Zoo Torah

February Lecture Schedule

2012-01-23T16:09:00.002+02:00

Here is a list of my forthcoming lectures that are open to the public:

NEW YORK:

Shabbos February 4th: Beth Sholom, Cedarhurst

Sunday February 5th:
12pm - "The Challenge of Dinosaurs" - at the YU Sefarim Sale.

2:30 pm - "The Evolution of Orthodoxy: From Chasam Sofer to the Battles of Bet Shemesh"
3:45 pm - "Beasts of Prey: Bears, Hawks and Other Predators in Jewish Thought"
Washington Heights Congregation, 815 West 179th Street
Entrance Donation: $10 for one lecture, $15 for both
Download flyer with details here

BALTIMORE:

Wednesday February 8th:
7pm at Beth Tfiloh’s Epstein Chapel: “Were the Rabbis always Right.” Free admission.

Thursday February 9th:
8pm - "Shaking the Heavens: Rabbinic Responses to Astronomical Revolutions" at Shomrei Emunah. Entrance donation $10. Download flyer here.

Shabbos February 11th: Suburban Orthodox

WASHINGTON:

Sunday February 12th:
2-5pm - The Torah Tour of the National Zoo. Download flyer with details here.
7:30pm - "The Evolution of Orthodoxy and the Making of Charedim" - Kesher Israel. No admission fee, but RSVP required - see www.tinyurl.com/KIZooRabbi.

RIDES REQUEST:
If anyone can give me a ride from the 5 Towns to the YU Sefarim Sale on the morning of Sunday Feb. 5th, please be in touch!
If anyone can give me a ride from Washington Heights to Woodmere following my lectures on Sunday Feb. 5th, please be in touch!
If anyone can give me a ride to Baltimore on Tuesday Feb. 7th, please be in touch!
If anyone can give me a ride from Baltimore to NY (preferably the 5 Towns) on Monday Feb. 13th, please be in touch!

The Zoo Torah Experience

2011-10-10T16:16:00.001+02:00

Are you going to be in Israel this Sukkot (or any other time)? Are you looking for something to do with your family? Why schlep to a public attraction where you'll be hot and squashed? Experience the wonders of the animal kingdom, with a Torah perspective, in Ramat Bet Shemesh, with the Zoo Torah Experience!

. Encounter some extraordinary exotic animals - hands-on!

. Try out the world's most unusual shofars!

. Discover a variety of prehistoric fossils!

. Put your head in the jaws of a shark! (Body of shark not attached)

. And much, much more!

The Zoo Torah Experience is an educational and entertaining hands-on presentation, under the guidance of the Zoo Rabbi, Natan Slifkin, in his private collection at his home. You and your family will learn so much about Torah and wildlife, and you'll have a terrific time too! The price per group (up to twelve people, for a one-hour session) is $100; the deluxe two-hour experience is $180. For reservations, write to zoorabbi@zootorah.com or call 077-332-0678.

"I would like to personally recommend Rav Slifkin's Zoo Torah Family Experience. Rav Slifkin leads your family or group on an outdoor and indoor tour of his amazing collection of animals. All my children, ranging in age from toddler to 16 were captivated by Rav Slifkin's explanations and were thrilled to be able to handle some of the critters. Normally, on such a tour, my kids would huddle somewhere on the side, unwilling to push forward for a closer look, but the tours are private, so my kids were front and center the entire time. Rav Slifkin's collection of shofarot is stunning; you are unlikely to encounter such a collection anywhere else. There is plenty of time for questions, the tour is right here in RBS, and, quite frankly, we loved it!" - Gina Fishman, RBS resident

Wildlife of Ramat Bet Shemesh

2010-12-16T09:38:00.004+02:00

Ramat Bet Shemesh, where I live, is home to many immigrants from the US who are often terrified at reports of wildlife entering the city from the adjacent hills at night. Fear not! The only dangerous intruders are of the two-legged variety.

If you see any of the local fauna making a visit, count yourself lucky to have such a special experience! There are foxes, jackals, hedgehogs and mongooses that come in frequently, and I once came across a (dead) striped hyena just outside Ramat Bet Shemesh. All these animals are entirely harmless (unless rabid) and are usually terrified of people. Snakes and scorpions can be deadly, but they make every effort to avoid people. Lizards are entirely harmless, and easy to identify - slow moving lizards with bulging eyes are chameleons, and the pale lizards barking and scampering on the walls at night are geckos.

There are also the four deer situated on the traffic circle outside Beis Tefilah, affectionately named Prancer, Dancer, Dasher and Rudolph by the locals. In fact, these are not reindeer, and nor are they the Israeli deer (Mesopotamian fallow deer); rather, they are European red deer, similar to the American elk. I don't know why they are in Ramat Bet Shemesh.

The most exotic wildlife can be found in the Pinat Chai in my garden. People are welcome to peer in by climbing on the wall along the steps connecting Nachal Shimshon to Nachal Raziel. Look out for Billy Bob and Mary Jane, my two huge iguanas, generously sponsored for the benefit of the community by Paul Shaviv of Toronto and other people (please let me know if you'd like to be named). There's more wildlife and wonders inside my house, but for that, you'll have to reserve the Zoo Torah Family Experience - $100 for one hour for groups of up to twelve people.

Yoda Bat Discovered

2010-11-29T20:40:00.001+02:00

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1318093/Bat-resembling-Star-Wars-Yoda-discovered-Papua-New-Guinea-rainforest.html

New Iguana!

2010-10-27T15:50:00.004+02:00

Thanks to the generosity of two readers, I was finally able to get a mate for my iguana! At nearly four feet in length, he is almost (but not quite) full grown. Next time you are in Ramat Bet Shemesh, walk past my garden and take a look!

Kapparos

2010-09-16T20:52:00.000+02:00

(Extracted from my book Man & Beast)

On the days preceding Yom Kippur, some have a custom to designate a chicken as a scapegoat for their own sins. They recite a statement designating it as such while passing it around their head, and the bird is then slaughtered. Many have the custom of then giving the chicken to the poor. (Some have the custom to use money for the procedure instead.)

Two of the early authorities, Rashba[1] and Ramban,[2] strongly protest against this custom, considering it to fall under the prohibition of “following the ways of the Emorites.” The Shulchan Aruch likewise disapproves of this custom.[3] However, Rabbi Moshe Isserliss, in his glosses to the Shulchan Aruch, notes that since this is an ancient custom that has widespread support, one should not dissuade people from it.

But what of the aspect of causing suffering to the birds? There is no real reason why it should be any different to any case of slaughtering a chicken to eat. Passing a bird around one’s head can certainly be done in a way that does not cause undue distress, although unfortunately inexperienced people may not know how to handle it in such a way.

The bigger problem lies in how the entire process is commonly facilitated nowadays. In pre-war Europe, a person would simply take a chicken from his yard, or from the local farmer. Today, the chickens are packed en masse into crates and shipped to city centers where they wait for people to take their turn in performing the kapparos process. This commonly results in the birds being kept in horrifically cramped conditions without food, water or shade.

While it is permitted to cause suffering to animals for material or spiritual benefit, the suffering in this case is quite needless. It would seem that causing needless suffering to animals is a Biblical prohibition that far outweighs the value of a custom. Furthermore, it would seem to fundamentally negate much of the significance of the kapparos ritual. The Tur states that after slaughtering the chicken, there is a custom to throw its innards on the roof for birds to eat. Taz[4] and Aruch haShulchan[5] state that the reason for this is to show compassion for other creatures and thereby to earn Divine compassion.[6] On the eve of the Day of Judgment, when there is a special need to earn Divine mercy, it is surely counterproductive to inflict needless suffering upon creatures.

Fortunately, in recent years, people have gradually become sensitive to this issue, and positive steps are slowly being taken to rectify this situation.

NOTES

[1] Shailos U’Teshuvos HaRashba 1:395.

[2] Cited in Orchos Chaim, hilchos erev yom hakipurim 1.

[3] Orach Chaim 605:1. Several other objections to this custom are given in other works, such as that the great volume of birds being slaughtered under rushed conditions is likely to lead in disqualifications in the slaughtering process.

[4] Orach Chaim 605:4.

[5] Orach Chaim 605:4.

[6] Others say that it is because the chicken may have benefited from stolen foods and therefore we must limit our benefit from it.

The Incredible Axolotl

2010-08-17T15:31:00.003+03:00

Here is a photo of my latest and weirdest pet: A GFP leucistic axolotl. Behind all that jargon is a fascinating story. The axolotl is a larval form of a certain salamander. Just like frogs have larval forms of tadpoles, and butterflies have larval forms of caterpillars, salamanders have larval forms which are aquatic creatures with feathery gills, a finned tail, and no eyelids. But axolotls are unique in that they are able to breed while in larval form; in fact, under normal conditions, they never metamorphose into adults.

This particular axolotl is a leucistic variety, which means that it is a mutation that lacks pigment (wild colored axolotls are dark in color). But there's something even more unusual about it. It is from a variety that has been genetically combined with GFP, a Fluorescent Green Protein from a jellyfish, which makes it glow bright green under ultraviolet light, as you can see in this picture.

Why were axolotls genetically modified in this way? It wasn't for the shtick of it. Instead, it relates to yet another amazing aspect of them. My axolotl had one his legs eaten by his tankmate. But within a few days, he had grown a new one that looked indistinguishable from the others. Axolotls were modified with the GFP protein in order that parts of GFP axolotls can be transplanted onto other axolotls and researchers can use ultraviolet light to track cellular generation - read this article for the full story.

Amazing! That's why I love the animal kingdom - there always something incredible to discover.

Now That's a Turtle

2010-04-13T12:10:00.002+03:00

Too bad it's beyond my budget.

Television Special!

2010-03-21T08:31:00.003+02:00

I am thrilled to announce that "Beasts of the Bible," the documentary that I was involved with making last year, is finally going to air! "Beasts of the Bible" investigates fabulous creatures that appear in the Bible and related texts, interviewing a range of different experts, filming in numerous international locations, and using state-of-the-art CGI to bring these creatures to life! It will appear in the U.S. on Animal Planet, on Thursday, April 1st, from 8pm-10pm. The Canadian premiere is on VisionTV, Wednesday March 31st at 9 p.m. For more details, a photo gallery and a trailer, check out www.beastsofthebible.com. Over the next few days, I will be posting some pictures and video clips from behind the scenes. I have not yet seen the final documentary myself, which means that I don't know how many of my sequences will be appearing, nor can I vouch for the accuracy of anything else that appears in it. But it will certainly be a highly educational and entertaining show! Don't miss it!

Best Bus Ever

2010-01-24T17:11:00.001+02:00

New York Lecture Tour

2010-01-22T15:42:00.005+02:00

Here are details for my forthcoming lecture tour. I will be adding events to it as I finalize them. If you would like to arrange a presentation in your school/ community, please email me.

