{"id":46971,"date":"2025-06-13T01:33:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T08:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=46971"},"modified":"2025-06-12T15:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T22:23:55","slug":"the-prevalence-of-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2025\/06\/13\/the-prevalence-of-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"The prevalence of birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pelicans and cranes gather at Hula Lake in Israel. <\/i>(photo from commons.wikimedia.org)<\/i><\/p>\n

Beginning with the Book of Genesis, we read about the raven and especially about the dove: \u201cAfter 40 days,\u00a0Noah opened a window he had made in the ark\u00a0and sent out a raven,\u00a0and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth.\u00a0Then, he sent out a dove\u00a0to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground.\u00a0But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water all over the surface of the earth; so, it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark.\u00a0When the dove returned to him in the evening, there, in its beak, was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.\u00a0He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Deuteronomy 32, we read that God\u00a0Himself is compared to a bird:\u00a0\u201cLike an eagle who rouses its nestlings \/ Gliding down to its young \/ So did [God] spread wings and take them \/ Bear them along on pinions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eagles are\u00a0so important to\u00a0our culture that Israel\u2019s 1949\/50 rescue of 46,000 Yemenite Jews was named Operation on the Wings of Eagles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jews had lived in Yemen for millennia, experiencing both relatively good and more oppressive times. In the 20th century, especially following the United Nations Partition Plan of 1947, conditions worsened. Arab rioters in Aden \u2013 then a British protectorate on the southern tip of Yemen \u2013 killed at least 82 Jews and, in early 1948, accusations that Jews murdered two Muslim Yemeni girls led to further violence and looting of Jewish homes and businesses.<\/p>\n

When news of the young state of Israel\u2019s planned evacuation reached Yemeni Jews, they\u00a0walked and walked, some from hundreds of miles away, to a refugee camp in Aden. Few of them had seen an airplane before and, to convince them to go aboard, someone painted an eagle with outstretched wings over the door of each craft, reflecting Isaiah\u2019s prophesy: \u201cThey shall mount up with wings as eagles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the attempt to keep the evacuation secret, the planes going from Yemen to Israel were routinely fired on by Egyptian forces. Pilots were warned that, if they were forced to land in enemy territory, the passengers and perhaps the crew risked being executed. Luckily, this never happened.<\/p>\n

Di goldene pave<\/i>,\u00a0or the\u00a0golden peacock, refers to a mythical bird that is a common\u00a0symbol in Yiddish poetry. For\u00a0Itzik Manger, the golden peacock symbolized Jewish resilience and optimism, and Israeli singer Chava Alberstein sings a song about the golden peacock, which you can listen to on YouTube.<\/p>\n

There is a legend that King Solomon gave the hoopoe \u2013 Israel\u2019s national\u00a0bird \u2013 a gold crown, after the bird spreads its wings to protect the king from the sun\u2019s rays.\u00a0But then people began hunting the hoopoe for its crown. When the bird told this to the king, the king replaced the crown with a crest of feathers.<\/p>\n

Although there are several negative\u00a0comments about the raven and the ostrich in Jewish texts, there are also some positive statements made about them. For instance, the raven brought Elijah\u00a0bread and meat in the morning\u00a0and bread and meat in the evening.\u00a0(I Kings 17:7)<\/p>\n

In his prophecy, Micah (1:8) uses the ostrich to show what will become of the faithless. But, while the ostrich generally receives a \u201cbum rap\u201d in Scripture, there is no mention in any sacred Jewish writing of ostriches hiding their heads in the sand. When a threat does appear, the ostrich flattens itself on the ground. With its colouring, it is often able to camouflage itself. Furthermore, when an ostrich senses the danger is too close, it can rapidly run away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
A section of the Bird Mosaic, a large mosaic floor that was apparently part of a Byzantine villa. (photo from commons.wikimedia.org)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Storks are mentioned in Psalms 104:16-17 and in Jeremiah 8:7 for their beauty, grace and devoted parenting: \u201cStorks in the sky know their seasons; swallows and cranes their migration times; but my people do not know the rulings of Adonai!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, the stork appears on decorative Torah wimpels, long strips of fabric used to bind the scroll when it\u2019s not in use. Once, they were made from the swaddling clothes of a newborn baby. (This custom began in the second half of the 16th century and lasted for a few hundred years.) After the circumcision ceremony, the fabric was cut into segments that were sewn together to form a long sash, which was embellished with painted or embroidered inscriptions and images and donated to the synagogue.<\/p>\n

Most storks use Israel just as a stopping off point on their way to and from Europe to Africa. Sadly, according to Israeli wildlife veterinarian Dr. Rona Nadler Valency, many migrating storks are killed or injured along their journey. She blames Israeli electric and wind turbine companies, which, she claims, do not invest in measures to protect the birds.<\/p>\n

Although the type of bird is not mentioned, it is said that\u00a0birds guided the Jewish people\u00a0and kept watch over their crossing during the splitting of the Reed Sea.<\/p>\n

Psalms 84 mentions the sparrow and the swallow: \u201cEven the sparrow has found a home \/ and the swallow a nest for herself \/ where she may have her young\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Uzi Paz, author of\u00a0The Birds of Israel<\/i>, there are about 470 bird species in Israel today. There are three main reasons for why Israel is a haven for birds. First, for European and\u00a0West Asian birds, Israel is located on a main migration route to and from Africa; these birds stay in Africa during the European winter and return to Europe when spring\u00a0comes in Europe. Second, Israel provides a range of habitats. And, third, Israel stands at the crossroads of three continents and assorted climate zones.<\/p>\n

When you visit Israel, stop near Caesarea to see the remains of a large mosaic floor that was apparently part of a Byzantine villa. It is called the Bird Mosaic because the centre part of the floor features 120 medallions, each of which contains a bird.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Deborah Rubin Fields<\/b> <\/i><\/b>is an Israel-based features writer. She is also the author of T<\/i>ake a Peek Inside: A Child\u2019s Guide to Radiology Exams, published in English, Hebrew and Arabic.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pelicans and cranes gather at Hula Lake in Israel. (photo from commons.wikimedia.org) Beginning with the Book of Genesis, we read about the raven and especially about the dove: \u201cAfter 40 days,\u00a0Noah opened a window he had made in the ark\u00a0and sent out a raven,\u00a0and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4329],"tags":[8204,4409,23522,4242,4330,2172],"class_list":["post-46971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-israel","tag-birds","tag-caesarea","tag-hebrew-bible","tag-history","tag-israel","tag-torah"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}