The Biblical Feast, Parshat Noach and More with Rabbi Dr. Slifkin on JM in the AM

JM and the AM and um before I introduce Rabbi Sliffkin after all it is Shabas paras Noah right arc tava animals he's the zoo rabbi get it before I introduce my sliffkin let me mention that um if you're going to be in Israel December 24th and I have a feeling that there will be a lot of people in Israel that week. Uh hopefully more and more people are going to start going back to Israel now. Um in light of the peace, please God, it should remain. And in general, that time of year, a lot of people are off and they take the opportunity to go to Israel. So if you're in Israel on December 24th, they'll have a biblical feast 2025. Exotic kosher curiosities will be served that night at the Biblical Museum of Natural History. We'll get the information, contact from Slifkin in a moment and um and we highly recommend it. It's first of all, you're supporting an amazing cause, but you're having an incredible night and I'm sure we'll mention it during this conversation. Rabbi Natan Slifkin is of course the founder of the Biblical Museum of Natural History. It's located in Beamesh, Israel. He's with us live via telephone. Rabbi Slifkin, a pleasure to welcome you back to JM in the AM. >> Hi and welcome. It was great to be on again with you. >> Thank you very much for that. Well, many of you know that um this week it's uh Paras Noah and if there is somebody who we are familiar with who would have given anything to have been to have been on that ark to have been on that tava I have a feeling it would be uh it would be Rabbi Natan Sliffkin. God says to Noah, um, "Enter the ark, you and your household, for I have seen you alone to be righteous before me in this generation. Take seven and seven of every pure animal, seven pairs, and two of every animal that is not pure, of each kind, a pair. Also take seven pairs of each kind of bird, male and female, to keep their kind alive across the earth, etc., etc." You will read about it if you haven't already this week. You will read about it certainly this Shabbat. Rabbi Sliffkin, am I right that you would have uh certainly uh given uh something significant to have had the opportunity to have been on that ark? >> Sure. Well, you know, uh we we opened this exhibit about the art of the ark, right? Artistic models of Noah's arc from all over the world. And you know, I think one of the reasons why it was such a popular topic for art is because it's, you know, the animal kingdom, as we know, is is thrilling and diverse. And in the arch, you got all that amazing diversity, you know, all in one place. >> Talk about unity, huh? Talk about responsibility one for the other. Talk about the work that Noah and his family had to do just to maintain the animals existence during that period of time. Do you think of the I I don't know if in general you think in the abstract. I think generally people from the uh from where you come from tend not to but not that's not an insult just an observation. But do you ever think about that what the experience was like for Noah and his family during that period of time? >> Well uh certainly know you know here at the museum we have whole a whole team of people to look after all our animals. So, uh, yeah, absolutely. >> And, uh, I I wonder, I mean, again, I don't think there's any way to actually do this, but if anybody knows the species of each type of animal, bird, etc., it's you. Can we come up with any legitimate estimate as to how many living beings were on that ark? No, no, we we don't even get into that because then they get all kinds of different opinions as to exactly what the extent of the flood was and uh and how much of the earth did it cover and so on and uh you know me I like to stay away from controversial topics. So uh >> that might be the quote of this conversation frankly. Rabbi Sliffkkins with us from Israel. We're talking about Paras Noah animals etc. And one thing about the exhibit that you just referenced, the art of the ark, uh you actually have an article which people can I believe they can get it online um at your website about the unicorn being represented by a lot of Noah's Ark artwork from around the world. And that was an interesting phenomenon since we've basically have concluded that those types of animals never existed. Right. >> Um right. So uh the uh it was it was not just it was Christian art in the medieval period that always showed a unicorn on the ark and that was because they believe that since unicorns exist uh therefore they must have been on the ark. But that was all uh a lot of it was due to a mistransation of the uh of the appears in the Torah which in uh in Christian editions ended up being translated as a unicorn but we know it's an animal with more than one horn because the path says kind of it's something you know with with more than one horn. So the aim appears