Sunday February 7th:

Morning, 10am – 1pm
The Torah Tour of the Bronx Zoo
Price: Adults $20, children $15 (does not include admission)
For registration (required), email zoorabbi@zootorah.com
Download flyer here

Sunday afternoon at Washington Heights Congregation (The “Bridge Shul”), 815 West 179th Street:
2.30 pm
Sacred Monsters: Mysterious & Mythical Creatures of Torah, Midrash and Talmud
4.00 pm
Rationalist Judaism: The Unknown, Endangered, Dangerous, & Life-saving Approach to Torah
Entrance Donation: $10 for one lecture, $15 for both
Download flyer here

Leopards and Chanukah

2009-12-12T20:54:00.002+02:00

For an audio shiur on leopards and Chanukah, click here, and scroll down to "Zoology and Torah (Part 3), December 6, 2009." It's just 99 cents. Here's the accompanying YouTube clip:

Help a Lonely Iguana with a Shidduch!

2009-11-16T10:11:00.007+02:00

Several readers of this blog live in Ramat Bet Shemesh and enjoy looking at all the animals in my Pinat Chai. Everyone's favorite animal is Mary Jane, my large iguana. She's a magnificent creature, but somewhat lonely. Large male iguanas are hard to come by, but right now somebody in Israel is selling one, five feet long, for $130. However, my wife has pointed out to me that I have already exceeded my animal-buying budget for this year and about 150 years into the future. So, if any readers would like to watch a huge male iguana cavorting around my garden and swimming in the pond, please feel free to donate via the link below! No donation is too small!

Live Internet Classes - Free!

2009-11-05T09:45:00.002+02:00

I am thrilled to announce the launch of several series of live online Torah classes! One will be on "Zoology and Torah," the other will be on "Science and Torah." These will be interactive classes running with the latest videoconferencing software. The classes are free; you just need to register. For details, including information on several other fascinating courses that will be of particular interest to readers of this blog, see http://torahinmotion.org/virtproglib/e-tim/index.htm. It's a unique opportunity for in-depth learning on these topics, so register now, and tell your friends!

Blue Whale Washes Up in California

2009-11-04T21:35:00.002+02:00

This the tragic sight of a member of the largest species ever to have existed - the blue whale - washed ashore after being struck and killed by a passing ship.

Read more here.

Best Wild Animal Picture of 2009

2009-11-04T21:27:00.003+02:00

"The Storybook Wolf"

From National Geographic:

This nighttime shot of a wolf leaping into a farm in northern Spain has been named overall winner of the Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 competition.

The picture, by Spanish photographer Josi Luis Rodrmguez, was selected from more than 43,000 entries. Iberian wolves--a subspecies of the gray wolf--are extremely wary of humans after centuries of persecution. Rodrmguez captured the photograph using motion sensors and an infrared barrier to operate the camera.

"This wolf jumping over the farmer's enclosure with the supposed intent of killing his livestock speaks for itself--thousands of years of history are frozen in this masterfully executed moment," competition judge and nature photographer Jim Brandenburg said in a statement.

(see the runners-up here)

Elephant Birth

2009-10-09T15:12:00.001+02:00

Absolutely extraordinary, but not for the squeamish!

Perek Shirah: Nature's Song

2009-09-23T06:18:00.003+03:00

I am pleased to announce that my book Perek Shirah: Nature's Song has been republished after being out of print for several years. The new edition also has various minor corrections and improvements over the old edition, as well as a redesigned cover. It is available now at bookstores in Israel and the U.S., and should eventually be reaching other countries too. You can learn more about the book and order it online here.

The Shofar and the Dog

2009-09-21T20:47:00.001+03:00

Exotic Shofars

2009-08-20T23:27:00.001+03:00

It's shofar season! You can download the essay Exotic Shofars: Halachic Considerations here. If you live in Israel and would like to arrange a presentation on this topic for a shul/yeshivah/etc., in which I bring my full collection of shofars, please write to me at zoorabbi@zootorah.com

The Secret of the Stincus

2009-08-06T02:59:00.002+03:00

It’s exciting when a package arrives via FedEx Special Overnight Delivery. It’s even more exciting when the package is marked “LIVE REPTILES – HANDLE WITH CARE.” The three charming specimens inside looked none the worse for wear despite their long voyage. I was pleased to get them, but if I were Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heller (1578-1654), I would have been even more thrilled.

Rabbi Heller was presented with a problem. The Torah mandates that for a fish to be considered kosher, it must possess fins and scales. The Talmud states that every fish that possesses scales, also possesses fins. But Rabbi Heller was presented with a specimen of a fish that appeared to contradict this principle:

...When I was Av Beis Din… in Vienna, the scholar Rabbi Aharon the doctor brought me a fish called Stincus Marinus in the local tongue. It is found in the Spanish sea, and it is poisonous, and the pharmacists know techniques for removing the poison, and then they make various remedies from its flesh. …It has scales over all its body, and it does not possess any fin, but rather it has four legs like those of a domesticated or wild animal. (Ma’adanei Yom Tov to Rosh, Chullin 68:5)

The fact that the Stincus marinus had legs and would thus not be zoologically classified as a fish does not automatically help; the Torah does not follow the classification system of modern zoology (and hence bats are listed amongst the non-kosher birds). Still, Rabbi Heller proposed this as a possible solution, suggesting that it is classified as an aquatic animal rather than a fish, and is not part of the Torah’s discussion. He also suggests another possibility, that it is a hybrid creature produced after Talmudic times, and thus not included in the Talmudic principle that every fish with scales also possesses fins. But Pri Chadash considers both of these explanations difficult, and answers instead that the Stincus marinus must have indeed had fins at some stage in its life, and that it is indeed kosher. Rabbi Yonasan Eybeschitz, on the other hand, is not bothered by the Stincus marinus at all; he explains that, like all such principles, the Talmudic principle that every fish with scales also possesses fins is simply a general rule covering the majority, which could easily have exceptions.

As it turns out, there is an even simpler solution to the problem of the Stincus, later clarified by Chassam Sofer. The Stincus marinus, which I am watching in its vivarium as I type these words, is not only not a fish, it is not an aquatic creature at all. Instead, it is a lizard from the skink family, known by the Latin name of Scincus scincus. I was able to confirm this identification from nineteenth century works which refer to this animal by the name Stincus marinus and which say that it has long been known by this name. Furthermore, this lizard perfectly matches the description given by Rabbi Heller in Ma’adanei Yom Tov. The widespread legends of skinks possessing a poisonous bite or sting are baseless, but certain skinks are toxic if ingested. Scincus scincus was widely used in pharmaceutical preparations, and it is also sometimes known as Scincus officinalis (“pharmaceutical skink”).

But why would Rabbi Heller have thought that it was a type of fish? First of all, he clearly did not see a live specimen. And the dead specimen was presented to him under the name Stincus marinus, which means “aquatic skink.” The lizards of the genus Scincus are known in English as “sandfish.” This is because, although they are not aquatic, these skinks “swim” through sand, beneath the surface. On July 17th, the same day that I received my sandfish, the major science news outlets all ran a report about a breakthrough study on sandfish. It had previously been thought that sandfish swim through sand via a swimming stroke resembling the front crawl, pushing the sand behind it with its feet. But Daniel Goldman of Georgia Tech, in a study published in the journal Science, showed that this is only when they first enter the sand. Using high speed X-ray imaging, Goldman discovered that as soon as the sandfish is submerged beneath the sand, it tucks in its legs and swims through the sand by undulating its body, just like a fish. According to Goldman, “the results demonstrate that burrowing and swimming in complex media like sand can have intricacy similar to that of movement in air or water, and that organisms can exploit the solid and fluid-like properties of these media to move effectively within them.”

So the sandfish truly deserves its name, and it is not at all surprising that Rabbi Heller was told that it was an aquatic creature. Indeed, the idea of an aquatic lizard is not at all impossible; the Galapagos Islands are home to the marine iguana. The extraordinary secret of the Stincus is that you don’t have to be a fish in the water in order to swim like one.

(To subscribe to these essays by email, send an email to essays-subscribe@zootorah.com.)

Frog Techiyas HaMeisim

2009-08-04T07:51:00.003+03:00

One of the things I love about the animal kingdom is that after 30 years learning about animals, there are still new things that blow me away!

(Hat tip - BB from Australia.)

August Programs in NY

2009-08-04T07:01:00.002+03:00

Shabbos August 8th: Magen David of Deal, NJ

Sunday August 9th: Kew Gardens Hills
7:45 pm (following mincha at 7:30 pm)
One People, Two Religions: Rationalism vs. Mysticism
9 pm (following maariv at 8:45 pm)
Worlds in Collision: The Dynamics of a Ban

Congregation Etz Chaim
147-19 73rd Ave, Kew Gardens Hills, NY 11367
The lectures are for men and women
Entrance Admission: $10 for one lecture, $15 for both
Download a flyer here

Thursday August 13th
Young Israel of Great Neck
Details to be announced

Shabbos August 15th
Young Israel of Great Neck

Los Angeles Zoo Torah Event

2009-07-31T19:47:00.001+03:00

Instead of the tour of the LA Zoo, I am pleased to be able to offer the Zoo Torah Experience, a multimedia presentation on Judaism and the animal kingdom. It will be held at Beth Jacob, 9030 W Olympic Blvd, this Sunday morning at 11 am. The entrance donation is $10, and it is aimed at adults and kids aged 8+. See you there!

The Torah Tour of the LA Zoo - CANCELLED

2009-07-28T19:44:00.003+03:00

Unfortunately the tour of the LA Zoo has been canceled - see the below email. I am trying to arrange a replacement event with a multimedia presentation at a local synagogue. Please write to zoorabbi@zootorah.com for more details.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jason Jacobs
Date: Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 8:29 AM
Subject: Zoo Tour on Sunday
To: zoorabbi@zootorah.com

Natan,

Thanks for your phone call yesterday, per our phone conversation, we are requesting that you remove the information regarding your L.A. Zoo Tour from your blog and officially cancel the tour.

The Los Angeles Zoo does not allow outside groups to come in and charge our visitors for tours, promotions, services, etc, without being coordinated thru the Zoo's Public Relations and Marketing Division.

Thank you,
Jason Jacobs
Director of Public Relations & Marketing
Los Angeles Zoo

Beluga Encounter

2009-07-23T04:09:00.004+03:00

Here are pictures and a video from my amazing encounter with beluga whales at SeaWorld California.

And the answer is...

2009-07-21T17:33:00.002+03:00

Beluga whale!

What an amazing experience. Belugas are a beautiful white in color and very gently. About twelve feet in length, they hail from arctic regions. More pictures to come!

Guess the Animal!

2009-07-21T02:15:00.000+03:00

Here's a picture that my wife took of me three hours ago. Guess which animal it is (and it's not as obvious as it might appear!)

Here Be Dragons

2009-07-16T21:28:00.003+03:00

I took this photo on Sunday at the Denver Zoo. The reptile pictures is from a family of lizards known as the sailfin dragons, and this species is Gonocephalus grandis, variously known as the Giant Forest Dragon, Great Anglehead Lizard, or the Giant Hump-Headed lizard. Isn't it incredible?!

Bigfoot in the Mir

2009-07-06T17:54:00.003+03:00

Mir Yeshivah, Jerusalem, ten years ago. My chavrusa (study-partner) and myself were puzzling over the first Mishnah in chapter four of tractate Shabbos. It states that one may not on Shabbos insulate a cooked food with straw, dung, and suchlike, “because they increase the heat of the food.” My chavrusa and I were trying to understand how that is possible.

