Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

The Talmud and Shulchan Aruch record with detail and clarity the obligation to treat a Beis HaKnesses with awe and reverence. This obligation precludes many basic activities: Eating, drinking and sleeping; and prohibits speech that does not pertain to the observance of mitzvos.

In general, these are areas in which our community needs Chizuk.

In recent weeks, however, an additional question has arisen with regards to the permissibility of bringing a service dog into shul. This discussion is not new, and has been addressed by poskim in the past century.

In 1953 Rav Moshe Feinstein wrote a Teshuva to Rav Pinchas Teitz addressing this question (אגרות משה או״ח ח״א מ״ה). There, he permits bringing a service animal to shul on the basis of Talmudic precedent, as well as the reality that many of our shuls today are constructed with stipulations that allow them to be used for purposes other than Tefillah.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe as well was strongly of the opinion that leniency should be applied to enable all Jews to come to shul and participate in community Tefillah.

While it is true that Rav Ovadia Yosef prohibits bringing service animals into shul, Rav Ovadia’s grandson, Rav Yaakov Sasson, writes (Halachah Yomit November 30, 2016): “if the dog is quiet and well-behaved in the synagogue and the congregants are not frightened by its presence, there is no reason to prevent a blind man from coming to the synagogue and bringing his seeing-eye dog along with him.” (See Rabbi Chaim Jachter's article for a fuller treatment of this discussion.)

Our community is blessed to have many members with diverse needs, and as much as possible we endeavor to ensure that everyone can find their place in shul. The honor and respect that we owe to each other is certainly no less than the Kavod due to our Beis HaKnesses, and as such, we welcome people of all abilities to participate in our Tefillah, and to bring along the service animals that make it possible to do so.

However, awe and reverence for shul and davening should not suffer as a result. To that end, I would encourage everyone to take upon themselves to hold back from unnecessary conversations in shul, and to do our utmost to upgrade our personal connection to the Kedushas Beis HaKnesses in both attendance and attention.

B'yedidus, RRB