We have to put my dog down tomorrow. Do you guys know of any Jewish teachings that may be of comfort?

Hey, hello, hi and shalom, y’all.

So, and important thing about my frame of reference: I am a convert to Judaism, I grew up in a mixed-flavors Christian house. When we’d lose a pet, we were comforted with ideas of “kitty and doggy heaven.”

Well, as you can probably guess, my ideas about death, dying, and the afterlife are now radically different post-conversion and a lot less…sure. In general. So I am struggling with this big time. I guess I wasn’t prepared to raw-dog grief without the promise of seeing her again.

I was looking through teachings about dogs in Judaism in search of something comforting and a lot of it seemed anti-dog and made me more upset, but I did find one story from Midrash where the dogs were quiet as the Israelites fled Egypt, and because of this we are commanded to make sure to feed them and take care of them (though this writing clearly pre-dates the concept of modern pet ownership.) I also saw another, where HaShem, in his great mercy, does not deny any deserving creature the reward they are owed, though an animal’s reward may be different from that of a human with free will.

Are there any other stories or teachings like this? Do you guys have any other advice for coping with this kind of thing? This is the first major upsetting loss I’ve had since even beginning the conversion process, and well, I am not handling it well. I know it probably seems ridiculous to be this torn up when Sophie isn’t even a human, but she was with me through some of the worst parts of my life and I don’t know what I am gonna do when I can’t go home and see her anymore.

Thank you friends. Love y’all. Also please consider donating to or volunteering at your local animal shelter.