“I’ve got it!” I exclaimed. “These things ferment and decompose, producing heat in the process.”

“How did you figure that out?” asked my chavrusa.

“A little bird told me,” I replied.

And the funny thing was that I wasn’t just using a figure of speech. A little bird really had taught me the explanation.

Mallee-fowl are a group of birds found from Malaya to Australia. About the size of a chicken, mallee-fowl are unusual in appearance in that they possess extremely large feet; hence their scientific name megapodes, which is Greek for “big foot.” The extraordinary thing about mallee-fowl, however, is not their feet, but the way in which they incubate their young.

Birds lay eggs, and eggs have to be kept warm. Most birds accomplish this with the most obvious local heat source: that of their own bodies. But mallee-fowl use a different system entirely. During the winter, the male mallee-fowl excavates a hole in the ground. Astonishingly, this hole can measure four feet deep and twelve feet across. It then proceeds to fill this hole with every scrap of vegetation in the area and covers it with a layer of sand.

The moist, warm vegetation begins to decompose. Bacteria eat away at the organic material. As a result of this process, heat is given off, and the incubator begins to warm up.

Now it is ready to receive eggs. The female mallee-fowl arrives, digs a hole in the litter, and lays her eggs. The male mallee-fowl then covers the area with a mound of earth that can measure up to fifteen feet high and thirty feet across. This little bird with big feet can move half a ton of earth in day!

Female malleefowl laying egg, pair cover up egg in moundBBC Natural History Unit

Organic matter produces heat as a by-product of its decomposition. This is why such material may not be used on Shabbos to insulate food. The concern is that if one uses such material for insulation, one may come to use even better heat-emitting material – embers. And if one uses embers, one might come to stir them up, thus transgressing the prohibition against kindling fire and cooking.

Still, we might wonder how much heat decaying leaves can actually produce. Is it really enough to warrant prohibiting it as a safeguard against using embers?

Well, a commonly used example in the Gemara of a food that cooks easily is an egg. And the mallee-fowl’s incubation chamber can, if not correctly administrated, produce so much heat that it will actually cook its eggs rather than hatch them. Astonishingly, the mallee-fowl manages to detect and prevent this from happening.

Mallee-fowl eggs need to be incubated at a steady temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The mallee-fowl’s beak is extremely accurate at sensing temperatures, and it constantly plunges its beak into the mound to measure the heat. When the mallee-fowl detects that the rotting vegetation is giving off too much heat, it uses its big feet to rapidly kick away the mound, sometimes until the eggs are virtually uncovered. When the temperature has adequately dropped, it covers them up again.

Eventually, the mallee-fowl’s remarkable work pays off and the eggs hatch. A slight disadvantage of the incubation technique is that the emerging chick finds itself buried under several feet of hot sand. It digs its way to the surface, a procedure that can take up to fifteen hours. Soon it is strong enough to run away, and within a few hours it can fly.

I told my chavrusa about the mallee-fowl, and he was quite taken aback (actually, I’m not sure if he really believed me). Personally, I was struck by the novelty of the situation. In the heart of the ultra-Orthodox section of Jerusalem, my chavrusa and I were poring over a two-thousand year old text and were aided by a bird living eight thousand miles away. It gave me fresh insight into one of my favorite verses from the Torah: “He teaches us from the beasts of the earth, and from the birds of the Heavens He makes us wise.”

Malleefowl chick leaving nest moundBBC Natural History Unit

(This essay was sent to the Zoo Torah mailing list - to sign up, send an email to essays-subscribe@zootorah.com)

July Programs UPDATED

2009-07-03T19:24:00.004+03:00

Here is the schedule of Zoo Torah programs this month:

Denver
Shabbat July 11th - Lectures at East Denver Orthodox Synagogue
Sunday July 12th - Torah Tour of the Denver Zoo
(write to zoorabbi@zootorah.com to sign up)

Chicago
Shabbat July 24th - Lectures at KINS
Sunday July 25th - Torah Tour of the Lincoln Park Zoo
Special Lecture: The Challenge of Dinosaurs
Click here for details.

Los Angeles
Wednesday July 15th - "One Judaism, Two Religions: Rationalism vs. Mysticism" - 8.15pm at Young Israel of Century City. Admission $10. Books will be available.
Shabbat July 18th - "The Copernican Heresies" - YINBH

Real Live Cartoon Creature!

2009-06-07T20:07:00.001+03:00

(It's a pygmy jerboa.)

Torah Tour of the Bronx Zoo

2009-05-28T09:20:00.000+03:00

The Torah Tour of the Bronx Zoo
with Rabbi Natan Slifkin
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
First tour 10am – 1pm; Second tour 1pm-3.30pm
Price: Adults $20, children $15
(does not include admission)
Registration is required; email zoorabbi@zootorah.com
Limited number of spaces available!

Download a PDF flyer for this event by clicking here.

Angry Chameleon

2009-05-20T16:26:00.001+03:00

(This video serves to accompany the essay on chameleons in the Torah, that was sent to the Zoo Torah mailing list. To subscribe to the list, send an email to essays-subscribe@zootorah.com)

On Eagle's Wings

2009-05-07T19:42:00.003+03:00

The most prominent bird in the Torah is the nesher, the king of birds. Although many assume that this is the eagle, and some of the commentaries have identified it as such, the evidence shows that it is more likely a vulture - specifically, the griffon vulture (see full essay here).

Curiously, the best-known Scriptural description of the nesher is also the most problematic to understand. It occurs in reference to God bringing the Jewish People out of Egypt:

"You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you (va'esa eschem) on the wings of nesharim, and brought you to Myself." (Exodus 19:4)

The conventional translation of va'esa eschem is "I carried you." However, some translate it as "I elevated you." The explanation is that the nesher is the highest-flying bird, and God raised the Jewish People to spiritual heights above anything in the natural world with His miraculous redemption.[1] The highest flying birds are griffon vultures.

But many explain this verse instead to refer to God poetically carrying the Jewish People like a nesher carrying its young on its back. This relates to a description of the vulture later in the Torah:

"As a nesher stirs up its nest, flutters over its young, spreads out its wings, takes them, bears them on its pinions; So did God guide them, and there was no strange god with them." (Deuteronomy 32:11-12)

The description here is of the nesher carrying its young upon its wings while flying. Many have considered this verse to present us with a great difficulty and to require some kind of allegorical or poetic interpretation, since neither vultures or eagles are generally known to carry their young on their wings. Swans sometimes carry their young on their backs while swimming, and jacanas may sometimes carry their young between wing and body while walking. But according to most literature, the only bird of any sort that carries its young during flight is an obscure water bird from Central and Southern America called the sungrebe, which carries its twin young in pouches under both wings.

This remarkable phenomenon was first reported in 1833 by the German ornithologist M.A. Wied. Subsequent generations of ornithologists viewed this report with skepticism or ridicule. However in 1969 Mexican ornithologist Miguel Alvarez del Toro[2] confirmed that soon after hatching, the male sungrebe places each of the two chicks in pouches under his wings and departs. An article by B. Bertrand[3] explains: "M. Alvarez del Toro, who observed a nesting pair in Mexico, discovered that the male has a shallow pocket under each wing into which the two young can fit. The pocket is formed by a pleat of skin, and made more secure by the feathers on the side of the body just below. The heads of the chicks could be seen from below as the bird flew. Alvarez del Toro collected the bird in order to examine it and confirm the unlikely discovery. Subsequently, he found it confirmed also by a report published by Prince Maximilian of Wied 138 years earlier but apparently ignored, forgotten or not believed. This adaptation is unique among birds: in no other species is there any mechanism whereby altricial young can be transported...."

But eagles and vultures, despite being widely studied, are not described as displaying such behavior. It is therefore suggested that the Scriptural account of the nesher carrying its young be interpreted via the principle of "the Torah speaks in the language of man," as used by several recent and modern authorities to explain other phrases in the Torah that are scientifically inaccurate (such as references to the "firmament," to the hare bringing up its cud, and so on).

However, unbeknownst to many, reports do indeed exist of eagles carrying their young on their backs. One ornithologist writes as follows:

"Many ornithologists have thought that the Bible picture of an eagle carrying her young was merely figurative, but in recent years certain reliable observers have actually seen a parent bird let its young rest for a moment on the feathered back - especially when there was no other roosting place in sight. When an eagle nests on the ledge of a sheer-walled canyon, many feet above the earth, with no jutting tree or protruding rock to break the fall, the quick movement of a mother bird to offer her own back to a frightened fledgling may be the only way to let it live to try its wings again." (V.C. Holmgren, Bird Walk Through The Bible [New York: Dover Publications 1988] p. 98)

One report of this behavior is as follows:

"Our guide was one of the small company who have seen the golden eagle teaching the young to fly. He could support the belief that the parent birds, after urging and sometimes shoving the youngster into the air, will swoop underneath and rest the struggler for a moment on their wings and back. ... Our guide, when questioned, said that every phrase of the verse [Deut. xxxii, I I] (which was new to him) was accurate, save the first; he had seen it all except the stirring up of the nest." (W.B. Thomas, Yeoman's England [1934], pp. 135-6)

Another report concerning the golden eagle comes from Arthur Cleveland Bent, one of America's greatest ornithologists, on the authority of Dr. L. Miller:

"The mother started from the nest in the crags and, roughly hand-ling the youngster, she allowed him to drop, I should say, about ninety feet; then she would swoop down under him, wings spread, and he would alight on her back. She would soar to the top of the range with him and repeat the process. Once perhaps she waited fifteen minutes between flights. I should say the farthest she let him fall was a hundred and fifty feet. My father and I watched him, spellbound, for over an hour." (A. C. Bent, Bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution CLXVII [1937], 302) (Note to the reader: I would be indebted to anyone who can obtain a copy of this article for me, or who knows of any other reliable reports of such behavior.)

True, these reports concern eagles, whereas evidence shows the nesher to be the griffon vulture rather than the eagle. However, it is possible that such behavior likewise occurs with griffon vultures, or that nesher is a generic term encompassing both eagles and griffon vultures. Another solution to the entire question is to posit that "the Torah speaks in the language of men," which, according to one school of thought, means that it packages its messages within the scientific worldview of the generation that received the Torah. For more on this approach, see my essay "The Question of the Kidneys' Counsel."

If referring to a griffon vulture, these verses show that the vulture is regarded by the Torah very differently from the way that it is perceived in contemporary culture. While people today view the vulture in a negative light, the Torah presents it as an example of a loving and caring parent. This also relates to the vulture's entire parenting process. Female griffon vultures usually lay one egg, which both parents incubate for an unusually long period of around seven weeks until it hatches. The young are slow to develop and do not leave the nest until three or four months of age. The long devotion of the vulture to its young symbolizes God's deep dedication to the Jewish People.

