Am Yisrael Chai!

The animals within us

There’s a beautiful Midrash which speaks about the significance of the Torah comparing the Jewish People to various animals:

R. Yochanan said: The Holy One said, I refer to Israel as a dove, as it is written, “Ephraim is like a dove…” (Hos. 7:11). With Me, they are like a dove; but vis-à-vis the nations of the world, they are like wild animals, as it is written, “Judah is a young lion,” “Naphtali is a hind set loose,” “Dan shall be a serpent,” “Benjamin is a predatory wolf.” And all twelve tribes are compared to animals (such as in verses that compare Israel to a family of lions). This is because the nations fight against Israel, and say to Israel, Why are you interested in Shabbat and circumcision? And so the Holy One empowers Israel, and makes them like wild animals in front of the nations, to subdue them before the Holy One and before Israel. (Shir HaShirim Rabba 2:30)

For mystics, this would mean that the Jewish People metaphysically take on the traits of these animals; for rationalists, it would mean that we draw inspiration and strength from our symbolic creatures. It’s interesting that in the Torah, the name for wild animals, as opposed to domestic animals, is chayah - “living thing.” Presumably this is because wild animals embody vitality to a much greater degree than their calm, domesticated counterparts.

It therefore occurred to me that this makes for a beautiful play on words with Am Yisrael Chai. The nation of Israel is not just alive - when necessary, we’re actually like chayot, wild animals!

In a future post I plan to write more about how this symbolism plays out today for the war, but for now, here’s some artwork that I designed for the Biblical Museum of Natural History to reflect this idea. Feel free to copy it and use it as you wish!

And an English version:

For extensive explanation as to the symbolism of these animals in Jewish thought, see my book The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom, which is best purchased at the museum website, with free shipping from our US office. There’s also a Hebrew edition coming out in a few weeks. May we go me’chaya le’chaya!