Page 33 - HaMizrachi #26 Tu Bishvat USA 2021

— Animals —

Dove • ה ָנוֹי The gazelle symbolizes speed. They can run up to 40 miles
an hour. The Tanach and Mishna are replete with paradigms
Doves are monogamous – they keep the same mate for life.
Both parents care for their young, feeding the chicks with a equating swiftness with gazelles: “Hurry away, my beloved,
liquid secretion from their throats, called crop milk. In the like a gazelle…” (Shir HaShirim 8:14), “Yehuda ben Teima said:
‘… be as swift as a gazelle… to fulfill the will of your Father in
wild, their lifespan is about five years but captive doves have
been known to live 15 years. Heaven’” (Pirkei Avot 5:20).

In the ancient world, pigeons were used to send mail and even Hyrax • ע ַל ֶס ן ַפ ְשׁ
small packages, by being trained to fly to certain destinations
Hyraxes are small, furry animals that resemble rodents but
The dove is the only bird that is accepted as a korban. Since the are taxonomically more closely related to elephants! This puts
times of Noach, the dove has been a symbol of peace. them in the category of subungulates – related to hoofed ani-
mals (ungulates). The hyrax is mentioned as one of the three
Gazelle • י ִב ְצ animals which chew its cud but does not have a split hoof. The

The tzvi is one of the most misidentified animals in the Torah, hyrax native to Israel is called the shafan selah, rock hyrax,
often mistaken as a deer. A tzvi is in fact a gazelle, which, as because they live in rocky areas, as David HaMelech said:
the Talmud states, has horns that are not branched, as opposed “… the rocks are a refuge for the shefanim” (Tehillim 104:18).
to the deer’s branched antlers.

— Minerals —

Basalt • תֶלֶזּ ַבּ Jerusalem Stone • תי ִמ ְל ַשׁוּרְי ן ֶב ֶא
Basalt is a volcanic rock formed when lava cools quickly. In Jerusalem stone is the name applied to various types of lime-
Israel, there are basalt deposits in the Golan and the Galil stone and dolomite in and around Jerusalem. The Kotel is made
and in the Negev’s Machtesh Ramon, formed from ancient of Jerusalem stone. A law dating back to the British Mandate
volcanic activity. requires that all buildings in Jerusalem be faced with Jerusalem
Basalt stones have been discovered in ancient mikvaot in the stone. Limestone and dolomite are sedimentary rocks, formed
Galil – it seems these rocks were heated in ovens and then over thousands of years. Because of its solubility, limestone
landscapes are often filled with caves, eroded slowly by water.
placed in the cold waters of the mikveh to warm them.
When David fled from Shaul, he hid in a cave in Adullam, an
area of limestone hills.