Sources:
[1] See HaKesav VeHaKabbalah ad loc.
[2] Alvarez del Toro, M. (1971) "On the Biology of the American Finfoot in Southern Mexico," The Living Bird 10: 79-88.
[3] Bertrand, B. C. R. (1996) Family Heliornithidae (Finfoots) in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J., eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

The Dignity of Pigs

2009-05-01T06:47:00.005+03:00

In light of swine flu being in the news, and the much-reported position of MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman that the virus should be named Mexian Flu instead, I thought that the following story would be pertinent:

A number of years ago the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America was concerned about new attempts within the State of Israel to divest the State of any Jewish identity. There were some secularists who argued that Israel should not be a “Jewish” state, but a “state of its citizens,” and the United States was seen as a model. They wanted to abolish all laws that enacted public respect for Shabbos, the Festivals, Kashrus, and other “symbols” of our spiritual heritage. One of the new laws that they wanted to enact would have the government encourage the importation of pig meat. This law was opposed by Orthodox and traditional Jews, including most of the Sephardic population. It was also opposed by some secular-oriented Jews who felt that Israel should publicly honor basic Jewish traditions in order that Israeli culture not become a “carbon copy” of American culture.

The Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah decided to issue a public statement expressing its concern about these developments. A text was drafted and circulated among the members for their consideration and comment. As is usually the case when the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah issues a public statement, each member of the body of Torah sages reviewed the proposed text with a fine-tooth comb, one suggesting the deletion of a sentence here, another suggesting the addition of a paragraph there, yet another suggesting a different way to structure the statement.

Then Rabbi Pam got on the phone: “It’s very good, except for one problem. The sentence about the importation of pigs is written in a way that could be seen as demeaning to the pigs. Vos iz er chazir shuldig az er iz a chazir? Der Eibishter hut em azoi bashafen! (Why should the pig be faulted for being a pig? The Almighty created him that way!)”

Rabbi Pam added: “A statement from the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah must be extremely careful not to undermine kavod habriyos — the inherent dignity of all God’s creatures. Let’s reword it this way...”

(Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel, Hamodia English Edition, Ellul 5, 5661 /August 24, 2001). Reproduced in David Sears, The Vision of Eden pp. 222-224)

(more posts on pigs to come)

The Graceful Giraffe

2009-04-30T21:38:00.001+03:00

Birkas HaChama in Antarctica

2009-04-22T17:55:00.000+03:00

Feeding Pets on Pesach

2009-04-01T16:13:00.003+03:00

Here is the relevant information about feeding pets on Pesach from my book Man and Beast:

Dear Rabbi Slifkin,
I want to ask you a question about my hamster over Passover. I do not know what I am going to do with her over Passover, as I have asked my Rabbi, he suggested that I ask you. He has said that I should give her away to a non-Jewish person that I know, because the food is not acceptable on Passover. What should I do? I don’t want to give her away for Passover, so could I not feed her only vegetables and sunflower seeds (her favorite) and throw away the other food? Even if I did give her away could I go over to the people that would be keeping her and play with my hamster? Please will you tell me the answer, as I am really desperate to know! Thank you very much and have a great Passover!

A person is not only prohibited from eating chametz (unleavened bread) on Passover, but also from owning it or deriving any benefit from it. Thus, one may not own pet food that contains chametz or feed one’s pet with it during Passover. One may not even allow one’s pet to eat chametz that is given to it by a non-Jew.[1] However, a person is permitted to sell his pet to a non-Jew for the duration of Passover. The animal should be housed in the home of the non-Jew.[2]

Jews of Ashkenazi extraction have a strict custom not to eat kitniyos – various legumes – on Passover. However, it is fully permitted to own such foods and to feed them to one’s animals. As long as they are stored away from any human food, kitniyos often make good pet food for Passover.

Many pet-owners are confused as to what to feed their pets on Passover, so we shall provide some practical guidance as to which foods are appropriate. Any change of diet should be done gradually, mixing in the Passover diet with the regular food several days before Passover. It is generally not advisable to give matzah to any animals, not even fish.

Dog and cat foods often contain chametz. However, several brands of food that are certified as being kosher for Passover are widely available. Note that the kashrus organizations that publish lists of products which are suitable for Passover often include a list of commercially available pet foods which are suitable. It is not necessary to buy a new food bowl for Passover, but the bowl should be thoroughly cleaned.

Commercial food mixtures for small animals such as rabbits, hamsters, and so on, contain problematic grains. It is best to feed them fresh vegetables, alfalfa, sunflower seeds, and dry corn. Commercial alfalfa pellets can also be purchased.

Birdseed likewise usually contains problematic grains. It is best to feed them with sprays of millet. Birds of the parrot family should be given sunflower seeds, as well as fruits and vegetables.

Most fish-food contains chametz. A simple solution is freeze-dried brineshrimp, bloodworms or tubifex worms, which are available at all pet stores. If one is going on vacation, note that vacation “blocks” for feeding fish usually contain chametz. However, a healthy aquarium, with a mixture of fish and plants, can sustain itself for the duration of Passover without any food at all.

[1] Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 448:7.
[2] Mishnah Berurah 448:33 and Aruch Hashulchan 448:12-13.

Cat Food Alert for Pesach

2009-03-31T20:02:00.001+03:00

Forwarded from a yerushalayim veterinarian:
Dr. Pet cat food contains actual chametz and therefore, may not be used for Passover despite the fact the product has a label which reads "no chametz." The rabbinate takes this opportunity to remind the consumer public that when shopping for Passover, it is not enough for a product to state kosher for Passover, but this must be accompanied by documentation from a legitimate supervising agency.

I plan to write a post with details of how to feed your pets on Pesach.

New Blog

2009-03-25T21:33:00.001+02:00

I have decided to set up a separate blog for discussions regarding Science & Torah, and rationalist Jewish thought in general. It's called Rationalist Judaism; the comments on the latest post are especially interesting. Please bookmark it and spread the word!

Dinosaur Handprints and Evolution

2009-03-05T10:43:00.002+02:00

Dinosaur handprint backs widely held theory
New evidence reinforces the theory that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. Read more here.
(Hat tip - Rafi G.)

The Biggest Fish in the World

2009-02-21T00:02:00.004+02:00

Yesterday I visited an incredible place - the Georgia Aquarium, biggest aquarium in the world. There were many incredible sights, but the highlight was the whale shark, biggest fish in the world, which outside of Japan and Dubai can only be seen in Georgia. Their largest specimen was only half-grown at 22 feet long, in a six million gallon aquarium. It was truly awesome, and I spontaneously pronounced the berachah of Baruch shekachah lo b'olamo. They also had the world's only captive manta ray, just a baby at 450 pounds - it's expected to reach ten times that weight, with a wingspan of 26 feet!

Washington Heights Lectures

2009-02-13T18:55:00.003+02:00

Sunday, February 22nd
Washington Heights Congregation (The Bridge Shul)
815 W. 179th St

7.30 The Challenge of Dinosaurs
8.30 The Dynamics of a Controversy

Admission: $10 (covers both presentations)
Books will be available

The New York Times on Nishtaneh HaTeva

2009-02-12T22:56:00.002+02:00

In the New York Times article to which I linked in the previous post, it says the following:

Researchers have long known that bacteria evolve to evade antibiotics, and that parasites, like those that cause malaria, adapt to drugs used against the disease. More recently, researchers have reported that cod, overfished for decades off New England and the Canadian Maritime Provinces, have begun reproducing at younger ages and smaller sizes. Other scientists have reported similar changes in species as diverse as bighorn sheep, caribou and ginseng plants.

This instantly made me think of the concept of nishtaneh hateva, "nature has changed," an approach that was introduced in the medieval period to account for disparities between the Talmud and the natural world as perceived in that era. This was that the physical nature of the world had changed since the time of the Sages. While this approach has been grossly overextended, its original application is to the case described by the New York Times.
The primary source for this concept stems from a ruling in the Talmud relating to the age at which cattle and donkeys can bear young. Establishing this age is important because a firstborn animal of these species automatically belongs to a Kohen; thus, when purchasing an animal from a non-Jew, one must ascertain if the animal could have given birth already. If not, then when the animal gives birth, the calf must be given to a Kohen. The Talmud rules that if they are three years old, then when they give birth, their first offspring definitely belongs to the Kohen. Tosafos notes that this is contrast to the facts known in his time:

The explanation of this [ruling] is that before they are three years old, they can certainly not have given birth. But this is astonishing – surely we see all the time that two-year-old cows can give birth! One can answer that times have certainly changed from how matters were in earlier generations. (Tosafos to Avodah Zarah 24b s.v. Parah V’chamor)

This is the same as the phenomenon described in the New York Times!

The New York Times on Shiluach HaKein

2009-02-12T22:52:00.002+02:00

The New York Times
February 10, 2009
Seeing the Risks of Humanity’s Hand in Species Evolution
By CORNELIA DEAN

According to the sages who issued the Biblical edicts of Deuteronomy, if you come upon a bird’s nest, you may take eggs and nestlings, but you must leave the mother bird behind. “Let the dam go,” the King James version says.

Some consider this advice as odd as many of Deuteronomy’s other injunctions, like its ban on clothing made of blends of linen and wool. It runs counter to the fishing tradition of throwing the small fry back so they can grow up, aiming for the largest males in trophy hunting.

But now some biologists are starting to think Deuteronomy has it right. They see this approach as a remedy for a growing environmental problem — the way human predation is causing target species to evolve to reproduce at younger ages and smaller sizes, to their short-term benefit but to the long-term harm of the species.

(read the rest here)

(Hat tip: Rabbi Steven Miodownik)

Lecture Tour Schedule

2009-02-04T14:30:00.005+02:00

Here are the details for the public lectures in my forthcoming lecture tour. I still have some gaps in my schedule so please contact me if you want to arrange something.

Wednesday Feb. 11th, 6.30pm:
"How to Avoid Bear Attacks and thereby Save the Jews"
Stern College

Shabbat Feb. 14th:
Young Israel of New Rochelle

Tuesday Feb. 17th, 8.00pm:
"Sacred Monsters"
Ohel David and Shlomo
710 Shore Blvd., Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn

Wednesday Feb. 18th, 7:30pm:
"The Challenge of Dinosaurs"
The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta
Atlanta, GA
Suggested donation: $18

Shabbat Feb. 21st:
Ahavas Achim, Highland Park NJ

All the Water and Air on Earth

2009-01-30T08:48:00.002+02:00

Conceptual computer artwork of the total volume of water on Earth (left) and of air in the Earth's atmosphere (right) shown as spheres (blue and pink), shown on the same scale as the Earth.

Left: All the water in the world including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers, ground water, clouds, etc. This sphere measures 1390 kilometres across and has a volume of 1.4 billion cubic kilometres. This includes all the water in the oceans, seas, ice caps, lakes and rivers as well as ground water, and that in the atmosphere.

Right: All the air in the atmosphere gathered into a ball at sea-level density. This sphere measures 1999 kilometres across and weighs 5140 trillion tonnes. As the atmosphere extends from Earth it becomes less dense. Half of the air lies within the first 5 kilometres of the atmosphere.

The spheres show how finite water and air supplies are.

