From a Holocaust survivor’s vision in Jerusalem to a Brooklyn-led revival, international recognition in Finland and Ukraine, two world-record achievements, and a new children’s book series, the Kanaani is becoming a source of pride for America and Ukraine — and a symbol of international cooperation through the emerging Kanaani Diplomacy Doctrine

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — World-record Kanaani cats and their Brooklyn-based custodian, Rabbi and Animal Chaplain Mikhail Salita, have been nominated for a Brooklyn Borough Hall Certificate of Proclamation in connection with American National Cat Day, October 29.

The nomination has been received by the Office of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and is currently under review.

The nomination comes at an extraordinary moment for the Kanaani, the exceptionally rare Israeli cat breed whose modern story began in Jerusalem and whose revival is now being led from Brooklyn.

In little more than a year, the breed’s American revival has grown from an effort to preserve a tiny surviving population into an international story connecting Israel, the United States, Ukraine and Finland.

The Kanaani has returned to the international show stage, achieved world-record recognition, inspired a new concept of international animal-preservation diplomacy and is now preparing to enter children’s literature.

At the center of that growing story is Brooklyn.

FROM JERUSALEM TO BROOKLYN

The modern Kanaani was developed in Jerusalem in the 1990s by Doris Pollatschek, a German-born Jewish artist who made Israel her home.

Its name reaches much further into history.

Canaan belongs to the ancient biblical geography and historical memory of the land that would become the Land of Israel. The modern Kanaani is not an ancient biblical breed, but its Jerusalem birthplace, its name and its distinctive natural appearance give the breed a remarkable connection to the landscape and heritage of the Holy Land.

Over time, however, the Kanaani became exceptionally rare.

As its population diminished, preserving its remaining bloodlines became increasingly important.

Eventually, that mission crossed the Atlantic.

Today, Brooklyn has become the home of the American Kanaani revival.

Through the American Kanaani Revival Program, Salita is working to preserve surviving bloodlines, rebuild genetic diversity, expand the breed’s population and restore the Kanaani to international visibility.

For Brooklyn — a borough shaped by generations of people who carried their heritage across oceans and gave it new life in America — the story has particular resonance.

The Kanaani came from Jerusalem needing a future.

Brooklyn became a place where that future could be built.

A BREED BORN FROM A SURVIVOR’S VISION

Behind the Kanaani is also an extraordinary human story.

Doris Pollatschek was a Holocaust survivor.

Born into a Jewish family in Germany, she escaped Nazi persecution as a child with her family, while members of her extended family were murdered during the Holocaust.

Pollatschek went on to choose a life of art and creation and eventually made her home in Israel.

Decades later, in Jerusalem, her fascination with the distinctive feline appearance of the region helped inspire the development of the Kanaani.

There is a powerful continuity in that history.

A woman whose childhood was marked by persecution and survival went on to create something new in Jerusalem.

Decades after Pollatschek’s death, the exceptionally rare breed she created faced an uncertain future of its own.

Today, its revival is being led from Brooklyn.

For Salita, preserving the Kanaani therefore means more than preserving a rare cat breed. It also means preserving part of the legacy of the woman who created it.

“Doris Pollatschek survived one of the darkest chapters of human history and chose a life of creation,” Salita said. “The Kanaani is part of what she left to the world. We cannot allow that legacy simply to disappear.”

From a Holocaust survivor’s vision in Jerusalem to a revival centered in Brooklyn, the Kanaani story has become one of memory, preservation and continuity — and of choosing creation over disappearance.

FROM BROOKLYN TO FINLAND — AND INTO CAT HISTORY

In August 2026, the revival reached an international milestone.

Two Kanaani cats from New York — Haifa, born in Israel, and her American-born daughter Haya — traveled with Salita from the United States to the World Cat Federation Jubilee Show in Vantaa, Finland, on August 8–9.

Their appearance marked a historic return of the Kanaani to the international show stage.

Haya earned two CACP certificates, a Best in Show nomination, and placed fifth in a WCF kitten ring. Haifa received an Excellent evaluation and CAC championship certificate.

Following the show, Haifa and Haya simultaneously reached No. 1 positions among Kanaani cats in their respective WCF Best Cat categories — Haifa among adults and Haya among kittens and juniors.

An Israeli-born mother and her American-born daughter had carried their exceptionally rare breed from Brooklyn back onto the international stage.

And that achievement soon became part of a world-record story.

TWO WORLD-RECORD MILESTONES

The modern Kanaani revival is now associated with two distinct world-record milestones.

The first concerns the extraordinary rarity of the breed itself, recognized internationally as the surviving Kanaani population reached exceptionally low numbers.

The second followed the historic Finland appearance, when Haifa and Haya simultaneously reached World No. 1 Kanaani positions in different WCF Best Cat age categories following a single show.

That achievement involving the cats and their custodian received recognition from Record Holders Republic, while Ukraine separately verified a national record connected with the historic WCF result.

Together, the milestones transformed what had begun as a rescue and preservation effort into an international story.

The symbolism is striking:

Israel gave the Kanaani its birthplace and identity.

America gave its modern revival a home.

Ukraine became an important partner in its registration, recognition and preservation story.

Finland gave the breed an international stage on which to make history.

The Kanaani remains proudly Israeli in origin.

At the same time, its revival is becoming a source of pride for America and Ukraine — two countries now deeply connected to the effort to secure its future.

KANAANI DIPLOMACY: PRESERVATION INSTEAD OF POSSESSION

Out of that international cooperation has emerged another idea.

Salita calls it the Kanaani Diplomacy Doctrine.

Kanaani Diplomacy proposes that preservation of an exceptionally rare animal breed can become a form of cultural and non-state diplomacy — bringing people and countries together around a shared responsibility to protect something in danger of disappearing.

