessing of the animals ceremony will motivate and excite people to attend religious services more often.

"Today we're struggling to get people back to synagogues and churches and get them to reconnect with religion," Singer said. "We're hoping a service like an animal blessing will bring more people to the synogogue and that's the goal for this service."

Those who attended the ceremony said it was a great idea and appreciated the opportunity to involve their pets with religion. Rye resident Marcia Patel said her veterinarian recommended she bring her Alaskan Malamute (sled dog) and she liked the idea.

"She's old and has some issues and the vet suggested I should bring her to the ceremony," Patel said. "I figured it couldn't hurt."