(from here)

Lecture Tour

2009-01-23T10:34:00.000+02:00

I will be visiting the NY region on an extensive lecture tour during February. I still have some openings in my itinerary from Feb. 12-17th, so if you are interested in arranging a lecture for your shul or a presentation for a high-school, please write to me at zoorabbi@zootorah.com

Frogs and Crocs

2009-01-23T09:41:00.003+02:00

The second plague to befall Egypt was that of tzefardea. It is widely believed that the term tzefardea refers to frogs, but Ibn Ezra notes that there are actually two views on this matter:

"The commentators differed in their understanding of the word tzefarde'im. Many said it referred to a sort of fish found in Egypt, called al-timsah in Arabic, which comes out of the river and seizes human beings. Others say they are the creatures found in most of the rivers and that they make a sound. This explanation, which is well known, seems correct in my view." (Ibn Ezra to Exodus 7:27)

The former explanation is describing a crocodile. It is referred to as a fish, even though it is a reptile, because the Torah concept of fish also includes other aquatic creatures. Support for this identification is advanced from the description of how the frog plague ceased. The Midrash comments on the statement that the tzefarde’im shall remain in the river:

“ 'The tzefarde’im shall retreat from you and your courtiers and your people; they shall remain only in the Nile' (Exodus 8:7) – Rabbi Yitzchak said, There are still deadly beasts in it that come out and kill people every year ... Moshe did not pray that the tzefarde’im be wiped out, only that they not harm Pharaoh, as it says, 'And Moshe cried out to the Lord in the matter of the tzefarde’im which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh'(Exodus 8:8)." (Midrash haGadol[1])

Rabbeinu Bachya elaborates at greater length:

"Moshe’s words in his prayer stayed true for that time and for all generations. In accordance with his words, 'they shall remain only in the Nile,' to this very day the creeping water creature known as the al-timsah remains there. There it lives, and it is said that sometimes it comes out of the Nile where it lives, rising onto the river’s edge and swallowing whatever it finds, even two or three humans at a time. Neither spear nor arrow can overcome its body, unless aimed for its belly. Physicians say it is venomous and that touching its body, even after its death, is harmful to man. It is of the tzefardea type, and from the power of Moshe’s words, this creature remains there... This is also how Rabbeinu Chananel explained it, and regarding this it states, 'Speak of all His wonders' (Psalms 105:2)." (Rabbeinu Bachya, Exodus 10:19)

According to the second identification, preferred by Ibn Ezra, the tzefardea is the commonly found animal that makes a sound – the frog. This is also the explanation preferred by others:

"Some say it looks like a fish, that it is the timsah, which moves its upper jaw, unlike all other lowly creatures, and that it seizes humans and animals passing by the river’s edge. But the correct explanation is that they are the known creatures of rivers and pools." (Sefer haMivchar[2])

We find the following evaluation in Sefer HaToda'ah:

"This type of destructive tzefardea did not exist in the Nile previously. After it was then created, it remains in the Egyptian river forever. It grows in the Nile to a great size, and damages and swallows creatures big and small. It is the tamsah, which is found in the Nile until today, as a memorial to that plague. And there are some of the commentaries who say that the tzefardea referred to here is the small croaking creature, and so it appears from the words of our rabbis in the midrashos." (Sefer HaToda’ah 23)

The midrashim to which he refers describe the frog as a small and weak creature, prey to snakes and aquatic creatures, that is extremely vocal. This description can only match the frog and does not match the crocodile at all.

What of the etymology of the name tzefardea – does that give an indication either way? Some claim it to be a word from an unknown foreign source.[3] It may be a combination of the root tzafar, meaning to chirp (as frogs do), along with the root rada, “muddy marsh,” which is the frog’s favored habitat. But there are those who state that the name tzefardea is a combination of two words, tzipor de’ah, “the bird of knowledge.” Some explain this to refer to the frog, which chirps like a bird and knows when to stop:

"Tzefardea – a creeping creatures that emits cries all night, until morning, and it is tzipor da, 'the knowing bird,' that it knows the time of morning, to cease from its cries." (Chatzi Menasheh[4])

There is another explanation of “the knowing bird” that is more difficult to ascribe to either animal:

“Ba-tzefarde’im” – what is this word, tzefarde’a? There was a bird (tzipor) in the Nile that had intelligence (de'a), and when this bird called to them they came, and so they were named after this bird with intelligence: tzefar-de'a. (Midrash Lekach Tov to Exodus 7:28; cf. Yalkut Shimoni 7:182)

Neither frogs nor crocodiles are known to respond to the calls of birds. But there is a suggestion based on this midrash that there are similar reasons for positing that tzefardea refers to the crocodile.[5] There is an account by Herodotus, who visited Egypt in 459 B.C.E., of a small bird picking food from the teeth of a gaping crocodile. It has been suggested that this refers to the Egyptian plover, Pluvianus aegyptius, which has since also earned the name of “crocodile plover.” It is said that while the crocodile rests with its mouth open, these intelligent birds peck at the crocodile’s teeth in search of parasites. The crocodile makes no attempt to eat the bird and is apparently aware of its benefits. The bird is extremely cautious and gives a call when fleeing from danger, thus also warning the crocodile. Perhaps the tzefardea is the crocodile, named after its symbiotic partner, the intelligent bird that cleans it and warns it of danger.

A problem with this charming explanation is that the described phenomenon may not actually be true. The picture above is a digital reconstruction! Whether such a mutual relationship exists is hard to determine; in the zoological literature, few apart from Herodotus are actually recorded as having seen it.[6] One ornithologist claims that “…no reliable observer since then has seen [it] acting as a crocodile toothpick... The myth has been perpetuated in the literature and needs finally to be laid to rest, unless contrary proof can be found.”[7] On the other hand, Israel’s legendary crocodile hunter Ofer Kobi, who spent decades hunting and farming crocodiles in Africa, informed me that he has observed it.[8] If it does exist, it is rare, and seems more likely to be opportunistic rather than symbiotic.

In conclusion, while there are those who have explained the tzefardea of Egypt to refer to the crocodile, its usage in Midrashic sources and its etymology indicate that the frog is the more likely contender, as several of the commentaries conclude. Some suggest that the name tzefardea refers to amphibious herptiles in general, and could thereby include both frogs and crocodiles. This is the explanation given by the Netziv, who states that whereas most of Egypt was plagued only by frogs, Pharaoh and his entourage were attacked by crocodiles.[9]

(If you would like to subscribe to the Zoo Torah newsletter and receive essays such as these by email, please send an email to essays-subscribe@zootorah.com)

NOTES

[1] Margaliyot edition, pp. 121-122; originally from Mishnat R. Eliezer, p. 354.
[2] Cited in Torah Sheleimah, Shemos 8:16.
[3] Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, Emes LeYaakov, Shemos 7:27.
[4] A collection of manuscripts cited in Torah Sheleimah 7:108. This explanation is also given by Maharil, cited in B’Shmi U’lekavodi Berasiv, tzefardea.
[5] Prof. Daniel Sperber, “The Frog was a Crocodile,” Bar-Ilan University’s Parashat Hashavua Study Center, Parashat VaEra 5759/1999.
[6] “Despite being corroborated by two eminent German ornithologists in the 19th and 20th centuries, this alleged behavior has never been properly authenticated.” Richford, Andrew S., and Christopher J. Mead, “Pratincoles and Coursers,” in Christopher Perrins (Ed.). Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds (Firefly Books 2003) pp. 252–253.
[7] Maclean, G. L., “Family Glareolidae (Coursers and Pratincoles)” in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J., eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World (Barcelona: Lynx Edicions 1996) vol. 3 pp. 364-383.
[8] Personal conversation at the Crocoloco ranch, September 2008. For further information on Kobi, whose amazing ranches I visited in Kenya and Israel, see http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/954376.html
[9] See HaEmek Davar, Shemos 7:28-29 for his ingenious method of deriving this from the verses.

Letter from a Reader

2009-01-19T19:18:00.003+02:00

Rabbi Slifkin,

I read your book "Mysterious Creatures" with great intrigue. However, I was greatly disappointed by your conclusion regarding the category you use to introduce the theme of the book. Were you to have taken the time or effort to visit Eretz Yisroel before drawing your conclusions you might have seen for yourself what animals are actually native to the land before spewing your apikorsus. I am attaching a photo of creatures that I have encountered in many parks and open areas around the country, which are arguably certain to be the adnei ha-sadeh described by Chazal (albeit that they may have become domesticated to some degree over the millennia, as I have witnessed adults and children playing with and around these creatures without ever being attacked and apparently with no fear of such an incident).

Sincerely,

M. J.
Jerusalem, Israel

Playing Possum

2009-01-12T21:21:00.003+02:00

This passage from the Zohar Chadash describes a monkey that plays possum. But there aren't any possums in the Old World. If anyone has any ideas as to which species it is referring to, I would appreciate it!

זהר חדש פרשת תרומה מאמר נפילת אפים
מ"ט. בגין דנפילה דא, דאתמסר בר נש למותא, אצטריך לכוונא רעותיה, ולמעבד נחת רוח לההוא סטרא דשרייא ביה מותא, כמה דעביד קוף בחרבות ובהרים, אחזי גרמיה דמית, ואתחזי דמית קמי חיותא חדא דדחיל מינה. כיון דההיא חיוותא קריב לגביה, וחשיב לקטלא ליה, ולנשכא ליה, חמא ליה נפיל לארעא כמת, וחשיב דאיהו מת, כדין תב לאחורא, ולא מקטרג ליה. ועל דא אסתלקו אלין ב' אתוון, דלא ידע בהו בר קב"ה דלחודוי:

(Thanks to Rav Moshe Tzuriel, shlita, for the reference)

Still nothing to do with animals

2009-01-07T09:57:00.003+02:00

Today, everyone is talking about the IDF bombing the UN school. The global media is reporting how "Israel claims" that the school was being used for mortar attacks against Israel. This spin makes it sound like this claim is dubious; but in fact, there is incontrovertible video evidence here:

Here is an excellent IDF video that gives an overview of the entire situation:

It's good to see that Israel is finally learning how to fight a PR war, even if the odds are overwhelmingly against us in that department.

Schedule change

2008-12-03T20:46:00.002+02:00

So as not to clash with the memorial at Beth Sholom for the Mumbai victims, my lecture at Young Israel of Woodmere tomorrow night has been moved to 9pm. I will also be selling my books at the lecture, at a steep discount for the set.

Nothing To Do With Animals

2008-11-28T16:08:00.002+02:00

It's nothing to do with animals, but here is an essay that I wrote recently which is related to this week's Torah portion - specifically, Yitzchak telling his wife Rivkah to pretend to be his sister. This was a strategy that we saw Avraham use twice, but how is it morally acceptable to engineer such a deceit for personal gain with no regard for the wife's fate? Read this essay for an answer (Microsoft Word document).

What Happened Here?

2008-11-27T09:16:00.001+02:00

Answer: A rabbit was taken by an owl.