to be an animal called the orox which is which is extinct. It's the only animal on earth that's extinct. They became extinct about 400 years ago and that was this giant uh kind of giant wild bull. >> Amazing. Natankin is with us. He's author of the book or by Dr. Natan Slifkin is author of the book The Lions of Zion, Biblical Natural History and the Significance of Israel. And he does address a lot about animals and birds and reptiles and all sorts of interesting uh creatures and creations. And at the same time, he also talks about Israel uh from a nature, natural, and political point of view because believe it or not, politics does enter into this whole story. It's an over 300page book. We're highly recommending it. I'm enjoying it like crazy. Uh go to biblicalnaturalhistory.org and wherever you buy uh your favorite books. Let's start with Russashana. We just uh finished the month of Tish and Rashashana has a uh obviously major significance in our tradition. You write about the the types of chauffeur, the type of horn, animal horn that can be used. It's got to be hollow, can't be filled in, etc., etc. Does that give us a very limited um um type of horn that can be used Russashana or is it really a vast a very large variety of animals and horns that could be the source of a chauffeur for Russia shana? >> Well, that depends on how far you're willing to travel. I mean, in a hall of chauffeers, we've got like 50 or 60 uh chauffeers, you know, different types of animals uh that we've made it to chauffeers. But um if you stay within the region, well, it would be it would be much more limited, it'd be maybe uh just you four or five different animals. >> So if we walk into a Judeica store and we're looking to buy a chauffeur, the chauffeur that we're looking at or trying out likely comes from what type of animal, what type of species? >> Okay. So nowadays, basically, there's two animal horns that are sold as chauffeers. There are rams horns and there are kudu horns. Kudu are the huge big Well, they're sometimes called um Yemenite chauffeers, right? Um but Yemenites don't actually have horns. So the things that are called Yemenite chaos are actually from an animal called the kudu. It's a beautiful uh South African antelope with magnificent spiral horns. Um, but what what's very interesting though is if you look at any like old chauffers from Europe before the Holocaust, which are kind of like these flat uh black chauffeers, those are goats cuz sheep's horns were not widely available. And the reason why sheep, horn, chuffers are so widely available now um is that they're all coming from Morocco where in Morocco they slaughter a million sheep every year and that is for a Muslim festival to commemorate the Aada at least their version of the Aada with each smile and they commemorate it by eating a ram. So they have all these rams horns left over and they ship them off to Israel where we make them into chauffeers >> and that keeps the prices down because of supply. Yep. Exactly. Exactly. It used to be it was so difficult to get an Amazon show first, but now there's so many coming out of Morocco. That's how they're so widely available. >> What about the um what about the one you mentioned being the quote unquote Yemenite chauffeur? Was that always on the more expensive side? >> Uh yeah, a little bit a little bit more expensive. So not breeding. >> So not a crazy amount like it was always within reason. Even even though it seems like that would be more difficult to obtain. Um, well, I'm not sure what used to how they used to be, but nowadays the thing with kudu, they're excellent at jumping. So, they jump over the fences of the game reserves in Africa and they spread very widely without predators being able to eat them. So, that's why there's a large number of them available and they're not too expensive. >> And have you had encounters with them? Because I know there are some, you know, animals that you've gone ahead and uh specifically wanted to interact with. You've interacted with them. >> I interacted. Yeah, I see them on, you know, occasionally I lead safaris in Africa, so occasionally we see kudu. Yep. >> I mean, if if you'd approach if you'd approached them, would one be gored if they approached them? >> Uh, yeah. Well, they'd run away from you animal. It's not one that's going to hang around. Yeah. >> In general, in general, when you're on one of these trips, right, and you're trying to interact, because we've seen you with lions and other animals that we generally consider to be, you know, >> dang, hang on, hang on, hang on. I'm sorry. Sorry. Something very important. I got to clarify here. So, the pictures and videos you've seen of me interacting with lions and leopards and what have you, uh those are not wild animals. Those are not wild animals. Those are not zoo animals. Those are animals that have been raised um you know in in in sanctuaries and so on. >> Right. No, I get that. What we would call domesticated, right? >> Not domesticated, but uh as a tame lion, but they are trained somewhat on people. No, I I I I unders I understood you're not hopping off the bus on a safari to go and ride a lion. I got that. >> I would not want We would not want any of your listeners to do that and say they don't show. >> Well, in general, we try to give a don't try this at home disclaimer. But anyway, but anyway, um so if you're on one of these trips, right, and you're surrounded by, you know, a variety of animals obviously. So what what percentage of them must be avoided, right? The the wild lion obviously being included and what percentage are approachable? I mean, you know, could could you interact with 80% of them or you can only interact with 5% of them? >> No, you can't interact with anything. >> Nothing. There's nothing you can interact with. The only the reason why safaris work is that when you're in a when you're in a jeep, they uh they just think that you're part of the jeep. They don't see you as a as a separate entity. And they've learned to ignore jeeps. But uh there's no such thing as interacting with a wild animal. >> Yeah. But you just said no. I maybe I should put it differently. But you you just said when you approach the animal that the the Yemenite horn comes from, I forgot the name already. When you approached that animal, you said it would run away. >> It was on foot. If it was on foot, they would run away. Yeah. In jeeps, they ignore you in the game. >> No, no, I get I get that. But but what percentage would run away on when you're on foot? And what percentage would attack you if you're on foot? >> Um well really it's the uh the number the ratio of predators to uh to uh prey animals is very low. There's very very few predators. >> It's only like two or 3% of wild animals are predators and 97% are are prey are herbivores. >> Interesting. You got to have a huge herbivore population to keep that carnivore population going. >> Are you as fascinated by these videos of animals going onto a safari bus as I am? >> Uh well, I prefer to actually uh be in the buses, but yeah, >> you wouldn't want to be on the bus, right? >> No, saying I am. I prefer those when I'm when I'm in the jeep. Yeah. >> Has that happened to you? >> You have to remember, you know, all these animals, you know, they used to live in Israel, right? the lions, leopards, hippopotamuses. These are all things that used to live wild in the land of Israel. >> How did the hippo get to Israel? >> Well, they were there for a very long time. Um, and then they were all these things were gradually hunted to extermination. Some some of them thousands of years ago, like hippos disappeared about 3,000 years ago, and then lions about 800 years ago, and leopards just about 20 years ago. >> So today in Israel, it's basically ibecks and cats, right? Those are the two that are still around, >> right? No, there's a couple of things still. There's hyenas. There's like 200 wild hyenas still around Israel. >> Where do you find them? >> Um, that's actually we have one that we have a hyena on exhibit, you know, a stuffed hyena that was brought to us dead. Somebody hit it by hit it with their car just near the museum. So, I guess there was only 199 hyenas um left in Israel. And uh so we uh stuffed it and put it on exhibit. >> Is there any I don't know bird or snake that's you know that's got that's got an oversized population in Israel. Is there any species that has an oversized meaning relative to the size of Israel? Oversized population. >> So some things we have they have to keep down. Yeah. Uh wolves actually are getting a little bit out of control in the north and south of the country. um because uh with so some animals you know there's a lot more opportunities for food provided by humans there wolves jackals also in some areas the population is growing but um right that's an unusual thing feature that happens now >> I could be walking in a field near its spot and I I could come in contact with a wolf >> yeah but it's very unlikely I mean uh big guy like you don't need to worry >> but they don't seem to be afraid of anything no matter what size the guy may be. >> Well, the wolves of Israel are much smaller than the wolves you have in in the US. They have attacked people on one or two occasions, but uh not often. You don't need to worry. >> Fascinating. All right. Dr. Natankin is with us. The book is called The Lions of Zion. I found it interesting, by the way, of all the animals you've spoken about over the years, and now you want to discuss biblical natural history and the significance of Israel. You chose the lion. Now, I know that the lion is significant when it comes to s symbolism in Israel, but is that the reason that it made the cover of the book? Did you consider any other animals for this