Kelev's Journey: A Jewish Dog Wanders Home

Kelev, a lively black Labrador retriever, lives with an orthodox Jewish family in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. One-year old Kelev learns of his Judaism from his neighbor beagle buddy, and starts thinking about becoming a rabbi--a natural role because he already wears a black coat. He teaches the other neighborhood Jewish pets about their obligations to make the world a better place and also invents a device, the Yidometer, that measures one's fidelity to Judaism. But Kelev ultimately abandons the Yidometer because he concludes that Judaism, with its richness and complexity, cannot be reduced to a single number. Kelev serves as a role model for humans who can learn to curtail their capacity for cruelty by observing dogs' innocence.