Wonders of the Animal Kingdom #3: The Pygmy Seahorse

2008-11-19T21:38:00.006+02:00

The pygmy seahorse is tiny, no larger than 2.4 cm. This species is known to occur only on gorgonian corals of the genus Muricella, and has evolved to resemble its host. The tubercles and truncated snout of this species match the color and shape of the polyps of the host gorgonian, while its body matches the gorgonian stem. The camouflage is so effective that the original specimens were discovered only after their host coral had been collected and placed in an aquarium!
More pictures here. Check out the incredible video below:

The Pygmy Seahorse! - video powered by Metacafe
(Hat tip: Fred Edmond)

Coming Lecture Tour

2008-11-15T22:51:00.001+02:00

Here is the schedule so far for my forthcoming lecture tour in New York:

Wednesday December 3, 8.05pm at YU, Weissburg Commons:
"The Decline and Rebirth of Rationalist Judaism"

Thursday December 4, 8:00pm at Young Israel of Woodmere:
"The Making of a Ban"

Shabbos December 5/6, at Congregation Ohav Tzedek, Manhattan:
Topics including cosmology, evolution, as well as the above topics.

Sunday December 7th (tentative):
Torah Tour of the Bronx Zoo. $30 adults, $25 children. By reservation only.

I am still free for Sunday afternoon/ evening, and probably for Thursday morning/afternoon; please contact me if you would like to arrange a presentation for your school/ community. "Contacting me" means writing to me at zoorabbi@zootorah.com, not leaving a comment!

Look Into My Eyes...

2008-11-09T11:18:00.007+02:00

Can you guess what creature this is? It's something that many people find repulsive... but with some effort, it is possible to learn to appreciate the beauty and wonder of them. More astonishing pictures can be found here. (Note: one reader said that the link included a banner with un-tzniusdik women, although that didn't show up on my computer.)

The Heron: A Decidedly Non-Kosher Bird

2008-11-02T10:44:00.002+02:00

The heron is listed in the Torah as a non-kosher bird. Now, while we may not know the ultimate reasons behind the dietary laws, many have pointed out that predatory animals are, on the whole, non-kosher. (In fact, predatory birds are by definition non-kosher.) If you ever wondered why the graceful heron appears on this list, the following picture dramatically shows why.

For the full series of incredible photos, click here.

The Jumping Elephant Returns

2008-10-27T22:51:00.000+02:00

In a few days, Daf Yomi reaches Kiddushin 26b, and the famous Case of the Jumping Elephant. Those who missed my essay on this topic from two years ago can download it by clicking here (2.5 meg PDF file). This is a slightly updated edition. I'm always amazed at how many questions I still receive on this topic, and at how many of them would be answered if people who claim to have read my essay would actually read it carefully!

The Great Escapes #2

2008-10-26T15:36:00.002+02:00

Question: What's worse than having your pet snake escape?

Answer: Having your wife find it before you do.

Ouch.

The Great Escapes

2008-10-23T16:57:00.005+02:00

A few weeks ago, as I was going to bed, I heard a strange noise from downstairs: flollop-flollop-flollop. Going downstairs, I traced the noise to the bathroom. I entered to find a chinchilla paddling around in the toilet. This was not entirely unexpected; I had just captured one of my young chinchillas from my outside aviary, in order to sell it. I had placed it in my study in a cage which was old and somewhat broken, so its escape did not come as a complete surprise. I pulled the chinchilla out of the toilet, placed it back in the cage, patched up the cage, and all was well.

After selling this chinchilla, I captured two more from my aviary and placed them in a new cage in my study. Last night, in the middle of the night, my wife woke me to say that there was another strange sound from downstairs. This time, listening carefully, I realized that it wasn't the chinchillas; it was a child's voice saying "Hello Saba!" But my kids were sleeping in their beds. I went downstairs to my study to find my computer playing a video of my kids saying "Hello Saba!" The culprit was sitting on the keyboard, pressing the keys with his feet: an escaped chinchilla.

The fact that it pressed a combination of keys which resulted in playing a video is not only extraordinary; it was also extremely fortuitous. Had it not done so, I would not have been woken to recapture it, and it would have done a lot more damage (as it was, it chewed part-way through one of my books!). Thank God for a technologically advanced rodent! (Strangely, though, this rodent only used the keyboard, not the mouse.)

The story doesn't end there. This morning, I received an e-mail from the menahel of the yeshivah where I teach. He asked me why I had sent him an email full of gibberish. Yep... the chinchilla had sent him an email. It looked like gibberish to me too, but perhaps it was chinchillaspeak for "Help, get me out of this house!"

Anyway, I still have two chinchilla kits left for sale, so if you want to buy some of the adorable little Houdinis, be in touch!

Giant Spider - not for the squeamish

2008-10-23T06:27:00.002+02:00

When I was in Kenya many years ago, I saw a huge orb-web spider, of the Nephila genus. It was the size of my hand, and its web was about eight feet across, with silk so strong that I could pluck it like a guitar string. Now one has been photographed catching a bird in its web! Click here for the full story. Several zoos, such as the National Zoo in Washington DC, have these spiders on webs that are not in cages - they are really incredible.

Travel to Africa in 2009!

2008-10-06T18:42:00.003+02:00

I am putting together a luxury kosher safari in the first two weeks of July 2009. It's very expensive, but very worthwhile if you can afford it! We'll be going to South Africa, Zambia, and Botswana, and it will be the experience of a lifetime! Click here for more details.

Exotic Shofars

2008-09-21T10:34:00.002+03:00

Just a reminder that I have an illustrated essay on the halachos of exotic Shofars which is available as free download here (460 Kb PDF file). This is the second edition, revised and expanded, from September 2007.

Note to Commentors

2008-09-14T10:12:00.002+03:00

The "Comments" link for each post is intended for comments related to the topic of the post. If you have a question for me, please email me at zoorabbi@zootorah.com. Also, please include your full name. Call me prudish, or British, but I find it highly inappropriate when people write to me with their questions and don't even bother signing their name! Thank you!

Filming at Dolphin Reef

2008-09-09T22:55:00.006+03:00

I just returned from a TV shoot in the south of Israel. A Canadian company is making a 90 minute documentary for Vision TV Canada and Animal Planet, entitled Beasts of the Bible. The focus of the program is on mythical animals, especially as viewed in Jewish tradition. How they got to me, I don't know...
The first shoot was yesterday, at Dolphin Reef in Eilat, for the segment about mermaids (if you want to know about the Jewish connection between dolphins and mermaids, you'll have to read Sacred Monsters). I've been on television before, but only in studio interviews; this was very different and much more difficult. While wearing a hideously uncomfortable wetsuit in the 42 degree Celsius weather, we had to do about twenty different takes, mainly because airplanes kept flying low overhead at exactly the worst moments. But the dolphins were terrific!

In this picture, you can see me in my wetsuit, along with Tuli the sound man, the extra who plays Moses (the guy holding the reflector; more about him another time), and Liron the dolphin trainer, along with the dolphins.

Weird Animals: The Blobfish

2008-09-09T09:56:00.003+03:00

From Wonders

Gotta love this guy. It's too weird for words. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it (while Wikipedia often can't be considered reliable, it's useful for obscure topics with which the only person who would write about it would be an expert):

The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus) is a fish that inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania. Due to the inaccessibility of its habitat, it is rarely seen by humans.
Blobfish are found at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level, which would likely make gas bladders inefficient. To remain buoyant, the flesh of the blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; this allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming. The relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats by in front of it. It is often caught by bottom trawling with nets.

Right now, I am in Eilat on a television shoot. More about that when I return and can upload photos and video!

NorthWest Trek

2008-08-26T20:28:00.004+03:00

Sorry for the slow pace of posts... I find it difficult to post regularly, especially when I'm on the road! I just spent a few days in Seattle, running a program for Congregation Ezra B'Sarroth. While I was there, I took the opportunity to visit NorthWest Trek. It's a fabulous place, essentially similar to the San Diego Wild Animal Park but focusing on native North West wildlife. The carnivores/predators are in spacious, beautifully scenic enclosures around which one walks on a path. These exhibits include bear, wolves, foxes, eagles, wolverines, etc. Then there is a 50 minute tram ride around the larger reserves, which contain bison, elk, moose, deer, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Check out this picture of a bison which was walking alongside the tram!

If you're ever in the northwestern US, I highly recommend a visit to North West Trek!

Rare Books on Sale in Woodmere

2008-08-06T16:12:00.003+03:00

A warehouse check turned up some books that were thought to be no longer available: The Science of Torah, Mysterious Creatures and The Camel, The Hare And The Hyrax. Although the first two titles have now been republished in vastly improved versions (The Challenge of Creation and Sacred Monsters), the original titles may still be of interest to those who collect original banned books - complete with haskamos! I have the remaining stock with me in Woodmere, where I will be for the next few days - if you want to come over and purchase these titles, or any of my other books, please write to me at zoorabbi@zootorah.com to arrange a time.

This Shabbat in Lawrence

2008-08-03T16:15:00.000+03:00

Here are the details of the program taking place iy"h this Shabbat of August 9 at Beth Sholom in Lawrence, NY.

Shabbat morning (about 10:45am): "The Animal Kingdom in Jewish Thought"
Shabbat afternoon at 5 PM: "The Making of a Controversy"

The program is sponsored by Mina & Mayer Penstein in memory of his father Abraham Penstein a"h.

Wonders of the Animal Kingdom #2: The Rosy-Lipped Batfish

2008-07-31T22:32:00.002+03:00

Baruch meshaneh habriyos, or Baruch shekachah lo be'olamo?

Classic Zoo Sign

2008-07-31T06:33:00.001+03:00

Lion Bites Rabbi

2008-07-27T12:02:00.001+03:00

Another video clip from my visit to Lion Park in South Africa. Thank goodness for my Timberland jacket!

Cheetah Encounter

2008-07-23T18:08:00.002+03:00

Here is a video clip of my encounter last Thursday with Masai, a full-grown male cheetah, at Lion Park in South Africa. Listen to his purr! He started to lick my hand and it felt like sandpaper; the manager warned me not to let him lick it for too long, as he would take the skin right off my hand!

BREAKING: Leopard Kills Croc!

2008-07-20T18:39:00.003+03:00

This just in:
"The astonishing spectacle of a leopard savaging a crocodile has been captured for the first time on camera. A series of incredible pictures taken at a South African game reserve document the first known time that a leopard has taken on and defeated one of the fearsome reptiles."
The full story and a sequence of amazing pictures is here.
This brings new depth to the Sages' presentation of the leopard as the embodiment of brazenness!

(Hat tip: Ari M.)

Back from Africa!

2008-07-20T15:07:00.003+03:00

I returned from Africa, safe and sound and with thousands of photos! Sorry for the absence of postings. I hope to catch up with notes from my trip, as well as info on forthcoming programs taking place this August in the U.S.

Safari Gallery

2008-07-14T20:28:00.004+03:00

I'm so behind with posts, that I decided to just post my whole gallery of my best pictures from the Sabi safari. You can see the Picasa album here. This has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life!

Elephant Encounter

2008-07-12T20:56:00.003+03:00

There are few things as awe-inspiring as encountering a wild African elephant. We saw elephants on several occasions, and each time it was breathtaking. You have to be very careful, as if they get too nervous, they will charge, with deadly results. The first signs of such a danger are the elephant flaring its ears and tossing its head, which is the signal for you to make a speedy getaway. The elephant in this picture was a juvenile, who made a threat display. But he was just displaying teenage braggadocio and it wasn't a problem. Later, I will post pictures of the matriarch (female leader of the herd) who made a serious threat.