distinction? >> Um, well, really, you know, the lion is number one far and away the most significant animal in Tanakh. I mentioned 150 times more than every other animal put together. And I think it's something where you really see how, you know, it continued with such significance in Judaism. So many people called Ari you know every you know Aron Hakodes in in in Shu you know had a pair of lions on the Aron Hakodes and it's fascinating when you think about it because you know how many lions were there in the steel you know somewhere in the region of zero so um you know but but this shows that our that our culture was one that was based on Eric Israel and that's how I realized you know when the war started apart for the military war um there was also the ideological war against Isra Israel the claim that Israel is a Europeans a bunch of European settler colonials who came and stole the land from the indigenous people >> right >> and uh and that's you know the fight against Israel that we see in the universities and so on so when you look at how you know liars are so much part of our culture even in in Europe you see wow you know there weren't any lions in Europe this is a this is a people who whose way of life uh whose culture was formed in in the land of Israel where there were lions so I think that's you know, more than any other animal, this really is something that shows our connection to the land of Israel. >> When we say Iskabber kari, is that um is is that a is that in fact an accurate compliment for the lion? Does does a lion awake? And I'm sure you've seen lions go from slumber to a state of awakenness. Um do they in fact awake with a with a start where where seconds later they're they're ready and at full strength? Well, I think that's a I think there's a two-stage analogy there. It's we should awake from slumber uh with the guru with the strength of the line. Now, the question is what is the strength of the line? So, simply speaking, it's talking about how it's you know a big strong animal. Um but then the idea also the Mishna says that we should be as strong as a lion to do the will of God. Yeah. So maybe that's alluding to an unusual aspect of lions that they live in groups which other big cats do not do right you know a big group of lions called a pride but what do you call a group of tigers you know a disaster right they'll kill each other so lions unlike all other big cats are able to control their aggression and live in groups right who is powerful and one that controls his incarnation so that's really maybe that's the idea of the lie and the aspect of the strength that we're supposed to emulate that it's self-control and that self-control can be applied in different ways and one of them would be you know working on yourself to get up in the morning when you do all the lion this >> and that's why the lion always has this appearance of calm and and um >> and and you know with and and and an appearance of purposeful supervision I would say like they're it looks like they they know exactly what the landscape is in front of them, but they don't react emotionally to it. They they continue to observe and to, you know, to internalize all everything that's around them, >> right? They certainly have this spectacular, you know, appearance of the man and everything and understand why it's, you know, the king of beasts, not just the top predator, but ultimately the crown. >> Are they the strongest of the animals? I guess elephants and hippos are stronger than lions, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. But they're the top predator, right? in in this part of the world they would have been you know right at the top of the food chain >> right >> and this was daily life this was daily it's funny you know you know I meet people who are you know people who who know Torah you know very very well and and and you tell them you know and they say what lion used to actually live wild in Israel like yeah you know that's why they're being described all the time because it was part of daily life in the land of Israel in ancient times >> I'm trying to remember if in our tradition we know of anybody who was killed by a lion in theol Holy Land or had an encounter with a lion in the Holy Land. >> Sure. You know, David Shimon had been encounters with lions. >> They were the victims, right? You Yeah. >> Unbelievable. Um, all right. Let's go. Now, we went, we did Russashana and and you do talk about sukus in your book, and I'm mentioning it because we just finished the holiday. I I would have to assume that if God commands us uh to in fact gather together four different types of uh fruits and plants talking about the Estrogue and Lulov and the other um mean I have to assume that he made them available in the Holy Land. Would that be accurate? >> Right. Exactly. This is another perfect example. Or you have the people claiming that the Jews are a