When Every (Jewish) Dog Has Its Day

Image by Instagram/Sarah Silverman

By Anne Cohen August 26, 2015

Jews and dogs haven’t always had the smoothest relationship. As Benjamin Ivry , our canine friends were deemed too noisy, too greedy, too stupid, and too dirty by our Biblical forebears to be considered a suitable pet. And given the routine comparisons of Jews to dogs by everyone from 19th century New Yorkers to the Nazis (and more recently, a Belgian cafe) certainly explains why the negative associations have persisted beyond the time of Moses.

READ: The Top 10 Jewish Dogs of All Time

But still, some have managed to take a shine to man’s best friend. In honor of National Dog Day, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite celebrity Jewish dogs:

Chelsea Handler

The 40-year-old comedian has two dogs, Tammy and Chunk.

Image by Instagram/Chelsea Handler

Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham’s dog became the center of a heated controversy when she published “Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz” in the New Yorker. Many accused her of perpetuating the historically offensive idea that Jews are sub-human.

Image by Instagram/ Lena Dunham

Sarah Silverman

How much does Sarah Silverman love dogs? When her rescue dog of 14 years, named Duck, died in 2013, she wrote him an obituary. Here she is with her new pet, Mary:

Image by Instagram/Sarah Silverman

Adam Sandler

His name is Matzoball. Just let that sink in.

Image by Instagram/Adam Sandler

Natalie Portman

Just like his owner, this dog is tres chic.

Image by Instagram/Natalie Portman

Adam Levine

Sexy, Jewish AND loves dogs? * Fans herself wildly *

Image by Instagram/Adam Levine

Did we miss any of your favorite Jewish dogs? Let us know in the comments?

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO