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Owning Pets in Halachah

Is it permitted by halacha, Kabalah and Midat Chasidut to purchase and own mascots? I ask only in recreational sense, i.e., not for protection. What about dogs, fish, reptiles, etc. And what about animals that are impure (i.e. tameh).Thanks.

Answer:

It is permitted to own animals as pets, including impure animals (see sources below).

However, there can be problems of taking care of the animal on Shabbos, and one must take care to study the subject and refrain from any prohibitions in this respect.

Best wishes.

Answer:

Some have written against the practice of keeping pets, based on the idea that one should not gaze at non-kosher animals — a concept found in the Shelah, and in some other kabbalistic works. But were it not for such writings, it seems that there is no problem in looking at non-kosher animals, for surely these, too, are creatures created by Hashem.

Even works that take this idea into account, such as Shut Ateres Pas (2:5), conclude that it is permitted to keep animals as pets.

See also Shemiras ha-Guf veha-Nefesh (siman 237) who cites different opinions concerning this matter, the lenient opinion writing that there is a mitzvah of having non-kosher animals around, so that we can learn to differentiate between the tameh and the tahor (as the Torah instructs), and so that we can learn from animals, as the Gemara writes (Avodah Zarah 5) that we learn different traits from different animals.

For somebody without special customs, there is therefore no apparent problem, and certainly where there is some benefit of keeping a pet at home (for therapy etc.) it is fine to do so.

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