Written by Daniel Rafii

On Thursday, December 25th, Rabbi Dove Ber Smith visited the school with his registered service dog, Cinco. Rabbi Smith has partially impaired hearing and is completely deaf in one ear. Cinco helps him do things like answer the door and shaking the Rabbi’s bed to wake him up every morning, because the Rabbi is unable to hear the alarm clock, though I doubt he has one. The Rabbi believes that all 613 mitzvot in the Torah can be learned from animals; for example, the mitzvah of obedience to God can be learned from dogs, who obey their owners. To illustrate this idea, the Rabbi performed an amazing exercise with the dog where he would place kibble, the dog’s favorite food, on the dog’s paws, while the dog obeys his owner and doesn’t eat the kibble. The dog was so disciplined that he didn’t eat the food. He insinuated that any other regular dog would have probably given in and eaten the food sitting right in front of them. Once Rabbi Smith finally gave the sign to Cinco, Cinco then ate the food. The Rabbi explained how an ordinary dog cannot just become a service dog. They must be tested to make sure that the dog really wants to help people. The dog goes through a series of tests to make sure that he is fit and wants to help humans. Rabbi Smith then went over how he cares for a dog like Cinco. He said that he always gives the dog breakfast first and then gives himself breakfast. He also said that the dog always takes breaks to unwind. The dog always gets time to relax in a large cage where he knows that the Rabbi wants the dog to take time for himself. It was a powerful experience which highlighted the beauty of the mitzvot.