Israeli Lawyer Reincarnated as Stray Dog Not Being Stoned

Israeli newspaper Marriv reported on Friday that a stray dog strolled into the Monetary Affairs court in the neighbourhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem -- an ultra-orthodox area. The judges and plaintiffs believed the dog to be a reincarnation of a secular lawyer who insulted a judge 20 years previous.

The newspaper stated that the court had decided to stone the dog to death. These reports have since been strongly denied by the secretariat of the court, who said that it was merely “bitter humour.” The dog was simply removed by the local “dog catcher.” In fact, she explained that the children of the area were thrilled to have a dog around, as they normally only see stray cats.

Maariv newspaper was forced to apologize for the original report that caused quite some controversy internationally.

A court statement said: “There is no basis for stoning dogs or any other animal in the Jewish religious, not since the days of the Temple or Abraham.

“The female dog found a seat in the corner of the court. And the children were delighted by it there were hundreds outside the court. They are used to seeing stray cats but most have never seen a dog before. The only action we took was to dial the number of the Jerusalem Municipality to get the people in charge to take it away.

“There was no talk of reincarnation, a lawyer has never been mentioned, either now or 20 years ago, and there was no stoning. Such inventions are a kind of blood libel, and we wonder why the inventor of the story did not continue to describe how we collected the blood of the dog to make our matzah.”