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connecting online over dogs:
a Facebook page, called Mazel
Pups, for Jews, mostly in the
Philadelphia area, who love
their dogs and want to post
about them.

The Villanova resident
created the page on Dec. 30.

One night within its first 10
days, she woke up at 4 a.m. and
opened Facebook. Mazel Pups
already had 613 members.

By the middle of January, it
was up to 980. And by the start
of February, it had grown to
more than 1,200 dog lovers.

They are
not just
Philadelphia-area residents
who know Frisch, either. Mazel
Pups members come from New
York, Baltimore and all over
the United States; they come
from Israel, too; they even
come from London.

Mazel Pups is open to anyone
who loves their dogs and dogs
in general, and a little over a
month in, it has a pretty well-es-
tablished rhythm. A member
posts a picture of his or her dog
with a story above it, and other
members like it and comment
on how cute the dog is.

One Jan. 31 post was made by
a rabbi who lives in Rhode Island.

He was talking about his new
Rabbi Robyn Frisch, creator of the Mazel Pups Facebook group, with
her dogs Bo and Frankie
Photo by Tali Frisch
It felt like there was this environment of joy.

People were commenting with smiles, hearts.”
ROBYN BELSON
labradoodle who came home for
the first time the day before.

“So far she has been
wonderfully playful and she
even let me sleep this morning
until 5:10 AM (far longer than
I expected!),” he wrote.

“Adorable,” wrote one of the
many commenters.

“She is just adorable,” wrote
another. According to Frisch, the
group started out, in its first
few days, with only people she
knew. But it spread because
members started inviting their
friends from outside the rabbi’s
immediate circle. And then
they invited their friends, and
those friends invited their own
friends, and it kept going.

“It felt like there was this
environment of joy,” said Robyn
Belson, a Voorhees, New Jersey,
resident, dog owner and group
member since late January.

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Southampton resident Danielle Hess’ dog Betzee, who has appeared
in the Mazel Pups Facebook group
Courtesy of Danielle Hess
“People were commenting with
smiles, hearts.”
When Belson posted a
picture of her dog, Gracie, a
yellow lab, members flocked to
it and commented things like,
“Oh sweet girl.” Then Belson
did the same for them.

Frisch believes the connec-
tions in the group are strong
because members are both
Jewish and lovers of dogs. But
for 18Doors, the rabbi runs
a fellowship for rabbis who
work with interfaith couples
and parents, and her Facebook
group is open to non-Jews, too.

As the administrator
explains it, members are both
Jewish and Jew-ish, meaning
some have married a Jew but
maintained their own religious
identity. Several people have
posted pictures of their dogs
playing with Chanukah toys in
front of Christmas trees.

“It’s just meant to be fun,”
Frisch said. “And it’s meant to
share common love.”
That love runs deeper during
these isolating pandemic
times, Frisch said. She started
noticing the dog trend at
weddings over the last two
years, as COVID forced people
to stay home more often.

Some members think that
Mazel Pups is a balm for the
general feeling of negativity
in the wider world. They said
they liked that the group was
unifying and apolitical.

“It’s an outlet,” said Danielle
Hess, a Southampton resident
and the owner of a doodle
named Betzee. “It’s just stupid
things dogs do. Or cute things
dogs do. Dogs are such a part
of our life.”
Group members have
started to post about possible
meetups in local dog parks.

Frisch, for her part, might want
to do a Mazel Pups podcast or
Instagram at some point.

“I very much enjoy doing
this,” she said. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
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