bunch of Europeans who came and uh you know stole the land from the Palest indigenous Palestinians. And you look at Jewish culture and sukus is again a great example. the Aramin with the exception of of of our willow the other ones you just couldn't get them in Europe and you read you know in the book I quote you know you have this like heartbreaking halakic question from hundreds of years ago from one rabbi who was who one area of Europe one year they could only get one esro in the entire region and they cut it up into little pieces so that every Jewish community would have one little piece of esrog to use. >> Wow. And you know was no good but but from the question you know you see how desperate they were you know to try and have some kind of connection you know to the land of Israel where they were getting these things from and not just have them in you know GM dabing for rain you know so I grew up in Manchester England and when you think about it it's kind of crazy you know you're living in Manchester and you dabing for rain you know rain is not in short supply in Manchester it rains all the time all year round you know it's crazy but but Torah was not developed for people who lived in in Manchester, right? It was people who lived in the land of Israel, >> right? >> So, you know, every aspect of the animals and plants of nature that appears, you know, in Tanakh that, you know, that's in Torah, you know, shows is based around the land of Israel. Do you know that I know people that till this day will not purchase their own Lulu Vanestrog even though today, you know, there's a voluminous supply because they grew up in an era when there was one Luluestri in the shul and everybody would go and and bless the Lulu Vanest uh you know and take turns doing so. >> So that tradition even kids nowadays would be sucked, you know. >> Correct. And I'm I'm assuming I mean the Europe example is a great one obviously and that's what I'm referring to you know an era in Europe and early America where there was such a shortage but as you described in Israel there likely was not ever that type of shortage. Correct. >> Right. Because this is the part of the world where these things grew. >> Right. >> The entire you know is a citrus the entire citrus trade you know start worldwide developed around the Mediterranean. And where did WMLS get where did WMLS get our rubbas from? >> They were here. >> They were there. >> Things all grow here. >> Oh, because you said that was that was one of the four that's not as prevalent. >> No, no. Those are the ones that you could also get in Europe. They also grow in Europe. >> Got it. Got it. >> But they grow in Israel and Europe. >> Wow. I wonder if that was the source of some people holding a ras on Yontiff. Interesting. I remember that also. you know that when there wasn't a lulv available people would hold our ovens I'm recalling >> really yeah interesting >> I it's coming back to me now and I wonder if that was the source of it because those were available and obviously not all of the other arbaminum were uh rabbi Dr. Natan Sliffkin, the author of the book The Lions of Zion: Biblical Natural History and the Significance of Israel. Rabbi Slifkin, where does one obtain the book? So, uh, obviously, ideally, you can come visit the museum, get it in our gift store, but if you're, uh, if you're in the US, you can buy it on online and our website, biblicalnaturalhistory.org, and it gets shipped out to you from our US office. Uh on December the 24th, for those who will be in Israel, we're highly recommending the feast of the um you know, I don't know what do we call it? Strange and unusual. Uh things that people normally do not eat. They'll have an opportunity to eat. Exotic. Exotic. >> Exotic is right. There we go. >> Right. You call it exotic. Now, um do we do we release beforehand? Do we tell people in advance any of the uh items that they will be partaking of that evening? you know, that is always our struggle. How much do we release the menu in advance or not? Uh because sometimes you never know until the last minute what we're going to be able to to get hold of. You know, these are the whole point of this is that these are things that are not available off the shelf. Uh they're things that, you know, we do a special for and we're not always sure what we're going to be able to get. So, uh so we try and uh hold it I try and you know hold the cards really close to my chest on on that one. And I can can't guarantee that it'll be things that people have never eaten before. >> How many total items do you suspect? >> Uh we usually do about seven different unusual species. Six to seven unusual species. >> All of all of them tasty or not? >> You know, we we have a chef Mosha Bassan who he he does he's well he's known as a biblical chef and he has all kinds of very unusual recipes. But I would think that there are some exotic kosher animals that might not be able to be made in a tasty fashion. Am I wrong about that? