When ‘Easter Bunnies’ Undergo a Religious Conversion
Easter is no holiday for rabbits. They are too often purchased at pet stores as an impulse gift for kids wanting a real-live Easter Bunny, says the House Rabbit Society, a national rescue and education organization based in California that urges people not to buy rabbits on a whim.
“We dread Easter every year,” says Mary Cotter of Rabbit Rescue & Rehab, the New York area chapter of the House Rabbit Society, which urges Easter celebrants to “Make Mine Chocolate” — i.e., buy a chocolate bunny for the Easter basket instead of a live rabbit. “People don’t realize that this is not an impulse purchase — these creatures can live seven to 10 years,” Cotter says. Sadly, many “Easter Bunnies” don’t last even half that long.
“After Easter, the rabbit becomes full-grown, which happens in about six months,” Cotter says. “By then, the kids have stopped taking care of the rabbit, so it dies. Or the parents just let the animal loose outside, thinking it’s ‘going back to nature.’ But domesticated rabbits are not capable of taking care of themselves outdoors — that’s equivalent to taking a Bulldog out to the Serengeti and saying, ‘Run with the wolves, my little one.’”
What’s more, caring for a rabbit is beyond the ability of most children. Rabbits are quite fragile medically, and can swiftly go from appearing fine one moment to being dead the next (especially if, for instance, they eat something that disagrees with their extremely sensitive and complicated digestive systems). Not all veterinarians are trained to care for rabbits; they require the medical attention of an exotic-animal doctor, and such vets are not always easy to locate in the event of an emergency.
They’re not good pets for kids, but rabbits can make ideal pets for grown-ups with day jobs and small apartments. “Rabbits are crepuscular animals: active in the early morning and early evening, and asleep during the day,” Cotter says. “So their natural schedule tends to coincide with that of a normal working person.” Plus, rabbits can easily be trained to use a litter box.
In an interesting trend, the House Rabbit Society reports that several of its happy adopters enjoy including pet rabbits in the Passover celebration. With Passover this week, it’s encouraging to note that several unwanted, erstwhile “Easter Bunnies” have undergone a religious conversion; call them the Passover Bunnies.
The Jewish holy day and festival commemorating the Hebrews’ escape from enslavement in Egypt is an especially appropriate time to share with pet rabbits, says Debbie Wolfe of New York City, who shares her home with two beloved bunnies, Angel and Nickels, both adopted from Rabbit Rescue and Rehab (and both neutered). Wolfe plans to celebrate, as she does each year, by acknowledging her pets as family members — right alongside her husband, children, dog, and cat.
As a religious Jew I was at first taken aback by the idea of a Passover Rabbit because I felt that is was simply a gratuitous and cheap shot at my religion by another ignorant and rather silly Jew.
Now I see I was being far too generous, when that same Jew compares a learned Jewish religous scholar with an animal with the animal apparently being preferred as a font of wisdom rather than the Rabbi.
Thirty five hundred years of Judaism and all of our truly wonderful history, Torah, Prophets, Holy Writings, the Talmud, the Proverbs, and yet we cannot even reach this one Jewess who finds her sources of wisdom in, Heaven help me, an animal, and a treyf rabbit at that.
This makes me want to rush home and explain the Resurrection to my Sheltie.
I never knew the true significance of Jesus being offered vinegar on a sponge…
http://tinyurl.com/ylacs4r
Another animal cruelty post. I’m waiting for the avalanche of anti-abortion rants.
Ken – it’s a JOKE – get over it!
I think it was a lovely article. Why not allow another creature to be released from the bonds of human stupidity and invite a new way for people to, responsibly, have pets in their lives? This is not a religious issue, but rather an issue about people who abuse animals under the guise of religion. Th author has offered an considered and considerate alternative, which is a rare offering these days. And as a working professional, I now know more about what may be a very appropriate pet for my lifestyle. I thank this Jewess.
As the proud owner of three house rabbits, I loved the article. Rabbits are intelligent, funny animals with very distinct personalities. Better still, they don’t bark and their poop is dry and smells like hay! I’ll take ‘em over dogs and cats any day.
However, they are not low-maintenance pets; they require daily attention and care, and are quite fragile. I don’t recommend them as pets for small children.
great article. while i am tempted to rush out and get my kids a cute little bunny, i know that it would be unfair at his time in our lives.
I echo Robin’s comment “a lovely article”. Religion should ultimately be inclusive and joyous otherwise we should all return to the Pharaoh with an apology and a request to make more bricks.
Actualy the better argument is that we Jews have always served to elevate the consciousness of the world. First we instituted the dietary laws for sanitarty reasons and as a means of rejecting the ritual sacrifice of infants with a post Abraham symbolic sacrifice of an animal which according to law, must be done as humanely as possible (sharp knife, artery quickly severed, etc. given the bronze age technology and with regard for the animal). Now it is time for our people to evolve our consciousness to an even higher level and reject fetishized Pets, reject meat and its attendant suffering, and realize the truth of the kashrut ideal by going vegan in order to eliminate the suffering for animals which we have known all too well over our own history. Embracing Pasach Bunnies, as I call them, is a symbolic part of this. Szabo’s article makes a crucial point in a fun and lighthearted way. But truth and history are on her side — right now in Israel there is a referrendum (or vote, not sure which) to ban the wearing of fur, much of it rabbit fur, cruely harvested by live flaying (sounds very gentile to me — think Ribera’s portrait of St. Bartholomew). It is supported by 95% of the population of Jews there. There is an attempt to defeat this measure by certain ulta orthodox and Hasids because they wear sable hats as a matter of tradition much like the Beefeaters wear bear hats as tradition and fear encroachment. This argument to me is specious because it elevates form over the substantive meaning of eliminating cruelty which is found in the Torah. What Szabo seems to write here in PJ is heresy to some but will be law in 20 years or so. So maybe we have not seen the complete panoply of prophets?
