The Biblical Hyraxes of the Negev, and Their Songs

Oct. 13 2022

In the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the shafan is listed as being unkosher since it is one of few animals that chews its cud but does not have split hooves. Although in modern Hebrew shafan usually means “rabbit,” it is far more likely that these verses refer to the rock hyrax. (The arnevet mentioned in these passages is likely a rabbit.) These creatures, according to Proverbs 30:25, “are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” Judy Siegel-Itzkovich describes Israeli scientists’ most recent discoveries about this peculiar species:

Hyraxes are medium-sized, plant-eating mammals with soft, gray-brown, or yellowish fur that look like a robust, oversized guinea pig or a rabbit with rounded ears and no tail. Native to Africa and the Middle East, the species are common on hills in Israel and have some unpleasant characteristics.

They bite, can spread rabies and, when bitten by sandflies, can transmit a parasite, causing a disease characterized by irregular bouts of fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver and anemia that could be fatal if left untreated.

Their redeeming feature is that the males sing beautiful courting songs to female hyraxes. A new study on animal behavior that involved researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan has linked reproductive success in male rock hyraxes to their ability to maintain rhythm during songs.

Unlike many other animals known to communicate through song, hyraxes usually sing alone, according to Vlad Demartsev, who collected the data for this study while at Tel Aviv University. . . . “Their songs have regional dialects, so individuals living in proximity sing more similarly to each other,” he said. “They tend to sing in crescendo [getting louder as the song progresses] and reach peak complexity towards the end of their songs, maybe to keep the audience engaged and listening to the signals.”

Read more at Jerusalem Post

More about: Animals, Hebrew Bible, Negev

The Democratic Party Is Losing Its Grip on Jews

Since the 1930s, Jews have been one of America’s most solidly Democratic ethnic groups. Although, true to form, a majority again voted for Kamala Harris, something clearly has shifted. John Podhoretz writes:

Over the course of the past thirteen months, Jews in America have been harassed, threatened, seen their ancestral homeland derided as a settler-colonial genocidal state. They have seen Jewish kids mistreated on college campuses. And they have seen the Biden administration kowtow to Muslim populations hostile to Jews and the Jewish state in Michigan. They have heard the criticisms of Israel’s efforts to defend itself, and have noted the silence from the administration when it came to anti-Semitic assaults and the refusal of college presidents to condemn the treatment of Jews and Jewish topics under their ambit.

And Jews have acted.

The initial evidence from last night’s election is that there has been a significant shift in the Jewish vote from previous elections, a delta of anywhere from 10 to 40 percent overall.

Read more at Commentary

More about: 2024 Election, American Jewry, Anti-Semitism, Democrats, U.S. Politics