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That I would say you are wrong about everything. It all >> it all just depends on the chef. Every everything can be done in a tasty way. Even locusts, you know, >> dip them in chocolate. Locust don't really have any taste, but dip them in chocolate and then you can uh and they're good. >> Yeah. Believe me, I I I am only a drop more into the Locust thing because of my visits to your museum. You've you've sort of won me over. You've won me over over the years. Yeah. >> Uh but aside from that, you don't do a wine pairing. You don't do a wine pairing with the exotic foods, do you? >> Uh sometimes we do. >> Really? >> Uh yeah. Yeah. Sometimes we have the wine, too. Yeah. But the people who are coming to these things, usually the main interest for them is the uh the unusual uh species that they're eating. >> Information about the December 24th event. Can I assume the best place is your website? >> Uh, yes. Yes, we have a special website for the feast. It is biblical feast.org. >> biblical feast.org. The book is available. Biblical natural history uh.org. Highly recommend it. It's called the Lions of Zion or by Dr. Natan Sliffkin. And um and just look, it's Paras Noak this week or by Slifkin. I mean, yeah. Yeah. You have any conjecture of how Noah dealt with the lion? I mean, they had to go feed the lion, they had to go clean up after the lion. I mean, do you think after a while they got to know each other? What do you think? >> There's a Well, actually, there's a mid says about how he was uh bitten by the lion one day because he was late with its food. There's another fascinating midish though about a certain animal called the zikita that it says Noah did not know uh what it ate that uh it was rejecting everything he offered it. And the mid says that one day Noah was cutting open a fruit and there was a worm in the fruit and the zakita ate it. So he realized that it only eats live insects. And based on that midash, so the chameleon was given the name in modern Hebrew, zikit, because chameleons are known to only eat things that move. Now we have some chameleons in the museum. They will only eat live insects, uh things that move, and they will only drink water that moves. If you give a chameleon a bowl of water, it'll dive first. You have to have moving water. We have little waterfalls set up in their enclosures. We also spray them every day. So, there's water dripping down. The peculiarity of chameleons that they will only eat and drink things that move. So, that appears to be the zikita, the midish, and that's why chameleons are called zikit in modern Hebrew. >> Do you think Noah had to worry that some of the animals might eat other living species that were on the boat? >> Um, I would imagine so. Yeah. Mhm. M. So he had to probably build, you know, separate sections and cages. I mean, this was a big project. This was a big project, this arc. And then he had to go educate himself about all the food that they eat and how to properly, you know, come up with a system for everybody to, you know, to manage all of it. I mean, we're talking about a very complicated system. >> Sure. And and and and the uh the whole idea behind it is that, you know, why does he have to do all this? Can't just, you know, God just make all the animals of flesh. The idea is society society being destroyed because it it was evil. And if you know rebuild society, it has to be rebuilt on a on a on a found on a you know a basis of uh of goodness of taking responsibility of looking after the world. And therefore Noah and his family had to be trained in the idea of caring for others. And once you are you know deeply ingrained in this idea of putting in effort for responsibility to others that would be the the way to rebuild society on that foundation. And that's why we see in general you know Jewish leaders uh they were shepherds right Moshu Rabenu David Hame uh they were shepherds and the idea of caring for others um made them have the qualities that they'd be good for caring for the Jewish people. >> Do you find your staff picking up those qualities as they continue to work with the animals at your museum? Absolutely. Our staff, you know, they're very a caring staff and there and uh the visitors find our staff very uh helpful and kind and caring to them too. >> So it's interesting >> and that's why by the way in the war sorry I'll just mention how in the war we were doing um we were noticed at the beginning of the war there were a lot of evacuees in the area because Bamesh is kind of centrally located. We had a lot of activities in the south and the north and uh we gave them free admission subsidized by our donors and what the feedback we were getting is not just that they you know appreciated the break but how therapeutic it was uh