Day of the Hyrax

Mazeltov! I just picked up the new edition of The Camel, The Hare And The Hyrax. Israel/UK online orders will be sent out right away. US orders will be mailed from the US at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week.



Here is a rough list of the main changes from the first edition:

• Better explanation of the difference between the Torah's classification system and that of zoology
• Analysis of whether the list of ten kosher animals is exhaustive
• Different presentation of the nature of the Talmud's "proof."
• Discussion of potential arguments against the hyrax being the shafan
• Much more extensive discussion of how the hyrax (and hare) can be described as chewing the cud, with a change of emphasis for my preferred explanation
• Discussion of whether proboscis monkeys chew the cud
• The topic of whether every fish that has scales also has fins has been given its own chapter with further discussion
• More extensive discussion regarding exceptions to the Talmud's rule regarding animals with and without upper teeth
• More detailed analysis of whether the "world" of the Torah and Talmud refers to planet Earth or a limited region.

The book should appear in stores in Israel over the next few weeks, but will probably not reach stores in the US until the end of August, which is after these topics have been covered in Daf Yomi. If you want to order it from me directly at a steep discount, do it now at this link: www.zootorah.com/hyrax.