“Behold My works, how beautiful and praiseworthy they are. All that I created, I created for you. Take care not to ruin or destroy My world, for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you.” Kohelet Rabbah 7:13 (adapted translation)

WCF Championships: The Rise of the Kanaani Cat Breed Begins

Our sages teach that “the righteous person knows the soul of his animal,” and within these words lies not only an ethical instruction, but a deeper understanding that the relationship between human beings and the living world is built on awareness, responsibility, and the ability to recognize value even when it is not immediately visible to others.

It was in that spirit, during my rabbinical studies, in a class devoted to the blessing of animals, while sitting with my cat Shpigel, that a simple yet persistent question arose within me, a question that did not seem extraordinary at first, yet refused to leave: was there a cat breed connected to the Jewish people, our culture, and the Land of Israel? From that moment, what began as curiosity gradually revealed itself as something much deeper, something that would not allow me to simply move on.

What I discovered was the Kanaani cat breed, a breed with history and presence across many languages and cultures, yet at the same time a breed that seemed to exist without a living, structured future, as if its story had once been written but was no longer actively continued, and it was precisely this realization that brought with it a quiet but real concern, because the absence was not in identity or history, but in continuity, as there were no visible active breeders, no structured system supporting the breed, and no one consistently bringing it forward, and without such presence even something meaningful can slowly fade.

History has already shown us how this happens, how something once real can become only a memory, like the dodo bird, which did not disappear because it lacked importance, but because by the time its importance was fully understood, it was already too late, and that possibility created a sense of urgency that could not be ignored.

The Kanaani has a very different origin, one rooted not in commerce but in compassion, in the work of Dorothea Polacheck, a Holocaust survivor, artist, sculptor, and writer, who in Jerusalem did not set out to create a commercial breed, but rather responded to life around her by rescuing a wild African cat and caring for street cats, and through that process brought into existence something that is closer to a living expression of care than to a product, something that carries within it both creativity and responsibility.

Over time, however, as often happens, attention shifted toward more commercially successful breeds, those easier to promote and sell, and in that shift the Kanaani moved further into the background, becoming rare not by design but by neglect, and yet the story did not end, because continuity sometimes survives not through institutions but through individuals, quietly and without recognition, and through such a path the line remained alive, eventually reaching Lyudmila Vlasova and, in time, reaching me.

Today, without exaggeration, the situation is both simple and fragile, as the breed exists but its future depends on very few people, and that reality alone reveals both the responsibility and the urgency of the moment, and at the same time something else became clear, not as a new rule or sudden change, but as a realization that within WCF the Kanaani cat breed has long held the status that allows participation in Championship Class, meaning that the path has existed all along, and that the door was never closed, but simply not used, because there were no active breeders bringing the breed into the championship arena.

This realization changes everything, because once a path is understood and taken, even if it has existed quietly for years, it becomes real, visible, and alive, and what once remained theoretical becomes a genuine opportunity, and I understand what that path demands because I have seen it before, not from a distance but up close, standing beside my brother, Dmitriy “Star of David” Salita, a WBF World Champion, WBA World Title Challenger, NABA Champion, IBF and WBA Intercontinental Champion, and a member of both the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame and the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, whose journey began long before the world titles as an Under-19 U.S. Champion, a New York Daily News Golden Gloves Open Class Champion, and the Outstanding Fighter of the Tournament who received the Sugar Ray Leonard Award.

I was there throughout that journey, traveling with him from the Junior Olympics in Saratoga to the Silver Gloves in Rochester, to tournaments in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Las Vegas, and to fights in Anaheim, Puerto Rico, Mobile, Alabama, Los Angeles, and Atlantic City, and through that experience I witnessed what it truly takes to become a champion, not only talent but discipline, persistence, and the refusal to give up even when the outcome is uncertain.

And now I find myself on a new mission, one that grows naturally out of everything that came before, as together with Lyudmila Vlasova my goal is to help the Kanaani cat breed become a world champion breed, and I approach this with the understanding that with God’s help such a mission is not accidental, but given, and that perhaps this is also why my path led me not only to become a rabbi, but also toward animal chaplaincy, where compassion, responsibility, and spiritual awareness come together in a way that is lived rather than abstract.

In Perek Shirah every creature has its own song before the Creator, including the cat, whose song reflects vigilance, awareness, and the responsibility to protect, and our tradition also teaches about the modesty of the cat, a quality that reflects quiet discipline and restraint, and when helping these animals I do not see it merely as practical work, but as a way of joining that song, participating in a shared responsibility between human beings and creation.

In the breed standard of the Kanaani cat there is a distinctive “M” marking on the forehead, and for me this is more than a physical characteristic, as in a personal and spiritual sense I see in it a connection to Moshe Rabbeinu, whose humility is central in the Torah, and when we recall that our tradition speaks both of the modesty of the cat and the humility of Moses, this parallel becomes a quiet symbol, a reflection, and a way of seeing continuity between creation and tradition.

This journey is also an act of respect, respect for its origin, for Jerusalem and the Land where the breed was born, and for those who preserved it quietly, and it is also an expression of gratitude, gratitude to the people of Ukraine, who despite war and suffering have not lost compassion toward animals, gratitude to the United States where TICA recognized the Kanaani as a New Experimental Breed and opened a path forward, and gratitude to WCF and Germany, which have supported and preserved the breed since 2000 and now provide real opportunities for it to be seen on the championship stage, along with special thanks to Anna Kolesnichenko, Alexander and Natalia Melnikov of Feline Alliance of Ukraine, and members of the TICA Genetics Committee.

This is more than recognition, it is connection, between people, between nations, and between past and future, and so I hope and I pray that with God’s help this mission, which I believe was given to me and to Lyudmila Vlasova, will come to fulfillment, and that the Kanaani will rise from being rare and almost unseen, from standing on the edge of disappearance, to becoming visible, valued, and champion, because sometimes what seems small is part of something much greater, and sometimes the decision to care is how the world is repaired.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)