for the uh for the children traumatized children to be interacting with these animals and they found that our staff was very caring and looking after them and we realized that it's not just inspiring and educating people with the wonders of nature and understanding references to animals in Tanaf and so on but also this very therapeutic aspect of uh of looking after animals and and caring and interacting with animals. >> So the the Jewish tradition small T of not having animals in the house, maybe we need to revisit that. Maybe it actually helps the kids in the in the household when there's animals around to take care of. >> Well, well, pets were just too much of a pets is a modern phenomenon. Most of history, people were too poor. People, you know, people didn't have animals for use for entertainment. animal they they work. >> The vet is expensive, right? >> Right. It wasn't a thing. That's having animals just for leisure is a very modern phenomenon. >> You know what's going on in the New York, New Jersey area now? You know which animals getting a lot of uh publicity. >> A lot of uh over the last few night over the last few nights a lot of coyote attacks. >> Oh. Mhm. And one of the >> coyote is the uh is the US equivalent of I guess either the wolf in Israel or the jackal in Israel. >> Oh wow. Because one of the people who was attacked specifically said that when they encountered the coyote, it was obvious that the coyote wanted to engage and not back down and then of course showed all the uh the different bruises he had on his legs and arms from him. >> Wow. Interesting. >> Yeah. Boy oh boy. I'll tell you the animal kingdom. Fascinating, huh? Uh, Rabbi, I'm telling Rabbi Slifka, the animal kingdom is fascinating. By the way, when I asked you when I asked you decades ago on the air, which was the most Jewish animal, do you remember what your response was? >> I didn't say kosher. I said the most Jewish animal. And I think I wrote about this in my book, by the way. I think you may have made the book with this one. I can't imagine I would have written my book and not included this. But as you know, once you write the book, it takes, you know, God knows how many months for it to come out and you forget what you wrote about. Uh I asked you which the most what the most Jewish animal was. Uh I felt it was a it was a question justified by its answer. And I always cite this when people ask me one of my favorite moments of my 42-year career. I asked you which is the most Jewish animal, and you responded the mama bear. The way she takes care of her children. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely right. Yeah. Yeah. The uh in Tanak, it's a motif in Tanak. Do Sakul a mother bear burst of her cubs, the most dangerous animal of all. And uh and why is that? It's because of the tremendous um investment the bears have to make in their young because their young are born so tiny and helpless that the bear invests this tremendous amount of energy and time into uh into raising their young and and therefore they forge this very strong bond with them and that's why they're so protective of them and that's why they become so dangerous if the young are taken away from them >> and they it's it's fascinating watching a what's a family of bears called if if they're a pride what's the bears when they're in a when they're together I don't know but anyway a family of bears. Well, the well the baron stain bears and um >> but it's fascinating to watch a family of bears, you know, walking around, you know, wherever they might whatever garbage can they're exploring. You know, I had a I had a fascinating experience the other day >> at about 5 in the morning. I'm driving in Tene, New Jersey, and I see a family. It had to have been a family of deer. The five of them like practically attached to each other crossing the street. I don't know. There's something there's something heartwarming about that. You know, you you see an animal, it's cool, it's nice. I mean, you could relate to this more than anybody, but when you see a family of them, I don't know, there's something about it that just makes it >> I don't know, maybe maybe closer to to our type of existence. Heartwarming. >> Yeah, it is heartwarming and I find it fascinating. >> Rabbi Sliffkin, I can go on forever with you as you know. Thank you. I love these encounters. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> Thank you. Great chatting with you. >> All right. Dr. Natan Sliffkin is author of the book The Lions of Zion. Go to biblicalnaturalhistory.org and we highly recommend going to the museum anytime you're in Israel. And certainly consider December the 24th uh when they'll be doing a uh an exotic feast, a feast of um exotic animals that you may not even have realized that these exotic kosher curiosities are kosher. The feast has its own website, biblicalfaste.org. biblical fee.org or