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

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

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.

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.


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The true measure of a man
micha at aishdas.org        is how he treats someone
http://www.aishdas.org   who can do him absolutely no good.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                   - Samuel Johnson