Playing Possum

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

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

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

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?

Answer: A rabbit was taken by an owl.

Wonders of the Animal Kingdom #3: The Pygmy Seahorse

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

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!