On the other hand take one post above, with whichm I respectully but not reflexively disagree, which begins in a possibly Speciest post with the phrase “As a . . ” — Dogma alert: I think one should never trust a post that begins “As a . .” because such stock phrases are often the refuge of those who reflexively take offense by suggesting that puported class membership entitles one to embrace such merely reflexive views. The meaning that I discern in my opinion of reading the post is that it possibly does not understand that divine wisdom is found in all G-d’s creatures and it is only the possibly narrow minded among us who reject purity and transcendence of thought and aspirations of hope. I suspect such reliance on mere dogma over critical analysis keeps our hopes down in the mud. In truth the only “cheap shots” as refered — In my opinion — are by those who ascribe reactionary offense to religion instead of using their G-d given ability to reason. The post concludes “[t]hirty five hundred years of Judaism and all of our truly wonderful history, Torah, Prophets, Holy Writings, the Talmud, the Proverbs, and yet we cannot even reach this one Jewess who finds her sources of wisdom in, Heaven help me, an animal, and a treyf rabbit at that” and I say I think this misses the point of all the primary sources cited. Why not critically consider the meaning of the Pasach Bunny? It is not forbidden, it acts against suffering, and it can’t hurt. Credit where it is due: At least we acknowledge that the Bunny should not be eaten even if we cosnider it as treyfa.
A brief baruch for those who rely upon dogma this joyous Pasach: May G-d grant you the ability to find wisdom and inspiration in a Bunny or any other aspect of life. Heftziba!
I agree with Robin and John..It is a lovely article to bring forth the plight about unecessary suffering of living beings.
Any truly religious or spiritual person would not take offense to this but accept taht they are g-d’s creatures too.
For avoidance of confusion, in the second paragraph I refer to the sacrifice of infants not by us but by our neighbors the Mollochs, the abomination
Rabbits would make a delicious addition to any Easter feast.
I’m sure that the point of the article is “Don’t Passover” a rescued house rabbit as a potential wonderful pet; “Do Passover” the temptation to gift a child with a bunny. I count several members of the clergy of various faiths among my friends, and one thing that characterizes them is their sense of humor. That seems to be lacking in some of the criticism of Julia’s effort to highlight the plight of one of God’s creatures. If only the same zealotry was universally applied in speaking out for those who can’t speak for themselves. To the animals, it may be “kosher,” but it’s still “murder.”
Rabbits are called coneys in the King James Bible, but because this sounds too much like “cunny” (kids’ or adolescent slang for vagina) the Puritans adopted the word rabbit.
So when you see the word coney in the Bible, it’s talking about rabbits or hares.
Ken Besig, I am reminded (see Rashi in Beshallach) that 80% of us were so assimilated into the worst degradation of Egyptian culture as to be unworthy to go out from Egypt, and were slain during the plague of darkness. (No comment as to that being about the same percentage who voted for Obama.)
ahad ha’amoratsim: I would like to think you are referring to Ken Besig but it is not clear.
Jason: Why stop there? Maybe a non-Speceist might say you would make a nice addition to a feast. The point is about ending temporal suffering through spiritual elevation in a fun way — not gratification or flip comments
A comment on the mean spirited and snide who post in response to a lighthearted take on a serious topic: Bob Hope’s old joke was “I was at the Academy Awards this year — or Passover as they are known refered to in my house . . . ” So maybe you might be happier on collegehumor.com?
thank you julia for writing this article on behalf of bunnies everywhere. these precious souls deserve loving homes w/ responsible people and i thank you for this message encouraging people not to buy a rabbit for easter, and for pointing out the reasons why. as always you write w/ such intelligence and humor. thanks again on behalf of rabbits everywhere. PLEASE ADOPT A SHELTER RABBIT OR A RESCUED RABBIT IF YOU CAN GIVE HIM OR HER A LOVING INDOOR HOME AND LOTS OF ATTENTION. they are wonderful pets for adults who are responsible.
Oh dear. Did HSUS pay for this article???
1. Rabbits are not kosher animals because they are caecotrophs(that is, they eat special, nutritional pellets that come out of the their anus). You may as well ‘joke’ about a ‘Passover piglet’… it’s kind of unfunny, let’s just not go there.
2. People turning rabbits lose is a bad thing, but it happens a lot less frequent than animal rightists want to believe. Besides that, the fox needs something to eat too, so the ordeal often is very short-lived.
3. A rabbit is very simple to look after, just feed it pellets and hay, with the odd vegetables, normally they don’t get sick at all. Part of growing up is to learn to look after animals, and a rabbit is the best and simplest choice here, and easy for an adult to supervise. If you’re too lazy to do that, then you have more problems than you think…
4. If your rabbit gets very sick, it’s often kinder to put it down than to let the vet terrorize the animals (and your wallet).
5. The houserabbit society is one of those ghastly holier than thou organisations made up mainly of middle-aged wimmen who like to harangue others with their tedious rabbit crusade. They tend to vilify breeders and make out that rabbits are ‘complex’ creatures unsuitable as pets, with the aim of putting people off getting them for their kids, because of ‘potential abuse’ they see everywhere.
6. It’s better to get a young rabbit from a breeder if you want a pet, or ask them for a retired adult(those make the greatest pets!). Rabbits can be vicious biters as well due to genetic issues (personality is a trait that is bred for), and when you take one from a shelter, you never know what history it has and how socialised it is, a rabbit who is scared in general will never enjoy your company, no matter how much you tease and torture it with your ‘kindness’.
6. in general, rabbits are cuddly and nutritious. If you’re not obsevant Jewish, take a look here: http://pan-am.uniserve.com/pg000005.htm — bon appetite!