Cape Town Gallery

2008-07-11T09:35:00.003+03:00

I've uploaded a lot of pictures from my visit to Cape Town. You can see them in a Picasa Web Album

Leopard in the camp!

2008-07-11T09:22:00.004+03:00

(I'm a little behind with posts, but I hope to catch up!)
Still disappointed from the morning's leopard encounter when I didn't have a battery in my D-SLR, I made double-sure that I had everything before heading out from the camp for our afternoon game drive. Of course, there's no guarantee of sightings; sometimes you can go for three hours and not see anything. But as our land-rover went out of the gate, a leopard shot across the road and into the camp! There's a rule in the camp that at night, you are not allowed to walk to your cabin without a ranger escorting you, and now we knew why!
Quickly we turned the car around and headed back into the camp. Meanwhile, another land-rover was coming out, and they managed to head off the leopard. It came out of the camp and slinked into the dense bushes. We went off-road and crashed around in the undergrowth for a while, catching glimpses of it here and there. Finally, we ended up very close to it, and I managed to take this terrific picture of it. It came out really well, and more than made up for the morning's disappointment!

I love my cabin

2008-07-10T23:35:00.005+03:00

Sure, it's got a gigantic bedroom, an even bigger bathroom, a personalized weather forecast by my bed each day, and internet. But the greatest thing about my cabin at Sabi Sabi game lodge is that there is a four-foot monitor lizard living under the patio. I first noticed a long scaly tail disappearing around the corner as I came into the cabin on my first day, and after some careful ambushing I managed to snap this picture. The monitor is called koach in the Torah, probably after its great size and power, but what impressed me most about this reptile was its beautiful coloration.

A Drive at Dawn in the Bushveldt

2008-07-09T13:15:00.003+03:00

The next morning, we were woken at 5:30 am for the morning game drive. It was FREEZING. We were given blankets and hot water bottles, but we still shivered. The temperature range here is astonishing - from zero degrees at night to 35 during the day!
After extensive tracking, we came across our quarry: a male leopard.
To my intense frustration, I realized that I had left the battery for my D-SLR camera back in the lodge! Luckily I had a point-and-shoot with me as backup, and the picture came out fairly well.
Leopards are not as large as lions or tigers. The Israeli subspecies weighs up to about eighty pounds, the African around two hundred. Yet, fiercely brazen, they take on prey many times their own size. In the words of the curator of the Hai-Bar nature reserve of the Negev, Bill Clark: “They don’t have the speed of a cheetah, nor can they claim the brute force of a lion. Instead, they rely on their wits. They’re smart, and, pound for pound, they’re the scrappiest of the big cats... No other predator confronts its victims with such rampaging fury.”
And thus we find the Mishnah telling us:
"Be as bold as a leopard to do the will of your Father in Heaven" (Pirkei Avos)
I have a fair amount of material on leopards in my book Seasons of Life, and I have much more in my forthcoming Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom; hopefully it will see the light of day within a year or two. Meanwhile, here's an important lesson that I learned this morning: Always make sure that you have a battery in your camera!

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

2008-07-08T14:46:00.007+03:00

We arrived at Sabi Sands airstrip - just a strip of dirt in the bushveldt, with a cabin containing bathrooms, and a fleet of jeeps waiting to take us to the lodge. After a quick meeting at the lodge, we set out on our first game drive, as the sun sank beneath the horizon. It was not long before we came across a magnificent sight: a pride of lions, including adult females and young males. They were just lying down, licking themselves, occasionally walking around a little. Some walked right around the jeep; I could have reached out and touched them, had I been incredibly stupid. While I have been on safari before, this was my first sighting of lions. It was truly remarkable, and it was even more amazing that they were so oblivious to our presence.

Off to the Safari!

2008-07-08T13:09:00.004+03:00

We finished up in Cape Town with dinner at the local restaurant, with the (Jewish) leader of the opposition in the South African government as our guest speaker. Then, early Monday morning, it was off to the safari! We first flew by commercial airline to Johannesburg, then we changed to three small chartered aircraft to fly direct to the private game reserve of Sabi Sabi. These were 18-seater propeller airplanes; not the smallest I've ever been in (I once piloted a two-seater airplane) but still much smaller than the usual airliner! I was pretty sure that I could hear the hamsters spinning the wheels to keep the propellers turning.

The Edge of the World

2008-07-07T22:27:00.003+03:00

After the hearts and penguins, we traveled to the tip of Cape Point. Here we ascended via the "Flying Dutchman" Fernicular - a cross between a train and a cable car. It is pulled up a very steep track via cable, with both horizontal and vertical angle changing. Upon emerging at the top, there are steps to climb to the lighthouse. From here, you are standing right on the south-western tip of Africa, with the Atlantic on your left and the Pacific on your right. The view of the ocean all around is incredible. A sign-post shows the distance to various important places in the world, including New York, London and Jerusalem!

The Penguins of Boulder Beach

2008-07-07T10:47:00.002+03:00

We ate lunch in Simon's Town, a picturesque seaside village and naval dock. Just a short distance from this was Boulder Beach, which was originally for people but was taken over by penguins. These are African Jackass penguins, which do not need the cold conditions of Antarctic penguins. There were a few hundred scattered in various places around the beach, both adults and young, and they were every bit as adorable as you might expect!
There's a traditional idea in Judaism that the difference between animals, as purely physical creatures, and humans, as beings that combine the physical and the spiritual, is reflected in posture. Animals walk on all fours, facing the ground, symbolizing their physicality, whereas humans stand erect, reaching towards the heavens, symbolizing the way in which we combine the physical and the spiritual.
But what about penguins? They stand up like people, which is precisely what makes them so adorable. Do they undermine this idea?
The answer is, absolutely not. But you'll have to read Man And Beast to find out why... unless you can figure out the answer on your own!

The Heart of Cape Town

2008-07-07T10:38:00.004+03:00

Cape Town has a beautiful climate – warm and sunny. But not in July. July is the winter in South Africa, and Cape Town can get hit hard. And on this Sunday morning, it was pouring with rain.
This ruined our plans to ascend Table Mountain. Instead, we visited a place that far exceeded our expectations – the Heart of Cape Town Museum. This museum commemorates the world’s first ever heart transplant, performed in South Africa by Dr. Cris Barnaard. We began with looking at the experimental heart transplants performed on dogs. Bizarrely, one related experiment including the successful transplantation of a dog’s head onto the neck of another dog, resulting in a healthy two-headed dog!
We learned about the moving story of the first transplant recipient and donor, the medical challenges involved, the extraordinary drive of Dr. Barnaard, the fame and glory resulting from his success, and the resultant catastrophe when American doctors attempted to copy his success but failed again and again. We also saw the original heart from Dr. Barnaard's first transplant itself, preserved in perspex. It was much more interesting than we expected, and I recommend it for anyone stuck in Cape Town on a rainy morning!
(Of particular Torah interest is that the heart was traditionally thought to be the seat of our emotions, but we now accept that our emotions reside in the brain, and the heart is merely a physical blood-pumping organ.)

Shabbos in Cape Town

2008-07-06T20:49:00.005+03:00

On Friday, I met up with my group, American Friends of Shaarei Tzedek, about sixty people altogether. We are staying at the Camps Bay Hotel, situated on the seafront. On Friday night, we davenned at the local shul, and then we were joined by a special guest for dinner: F. W. De Klerk, former President of South Africa, ender of Apartheid, and joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela. He was very interesting, as was his wife, who protested that people were talking during the singing of Shalom Aleichem!
De Klerk spoke about how his former support of apartheid was not due to his being evil, but rather his vision was identical with what much of the world wants for Israel today: two states for two peoples. However, because the whites were not willing to give up enough land, and the blacks were not happy with the situation, it ended up being very cruel to the blacks and he realized that the plan was not working.
Lots more to write, especially about all the stuff we did today, but no time right now. Tomorrow we are flying to Johannesburg and then transferring to a light aircraft to Sabi Sands reserve; I hope to be able to write on the first plane and upload while changing planes!

Jews and Ostriches

2008-07-05T23:49:00.007+03:00

Jews and ostriches... what comes to mind?

Well, there's discussion in the Torah of ostriches - in Vayikra they are listed as being non-kosher, and they are mentioned in the book of Iyov and other places as being cruel.

Then there is the old custom in some parts of the world to hang ostrich eggs in shuls. This is due to the ancient belief that ostriches incubate their eggs by staring at them, emitting energy from their eyes. Accordingly, ostrich eggs were hung in shuls to remind people of the power of kavanah.

But here in South Africa, there's a different connection between ostriches and Jews. At the turn of the twentieth century, ostrich feathers were all the rage in women's fashions. A town called Oudtshoorn in South Africa emerged as the ostrich farming capital of the world, and it was a business that was dominated by Jews. The Jews of Oudtshoorn were very religious, and the town became such a center of Torah that it became known as "the Jerusalem of Africa."

Ostrich feathers have long since fallen out of fashion, and the Jewish community of Oudtshoorn now numbers only fourteen families, all religious. The book pictured above is a commemoration of the remarkable days of the ostrich Jerusalem in Africa.

(Thanks to the Jewish Museum of Cape Town for permission to take this picture.)

A Bird in the Hand

2008-07-03T21:42:00.002+03:00

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. So rather than spend all my time here searching for wild animals - where there is never a guarantee of success - I am also looking for unique opportunities to meet captive animals.

One such opportunity came today at Spier Eagle Encounters. Unfortunately the weather was appalling, so there were no shows. But I was able to put on a falconer's glove and hold two magnificent birds of prey: a Wahlberg's eagle and a huge Verreaux's eagle. The latter was less accustomed to being held, and had to be kept hooded so as to ensure that it would remain calm. I was amazed at how heavy it was - about twelve pounds. I could feel the strength of its talons even through the very heavy glove; without the glove, it would have pierced my flesh to the bone without even trying. Large eagles are so powerful that in some parts of the world, people train them to hunt wolves. An eagle can plunge out of the sky with such force that it can smash into the back of a wolf's skull and kill it. While I have handled numerous birds of prey in the past, this was my first encounter with eagles, and it was awe-inspiring.

On my way out of Spier, I saw a slave bell, which is a relic of the old South Africa. This large bell, mounted about twenty feet up in the air, would be rung to sound the alarm in the event that slaves escaped! How times have changed.

The Only Store Of Its Kind!

2008-07-03T21:18:00.004+03:00

On the way back from our shark expedition, I noticed a store with the odd name of "Baboon Matters." The name alone was intriguing, but even more fascinating was the billboard outside, which advertised is as "The World's Only Baboon Store!" I had to go in.

No, they didn't sell baboons. But they did sell every possible baboon-related artefact, and for a good reason.

