Does your dog have a soul?

In your Rabbi, I have a problem on July 7, at the conclusion of his reply about dealing with the death of a dog, Rabbi Romain suggested reading Kaddish. What a disgraceful thing to say. If it was a light hearted thought, it was terrible, and so disrespectful to the Kaddish, which is a very important prayer. No wonder that the Non Orthodox are being barred from the Western Wall (the holiest of Jewish places).

As it happens I usually read Rabbi Brawer’s reply for an authentic religious reply, and Rabbi Romain’s for a laugh. To be quite honest, you should devote that whole page to orthodox matters only, and not mix and match, please.

S Solomon,

London NW4

For people who believe in the soul, it makes no sense to suppose that only humans have them, not other animals. Rabbi Brawer bases his answer on the views of the Sages, but with all due respect, how could they know? I suspect the denial of animals having souls is largely due to a need to assuage a feeling of guilt for those who eat them. We know, genetically speaking, we humans are very closely related to apes. If humans have souls, why not chimpanzees? If chimps, why not cats and dogs? They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Look and see!

Mycal Miller,

London NW2

Apart from burial rights and rites which will be more for the family than myself, what would I get from a synagogue membership apart from more “School Assembly” passivity?

Could the United Synagogue take a leaf out of Limmud? Trim repetitions to create the time; issue a list of questions on Parasha of the week to prime discussion or even copies of a modern text treating a similar moral problem; and organise more than prayer or Talmud sessions. Limmud took off like a forest fire because of the choice and variety of history, music, art and much else including some esoteric science sessions, besides religious texts. Culture is a lot wider than the religious literature. Study something in English and it promotes an interest in the original Hebrew, because of the translation problems which also extend to the technical context of the time. Meanwhile I shall stick to Limmud, Zionists and visits to my family in Israel.

Frank Adam,

Prestwich, M25

Headlined predictably is the continuing drop in ‘orthodox middle’ Shul numbers, 20 per cent in 25 years. The United Synagogue needs to wake up but will it? The reason for the decline may be not linked to any movement away from organised religion or towards the growing Charedi community. It may be the alienation and poor welcome that United Synagogue shuls present to the very large and often keen Jewish community who are not ‘happily married with children’.

Also headlined last week were the two US presidential candidates, both of whose appeal to voters is apparently the length of their marriages, the names of their wives and the number of their children. In the same issue we read of the failure of the US to even begin to support a rabbi who dared to speak up for a marginalised group of the Jewish community.

There is an enormous potential membership for the US amongst those who are single parent families or by themselves. The overwhelming evidence is that they are ignored or marginalised by the US and particularly in US shuls.

US presidential candidates, Rabbis and the sixty-four US