The Divinity Of Dogs

There's a mystic Judaic teaching that God unfolded into seven lower sephiroth (similar to the aeons of Platonism and Gnosticism), the final one being the Divine Shekhinah (with the footnote: that which comes last rules all that comes before, which is also why Eve was last-created, being one and the same with the Divine Shekhinah).

She is the only component of god visible to and dwelling amidst and caring about humans. And humanity was created in order that god might have a witness to its/her existence. Dogs are to people what people are to god, proof that we matter to someone, that we are not our own delusion.

As hounds accompanied Artemis, a celestial dog accompanied Eve. Eve was never banished from Eden -- only Adam was banished -- but Eve when with him as his "help mate," and the descendants of her bitch likewise strove to help humanity.

Cain's "mark" [Genesis 4:15] was a dog always in his company [Genesis Rabbah 22:12], for it was the Voice of Adamah (Red Earth Mother) who cursed Cain and drank the blood of Abel [Genesis 4:10-10]. This same "Voice" was in ancient times associated with the Earthmother Bau or Gula, whose voice was that of a barking dog, a bark that brought Creation into being.

The rabbinical assertion was that the black dog was given to Cain as God's favor, for it would protect Cain who would otherwise be slain in his wanderings. This "bitch" was to be a companion in what promised otherwise to be a life of lonely despair.

A Christian interpretation asserted that the dog came to Cain because Cain had protected the dog from injury, and it wished always to do the same for Cain. A rabbinical legend adds that this dog had formerly belonged to shepherding Abel.

Torah often speaks negatively of dogs because they were sacred to the Great Mother Gula (Bau), especially in Western Mesopotamia where Abraham came from, and they were worshipped in Egypt as sacred to Anubis. But by the Mishnaic era of the classical sages, dog worship was not so commonplace, malicious verses against them no longer made so much sense, and stories about dogs became a lot more truthful and caring.

The Midrash Tanhumah asserts that the Jews left Egypt with their dogs. The sea parted and let the Jews pass, and afterward closed to drown the pursuing Egyptians. But some of the Jews worried that their ex-masters weren't all dead and some of them might regain consciousness and pursue them further.

So they brought their dogs to the sea's margin to assess the condition of those washed ashore, and commanded their dogs, "Eat here the hand that enslaved me!"

The Talmud states that in ancient times the sixth sense possessed by dogs made them aware of when the Angel of Death was near. Whenever guardian dogs seemed upset and the inhabitants of the home could not perceive any intruder, it meant the Angel of Death was abroad.

Midrashic lore always has a biblical origin, and the belief in dogs' sensitivity to the presence of Death comes from Exodus 11:5-6, where Moses states that while the first-born of the Egyptians are dying, the dogs that dwelt in the houses of the Israelites would remain silent.

The Midrash expands this evidence to mean that the Angel of Death came beforehand to the Israelites' dogs and commanded their silence throughout the horrific night.

God was so pleased with the obedience of the dogs that he promised them (the dogs) that they would receive rewards, and then through Moses instructed the people, "You shall not eat flesh of an animal that was torn in the field; to the dog shall you throw it" (Exodus 22:30-31).

Rashi said that this commandment to feed meat that was not kosher to dogs was the manner by which God instructed the devoted to perform good deeds for animals. This is also why Jews were instructed to feed and tend to the needs of their animals before turning to their own needs.

Those who were contemptuous of Jews delighted to call them Dogs, and laugh because their sacred scrolls were tanned with use of the excrement of dogs. How was it possible for a Jew to remain kindly and polite when called a dog? Because a dog that returns to its vomit [Proverb 27:22] is like a scholar who returns to the sacred scrolls. Every servant of the Shekhinah is rightly called a dog [2 Kings 8:13; 2 Samuel 3:8] and there was nothing better one could be in honoring the grace of the Divine One.

According to the Talmud, a dog is the finest pet, for it loves and recognizes its master, unlike a cat which doesn't care who you are [Hor 13a]. People should welcome the bark of a dog at midnight as reassurance of safety, hence the saying, "Dwell not in a village where no dog is heard" [Pes 31, 113a].

When dogs barked playfully and with joy, it meant the Prophet Elija was in the vicinity or some equally joyous event was pending [B. K. 60b]. Of course, a mournful howl could be an ill omen, but make use of this! Genesis Rabbah suggests that a person can assess the suitability of a partner for marriage by listening to the dogs around their house, divining by their voices an omen for good, or for evil.

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