Baboon Matters is not just a store; it is an organization run by people who are trying to solve the southern peninsula's Big Baboon Problem. The cape of South Africa is no longer the rough jungle that it used to be, where hippo and crocodile roamed. It is now quite heavily populated, although leopards still roam. But a serious problem is created by baboons. About two hundred and fifty of these large, powerful primates live in this region, and they don't believe in fearing man. They will readily break into houses to wreak havoc and steal food. You don't want to mess with a baboon; they are immensely powerful, with teeth scarcely inferior to those of a leopard. Conflicts between people and baboons can cause serious injuries on both sides. (Many people in this region have put bars on the windows and keep their doors locked, although for those who came from Johannesberg this can be annoying - it's exactly what they came to get away from!)

This is where Baboon Matters comes in. They encourage the villages to take appropriate precautions to keep the baboons away, but even more importantly, they have trained a large number of Baboon Monitors - locals who monitor the activities of the baboons. Aside from being a valuable means of employment in poverty-stricken South Africa, this is a huge help to solving the Big Baboon Problem. The Baboon Monitors are expert trackers who follow the baboons and encourage them to stay away from villages.

Of course, this huge project struggles for funding, and that's where the store comes in. You can buy baboon toys, baboon T-shirts, etc., etc. There are also some interesting artefacts on display, such as the preserved baboon fetus in jar. All in all, Baboon Matters is a wonderful and unique effort to help both people and animals.

Sporting with Leviathan

2008-07-03T17:46:00.005+03:00

Two hours before sunrise this morning, I headed out to the Marina for a very special boat trip: an expedition to watch great white sharks predating on seals. But the weather forecast was grim: temperatures were dropping, the wind was building up, and rain was forecast along with sixteen-foot waves. We met on the dock with Rob, the captain (whose previous clients for these expeditions include Peter Benchley, author of Jaws) and the marine biologists who were going along, to discuss our options in light of the steadily worsening weather. It was clear that cage-diving with the sharks would be out of the question; as Rob put it, it would be like being inside a clothes-washing machine. But could we go out at all? We decided to risk it, and we could head back if conditions became too rough.

I was slightly alarmed by the fact that the boat was only about sixteen feet long. Some of the great white sharks in these parts grow bigger than that. I had watched a video of a small shark jumping out onto a large boat; if a big shark tried that with our boat, it would neatly sink us. Rob assured me that we would be very unlucky for that to happen, which didn't seem to answer my concern.

We loaded our gear onto the boat and headed out into the darkness. It was freezing; I was shivering despite wearing three jackets, gloves and a scarf. The waves were large, tossing the boat around as we surged out to sea. Would we get to observe our quarry?

At this point, I should probably explain what all this was about. The great white shark, of Jaws fame, is the largest carnivorous fish in the sea. They are rarely seen, but near Seal Island, in the Cape of Good Hope, they are not only reliably spotted, but are even seen engaging in a certain extroardinary behavior. They swim below seals, then launch themselves upwards to attack, with a force that sometimes takes them fully clear of the water. Rob's partner Chris was the first to observe this behavior some years ago, and they created a stunning National Geographic video special, entitled Air Sharks.

After about forty minutes, as the sun came up, we reached Seal Island. It was small, no more than a few hundred yards long, but the number of fur seals living on it was extraordinary; as I later discovered, there are eighty-four thousand of them living there. Many were sitting on the rocky island, surrounded by penguins and other seabirds, while others bobbed around in the surrounding waves. But in order to eat, they had to go fishing, and this meant venturing beyond the safety of the island to deeper water. The sharks knew this, which is why they came to these parts. Unlike other fish, great white sharks are warm-blooded, and they have to consume several seals a day in order to fuel their huge bodies.

We circled the island, watching the water intently. It was not long before someone yelled, "Predation, three o' clock!" We looked and saw a flurry of commotion in the water, but it was hard to make out details. A seal's flipper, a shark's tail, and lots of splashing. Then silence, as the birds flew down to feast upon the remnants. Shortly afterwards we witnessed another predation. We did not get a clear look this time either, but we did see the shocking sight of a fountain of foamy blood, some three feet high, spurting out of the sea as the shark hit its prey.

On our next sighting, a little later, we saw a little more. This time the seal, desperately seeking to escape its pursuer, leapt out of the water as it swam, porpoise-style. It was followed by the huge triangular dorsal fin of the shark, slicing through the water. This was over quickly, with little commotion; perhaps the shark had downed it in a single gulp.

A long time passed with no further sightings; then we saw the ultimate sight. A huge shark exploded out of the water. It was right there, straight out of Jaws: dark back, white belly, vast gaping mouth, and soulless black eyes. It landed back in the ocean with a tremendous splash, as another seal lost its life.

This was to be the last sighting of the morning, despite our trying to attract the sharks by pulling a dummy seal behind the boat. The weather was getting worse, and the sharks, thought to be sensitive to pressure changes, were probably going deep. Rob decided that it would be best to head back. I heartily agreed; in fact I was beginning to feel considerably nauseous at this point. As a precaution, I gulped down a motion-sickness pill, and promptly threw up my breakfast over the side of the boat.

Unfortunately, aside from the nausea, this had the effect of making my body-temperature plummet. In the already-freezing conditions, this made me shiver violently, feeling appallingly sick. Yet there was nothing to be done; I just had to tough it out all the way back. Finally we reached the hilly coast. "Not a moment too soon," I croaked as we approached the dock, and then as we pulled in, I leaned over the side and lost last night's dinner.

But it was worth it for the experience. Yesterday I had Esa einai el he-harim brought to life; today it was a verse from Barchi Nafshi, which we recited today for Rosh Chodesh. As part of celebrating the grandeur of creation, it comments upon the ocean: "This is the ocean, great and broad... where boats travel, and this Leviathan that You have formed, to sport in it."

And what a sport it is!

"I lift my eyes up to the mountains..."

2008-07-02T18:16:00.004+03:00

On the Aron HaKodesh at the shul here in Cape Town, it says, "Esa einay el ha-harim... I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where shall my help come from?" This famous verse, followed by "My help comes from God, Creator of Heavens on Earth" can be found in many shuls. However what makes it unique here is that over the Aron is a large window, through which one sees the gigantic mass of Table Mountain looming over the shul. Now that's what I call bringing a passuk to life!

First Impressions

2008-07-02T18:00:00.003+03:00

Just as I suspected, there are lots of differences between Mombasa, Kenya and Cape Town, South Africa:

Mombasa, Kenya: Appallingly bad and bumpy roads.
Cape Town, South Africa: Highways with three lanes in each direction.

Mombasa, Kenya: Greeted by black Africans in native dress singing tribal songs.
Cape Town, South Africa: Greeted by white Africans saying shalom aleichem.

Mombasa, Kenya: The only form of contact with outside world is international phone calls, which almost never work.
Cape Town, South Africa: Aside from the phone, there is high-speed internet in the airport and at the home where I am staying until I join my group.

Mombasa, Kenya: Upon arrival, served exotic fruit juices.
Cape Town, South Africa: Upon arrival, served tea with milk at 4pm prompt.

Mombasa, Kenya: I have to keep the door to my room closed, because monkeys tend to come in and steal things.
Cape Town, South Africa: I don't have to keep the door to my room closed, because the family dog is exceptionally well-trained.

(From this point on, things can only get more exotic!)

Return to Africa!

2008-07-01T23:31:00.002+03:00

I'm writing this from Ben-Gurion airport, as I await to board my flight to Africa. It's been ten years since I was last (and first) there, and this trip will be very different. Last time I went to Kenya; this time, I am traveling to South Africa, Zambia and Botswana. Last time, I went on safari as a participant; this time, I am ZooRabbi-in-residence for a large group, American Friends of Shaarei Tzedek. It's really extraordinary; as a kid, growing up in England, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would actually ever visit Africa, and now I am going for the second time!
You can read my photo-journal from my Kenya safari here. I would like to be able to post a photo/video journal while I am on this trip, but from what I hear, getting online is not going to be easy, and certainly not a high-speed connection. But we'll see what we can do!
I'll be starting off in Cape Town, where I had made arrangements to go cage-diving with great white sharks on Thursday. Unfortunately, the forecast is for a raging gale with sixteen-foot waves (it's midwinter there), so this plan will probably have to be shelved. But if the weather picks up on Sunday, maybe I'll be able to do it then. (Insert joke here about how some people want to see me be thrown to the sharks.)
In my bag is something quite remarkable: a sefer Torah less than six inches tall! We'll be needing it when we're out in the bushveldt. I also had an interesting halachic question - should I be saying Morid HaTal, or Mashiv Ha-Ruach? After all, it is the winter there. My posek ruled that I should continue saying Morid HaTal, and said that even for native South Africans it's not clear that they should say Mashiv HaRuach.
So, I don't know when I'll next be posting, but it should be interesting!

New York Tour

2008-06-30T15:12:00.004+03:00

I'm traveling to NY in August, and my schedule is open on Tuesday August 5th and Wednesday the 6th. If anyone knows of a camp that would be interested in Zoo Torah multimedia presentations, or a shul that would be interested in an evening lecture, please put us in touch! I am also open to doing a Torah Tour of the Bronx Zoo on the 5th, if a sufficient number of people request it (weekdays tend to be difficult).

Wonders of the Animal Kingdom #1: The Long-Eared Jerboa

2008-06-29T13:55:00.006+03:00

Very little is known about this rodent from Mongolia. Like all jerboas, it has huge hindlegs for jumping, but it is distinguished from other jerboa species by its enormous ears. Check out the video to see it in action.

Perek Shirah - Rediscovered!

2008-06-29T10:57:00.002+03:00

The book Nature's Song on Perek Shirah has been out of print for some time. Funds are currently being raised for its republication, but in the meanwhile it is unavailable in stores. However a recent warehouse clean-out unexpectedly turned up a small quantity of books. You can order it online at the ZooTorah website here.

About Perek Shirah:

Perek Shirah, literally "A Chapter Of Song," is an ancient text that is at least a thousand years old; some ancient commentaries even attribute its authorship to King David! It takes the form of a list of eighty-four elements of the natural world, including elements of the sky and of the earth, plants, birds, animals, and insects, attaching a verse from the Bible to each. The concept behind Perek Shirah is that everything in the natural world teaches us a lesson in philosophy or ethics, and the verse gives a clue as to what that lesson is. The result is the "song" of the natural world, the tapestry of lessons for life that the natural world is telling us. Perek Shirah, a work of tremendous historic value, is itself extremely mysterious and cryptic. However, various commentaries have been written on it over the last five hundred years, which give an insight into what the verse is telling us to learn from the creature.

Thus, for example, Perek Shirah states that "The lion is saying, 'God shall go out as a mighty man, he shall arouse zeal, he shall cry, even roar; he shall prevail over his enemies (Isaiah 42:13)." The lion teaches us of the importance of might and power. This does not mean physical strength; true power is power over oneself. All big cats are aggressive predators and therefore cannot get along even with each other; it is only the lion that is able to somehow control its aggression and live in groups. The lion teaches us of the greatest power, that of self-control.

Nature's Song is the first English explanation of Perek Shirah. It makes use of rare ancient commentaries on Perek Shirah , as well as contemporary insights from the fields of meteorology, zoology and so on. The result is a Biblical encyclopedia of the natural world, synthesizing the ancient with the modern, that enables one to perceive new depths of insight into the natural world that surrounds us.