Kabbalah Kronicles 18 – A $300 Kabbalah Lesson

Uncle Zally / Zalman Velvel

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Am I the only person who prays with his dog?

Probably not.

In this crazy world of 7 billion people, there are probably some who pray with a whole pack of dogs, maybe even wolves, surrounding them. There are probably some who even pray with their pet giraffe or elephant, and maybe one or two that share a religious experience with a holy gorilla.

My praying partner, whose legal name in Peanut, but whom I refer to as “the Nutter,” is a miniature dachshund. He is 23 or 24 inches long, depending on how far out he sticks out his nose, and weighs about 15 pounds. I use the word “about” because he didn’t like getting weighed, and jumped off the scale, twice, before I could accurately record a number.

Last week something terrible happened to the Nutter, and that is what I am writing about this week. I promise there is a deep mystical Kabbalistic meaning to this episode, illuminating the title, so bear with me.

Now I’m not saying the Nutter actually prays along with me, unless lifting his leg and anointing trees, bushes, and car tires can be categorized as praying. I just know that as soon as I make a move to my prayer shawl in the morning, Nutter is sitting by the side door, wagging his tail, waiting to accompany me as I walk around our pond and summon the Almighty. I have no idea what is going on in Nutter’s mind while I am doing this, if he has the least thought about God … and he probably likes it that way.

This mystical episode began when I came home from work on Thursday, accompanied by my six year old granddaughter Emily, whom I call Emmy. She is the little cutie on the left, holding her baby doll. Every other Thursday is Emmy’s turn to have a play date with her Grampa. When we opened the door to my house, Nutter was there, waiting for us, with his bladder ready to burst from “holding it in” for the previous eight hours.

The Nutter ran outside to his favorite spot on the lawn, sniffed around, looking for the perfect patch of grass to anoint. Suddenly, he yelped four octaves higher than I have ever heard him yelp, and then jumped four feet higher than I have even seen him jump, arching his back like a “Slinky” toy. How he could jump so high was amazing, considering the tiny little legs that miniature dachshund has.

When the Nutter landed, he dragged himself back to the house on his front paws. His rear legs, and his whole hind quarters, looked paralyzed.

Emmy and I were shocked. What mystical act just happened in front of us?

I thought a snake bit him. Southwest Florida has coral snakes, rattle snakes, and water moccasins, just to mention a few of the deadly serpents we share the land with. I had read that snake venom has powerful neuro-toxins that paralyze small animals. Were we watching my little Peanut have his last moments on this earth?

I ran to the Nutter, picked him up, and hugged his quaking little body. I looked for the entry site of a snake bite. There wasn’t any. Was there time to drive to the “Vet?” No. Even if there was, I had no idea which anti-venom to use because we did not see any snakes.

Slowly, Peanut calmed down. When I placed him down on the ground, he walked normally for a few feet, and then sat, looking up at me. After resting a little, he got up again on all fours and followed us into the house.

The Nutter was lethargic after this experience. When I put on my prayer shawl in the morning, he did not wait by the side door to accompany me.

So I prayed alone.

After a few more days, Peanut did not touch his food dish in the morning when my wife fed him. We have buried quite a few pets during our forty years together, and a common sign of serious illness was loss of appetite.

My wife brought Peanut to the Vet, and we were told it wasn’t a deadly snake bite. Whew! The Vet explained Peanut was getting old, and he probably hurt his back from being scared, jumping too high, and arching his spine too much. The Vet gave him a cortisone shot, and some antibiotics. There was also some special food to make his old bones feel better.

The bill was $300.

Can you believe it?

There are people in this world that could use that $300 for non-mystical materialistic things like food and clothes, and we spent it on our little Nutter so the Vet could tell us he was getting old.

Yes, I felt we wasted our money … but I also felt greatly relieved that my little Nutter was not going to leave me any time soon … and that made the price worthwhile.

You see, I do not like praying with groups of people. I find it distracting, rather than comforting. I do not like a set prayer service, either. God wants me to love Him with all my heart, He said so in the Bible. So taking Him at His word, I have to pray in ways that allow my heart to roam free. I may be wrong in praying that way, and I do not expect others to follow my example, yet it works for me.