[Avodah] Book review: The Torah encyclopedia of the animal kingdom

Lisa Liel via Avodah avodah at lists.aishdas.org
Sun Sep 13 01:05:45 PDT 2015


On 9/11/2015 4:29 AM, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 09, 2015 at 08:23:44PM -0400, via Avodah wrote:
> : According to wiki, Re'em is mentioned nine times in the Hebrew Bible (Job
> : 39:9-10, Deuteronomy 33:17, Numbers 23:22 and 24:8; Psalms 22:21, 29:6 and
> : 92:10; and Isaiah 34:7).
>
> : R' Slifkin demonstrates that it is an aurochs...
>
> He argues that it's an auroachs. Calling any identification of this sort a
> "demonstration" is overly confident.
Agreed.

> Notice that every time re'eim is used, it's as a comparison. No one ever
> sees one -- they are symbols of pride and power. Meaning, the rishonim
> who identified the re'eim with the unicorm could well be right -- we
> can use mythical creatures as metaphors.

How would a unicorn fit with "v'karnei re'eim karnav"?  Sounds pretty 
plural to me.

Lisa




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