Its philosophy turns conventional ideas of animal diplomacy in a different direction.

The objective is not to keep the Kanaani rare.

The objective is to make its revival so successful that one day the breed will no longer qualify as one of the world’s rarest cats.

“The Kanaani was born in Israel, and Israel will always remain its country of origin,” Salita said. “But its future can bring nations together. America can give the revival a home. Ukraine can contribute to its preservation and international recognition. Finland gave the Kanaani a stage on which to return to the world. Other countries can become partners in its future.”

The principle at the heart of the doctrine is simple:

Preservation instead of possession.

Rather than guarding rarity as a symbol of exclusivity, Kanaani Diplomacy seeks to distribute the responsibility for survival.

FROM WORLD RECORDS TO CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Now the Kanaani story is beginning another chapter.

Following the breed’s historic international appearance in Finland and its world-record milestones, Salita is preparing to introduce the story and spirit of the Kanaani to a new generation through children’s literature.

Writing under the literary name Rav Papa Kanaani, Salita is developing a children’s book series inspired by the relationship between humans and cats, biblical imagination, Jerusalem and the remarkable journey that ultimately leads to the modern Kanaani.

The project has already generated interest among literary agents with experience and connections involving major international publishing houses, while the manuscript is being prepared for submission.

The planned series begins with:

Adam and the First Cat

The story travels imaginatively back to the earliest relationship between humans and wild cats.

It does not claim that the modern Kanaani existed in biblical times.

Instead, it begins with a simple question:

How might the friendship between a human being and a cat have begun?

Science can explain how wildcats gradually moved closer to human settlements. The story imagines what one of those first encounters might have felt like — a wild cat approaching a human world and taking a first step across an open threshold.

From that beginning, the planned series will move through stories of humans and cats toward Jerusalem and, eventually, the modern Kanaani.

“First we brought the Kanaani back to the international stage,” Salita said. “Then the cats became world-record holders. Now I want children to discover the deeper story — not only of one rare breed, but of the extraordinary relationship between people and cats that stretches across history.”

The literary name Rav Papa Kanaani reflects two parts of Salita’s life: Rav, his role as a rabbi, and Papa Kanaani, his role as a custodian helping raise new generations of a breed whose future depends on human care.

The preservation mission thus moves beyond pedigrees, exhibitions and records.

It enters storytelling.

From Adam and the first cat, to Jerusalem and the creation of the Kanaani, to Brooklyn and its modern revival, the story becomes one of inheritance and responsibility across generations.

ON AMERICAN NATIONAL CAT DAY, THE STORY COMES HOME

After Jerusalem, Ukraine and Finland, the newest chapter brings the story back to the borough from which the American revival is being led.

Brooklyn.

The nomination of the Kanaani cats and their custodian for Brooklyn Borough Hall recognition in connection with American National Cat Day brings local attention to a preservation effort whose reach has become international.

For Salita, recognition from his home borough carries a particular meaning.

“I am proud of the world records, but I am especially proud that this is happening in Brooklyn,” Salita said. “Brooklyn is a place where people from every part of the world bring their heritage, protect it and allow it to become part of the American story. The Kanaani came here from Israel needing a future. Brooklyn became the home of its American revival.”

American National Cat Day provides a fitting moment to tell that story.

It is an opportunity not only to celebrate cats, but to consider the responsibility humans assume when an extraordinary domestic animal population becomes so small that its future can no longer be taken for granted.

For New York, it is also an opportunity to celebrate something remarkable happening in its own backyard:

One of the world’s rarest cat breeds is building its future in Brooklyn.

THE GREATEST RECORD HAS NOT YET BEEN SET

Despite the exhibitions, rankings and record recognition, Salita says the ultimate objective remains remarkably simple.

Survival.

“The greatest record will not be proving that the Kanaani is one of the rarest cats in the world,” Salita said. “The greatest achievement will be the day when we can no longer make that claim — because there are enough Kanaani in America, Israel, Ukraine and other countries to know that the breed has a future.”

That future is beginning to take shape.

A breed created by a Holocaust survivor in Jerusalem is being given another chance in Brooklyn.

An Israeli-born mother and her American-born daughter made history in Finland.

Ukraine became part of their international record story.

America became home to the revival.

A new doctrine is transforming preservation into a form of international friendship.

And a new series of children’s books is preparing to carry the story to another generation.

Now, as American National Cat Day approaches, Brooklyn is beginning to recognize a preservation effort that has grown from a local mission into an international movement.

Born in Jerusalem.

Born from a survivor’s vision.

Revived in America.

A source of pride for America and Ukraine.

Making history in Finland.

ONE RARE BREED. FOUR NATIONS. ONE SHARED FUTURE.

THAT IS KANAANI DIPLOMACY.

About the American Kanaani Revival Program

The American Kanaani Revival Program is a Brooklyn-based preservation initiative dedicated to rebuilding the population and genetic diversity of the rare Israeli Kanaani cat breed, protecting surviving bloodlines, restoring the breed’s international presence and developing partnerships intended to secure its long-term future.

About Rabbi Mikhail Salita / Rav Papa Kanaani

Rabbi Mikhail Salita is a Brooklyn-based rabbi, animal chaplain and custodian of the Kanaani breed in the United States. He leads the American Kanaani revival effort and works internationally to support the breed’s preservation and recognition.

Writing under the literary name Rav Papa Kanaani, he is also developing a children’s book series beginning with Adam and the First Cat. Salita is the originator of the Kanaani Diplomacy Doctrine, which proposes rare-breed preservation as a form of cultural and non-state international cooperation.

MEDIA CONTACT

Rabbi Mikhail Salita

American Kanaani Revival Program

Brooklyn, New York

Mikhail.salita77@gmail.com