Skila Pup-date

We are finally seeing some retractions of the unlikely, but widely spread and believed, story that a dog was sentenced to stoning. I just wish the news agencies who originally spread the story had consulted someone to find out if there is any stoning of any kind in Judaism in our times. There isn't. Those laws were left out of the 16th-century Shulchan Aruch, for instance, having been inoperative since ancient times:

Reports that a Jewish rabbinical court in Israel condemned a stray dog to death by stoning have been strongly denied.

The source of the report, Israel's Maariv newspaper, apologised for its headline and for any offence caused.

The head of the court, Yehoshua Levin, was quoted by Maariv as saying: "There is no basis for abuse of animals from the side of Jewish Halacha [law].''

In a statement, the court denied that a dog had been condemned.

A dog had entered the court and been removed, it said.

The story was reported in the Israeli and international press, including the BBC News website. [...]

And some people will go to their graves believing it and require reincarnation to ever be properly informed again.