Nachum and Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin Discuss Operation "Roaring Lion"

Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin is with us live via telephone with all the attention that the King of the Jungle is getting these days. I do remind you that Rabbi Slifkin's book, The Lions of Zion, Biblical Natural History and the Significance of Israel is now available on Amazon. You could literally literally search his name, Natan Slifkin, and you'll get to the book, The Lions of Zion. We're actually going to be talking about lions in just a moment because many of you are and Rabbi Dr. Natan Sliffkin is of course the founder of the Biblical Museum of Natural History in Israel and many of you are likely aware of the fact that the name of the operation that Israel is in right now against Iran uh is called Shagata Ari, Operation Roaring Lion. Rabbi Dr. Natan Sliffkin, a pleasure to welcome you back to JM in the AM. >> Hi, it's great to be back home with you. >> So, this was an interesting choice of names, huh? Well, yes. You know, it's uh you know, as I explained in my book, you know, the lion is mentioned in Tanakh more than every other animal put together. Uh and that's because they were a basic feature of life in Israel. Um you know, until 800 years ago, you had lions living wild in Israel. And as the king of beasts, they became the uh you know, the symbol of Malhood of royalty, but the symbol of the tribe of Yehuda, right? And uh since um you know the kingdom split and we're all basically Yehudim, descendants of Judah. So the line really became a metaphor for the uh the Jewish people and for Israel as a whole. The state of Israel as a whole. >> The the seal of the state of Israel is the code of arms has a lion on it. Right. >> Yeah. But uh I have to tell you, you know, so roaring lion is uh you know, expressing how our soldiers in the IDF are, you know, encompassing this power of the lion. uh for the rest of us who were not involved in that mitzvah, you know, dealing with all the uh sleepless nights um caused by the missiles. So, uh you know, it occurred to me that we're we're emulating another aspect of lions. You know, lions try to sleep for 18 hours a day. >> Wow. >> And uh and that's what the rest of us are doing. >> I thought you were going to >> I thought you were going to IDF it's operation roaring lion and for the rest of us it's operation snoring lion. >> Yeah. Or yawning lion because you ever see you ever seen yawning? I'm sure you've seen I'm sure you've seen what it looks like when a lion yawns. It's pretty effective. It's a pretty effective scene. Raisekin is with us live via telephone from Israel. >> We'll get to the seriousnesses of this war in a moment, but we're talking about the name. I don't I don't have in front of me I'm sure we could do the research. I don't have in front of me the name of every operation that Israel's been involved with in the last 77 years, but just as you cited that in our holy books, the lion is the most cited animal. Do you think that the lion is generally uh leaned on when it comes to names of operations as well or this is an aberration? >> Uh good question. I'm not familiar with previous one. Of course, the the first Iran war last year was called the rising line. >> Right. >> Right. Uh which is that's a phrase from Paris Balac. >> Right. >> Um but uh previous operations before that I I don't know. Well, certain certainly then in this era we could say it's dominated by the lion. That's for sure. >> Y >> and it's it's really hard and I want wonder if you ever go through this because you're you're so involved in the animal kingdom. Maybe it doesn't affect you as much. But it is odd for us to sit here and consider especially those of us who are regular visitors to Israel, please God. It it is hard for us to consider that at one time they were roaming the the Holy Land and just 800 years ago they'd be a common sight there. Does that uh does that I don't know does that does that surprise you or do you sometimes have your your troubles wrapping your head around that? >> Well, I I have a different surprise. I have a surprise. I meet people who are really, you know, knowledgeable um experts, teachers of Tanakh and and of Torah. And when I tell them that lions used to live wild in Israel, they're shocked. And I'm like, well, why are you shocked? Why do you think the Torah was speaking about them so much? It's cuz it's cuz they were here. >> They were so common. And you've pointed this out to us on numerous occasions about the uh the the the animals that had a tremendous familiarity to the Holy Land and to the Torah era, so to speak. I know we're always in the Torah era, but you know what I mean. I mean, at the time of mutton. >> Yeah. Yeah. Tanak era. The Tanakh, you know, bears and croc bears and crocodiles and leopards, all these things. Yeah. >> And today, when it comes to that area of the world, or maybe specifically Israel, you could enlighten me. It's it's amazing that they're not to be seen for, you know, hundreds of miles. >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's because, you know, it became very densely uh populated and uh you know, it doesn't have Israel doesn't have these vast tracks of wilderness like America or Africa has, >> right? >> So, the animals quickly, you know, became uh impossible for them to survive. >> What's the opposite of Slifkin? If the lion was there up until 800 years ago and now essentially never ever seen obviously in that part of the world. What's the opposite? What's an animal that is so common in Israel today or or more common I should say? I don't know if anything is so common, more common in Israel today. And you know, hundreds of years ago, you never would have seen it in that area. >> Oh, so a great example of that would be we have two birds that uh were imported for the pet trade and escaped and are now everywhere. The the miner and the ringneck parakeet. And they are absolutely everywhere. >> Literally, if I'm walking in the streets of Jerusalem and there's a bird, you know, going in and out of a tree, it's likely one of those. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Invasive species. It's a big problem because they can really mess up the ecosystem. They can cause all kinds of agricultural damage, you know. So, Israel has very strict laws now about what kind of animals you're allowed to import into the country. They don't want people importing animals that if they escape are going to cause all kinds of problems. So, at the museum, every so often we get a visit from the nature authority uh bringing us animals that they've confiscated, which they don't want to kill, but they don't want to, you know, uh risk the possibility these will end up spreading in the wild. So, they bring them to us. like we have a monstrous snapping turtle. >> That's a good example of a recent one. >> Yeah, a huge snapping turtle. You know, a very powerful, vicious animal. Definitely not something you want to have loose on the Canaret or the Yakon River. Uh so, you know, illegal to import them into Israel, but somebody smuggled one in. So, uh they brought it to us. >> Um what was your most recent encounter? You know, it's Friday morning. I have an excuse if I'm too exhausted to remember. What was your most recent encounter? Was it with a whale? Was it am I right? >> Whale. Yeah, that was that was extraordinary. That was just before the war started. Um and I get a I find out that a sperm whale beached uh was beached near um Ashcolon. So I zoomed down there. They were just they were going to bury it. So I zoomed down there dive it went into the ocean fully clothed. I didn't have a chance to get a bathing suit or anything. And uh yeah, it was this big sperm whale. It was about 45 ft long. >> Wow. Uh they get much bigger than that. They can get to be 70t long. And it's not kind of clause of death was unclear but just really astonishing to see it and very interesting because actually you know in the uh now in the parish the last few weeks we've been speaking about the Mishkan and of course in the Mishkan they had the kurat right >> so what the incense so what goes into the ktorat so there's a rabbi Natan not me rabbi Natan havi uh in pitat who says they used kipata was one of the ingredients of the ktorat now what is this kipata so we'll go into one you. It's a substance called amberris. That is something that comes out of a sperm whale. Uh sperm whales uh eat squid and squid are kind of soft and chewy, but they have this very hard beak. So when the sperm whale eats the squid, in order for that sharp hard beak not to damage its insides, the sperm whale secretes this like waxy substance to encase the beak. Uh which then ends up coming out of the whale. And that substance is very very fragrant, used for perfumes for many thousands of years. very expensive, valuable substance. So, there's one view that that's one of the ingredients of the ctor. >> Unbelievable. So, the authorities in Israel when a discovery like that is made, they all know at this point that you're the go-to guy. They have to call you. >> Yeah, I got my contacts there. Yeah, >> I would imagine. So, everybody Dr. Natan Sliffkkins with us. Do you adjust your exhibits depending on the news of the day? Like, is the lion now front and center at your museum because the uh the war is named for him? Well, we try, you know, in the tour in the tour, we give it we give it more prominence, you know, depending on on what's going on. Um, actually, we just added a interesting thing. We added a memorial plaque in the museum. Um, something I discovered very interesting. You know, the phrase may righteer, which is the griffin vulture, sometimes mistransated as an eagle, more powerful than lions. So, that's a phrase which people will recognize from um from aim, right? It's the prayer we say before Musf. >> Correct. Not tomorrow. >> That was instituted >> not tomorrow but generally. Right. >> Not tomorrow. Right. Right. And that and and that was instituted after the crusades. Right. After the uh the massacres of the crusades. >> But that but those that phrase talking about how they were more powerful than lions actually comes from Tanakh. >> It comes from the eulogy uh that King David gives for Yodon. >> Wow. Now what's interesting is that when King David Hamel is speaking about Sha and Yonan and talking about how they were lighter than Anisha and stronger than the lions he's talking about their military prowess right their physical strength their agility you know you look at all the all the the pukin there in the commentary is you know he's very clearly talking about their military prowess now when he when he got to the crusades so the Jews were massacred in the crusades they weren't killed fighting right they were just you know slaughtered by the crusaders So the the author of had to change that phrase a bit and he added afterwards that they were stronger than lions, right? To do the will of their creator, right? >> Right. Taking it to refer to a spiritual strength, you know, rather than a physical strength because because a physical strength just wasn't wasn't relevant in that context, >> right? >> Um but but now, you know, thousands of years later when we have Israel back and now we, you know, the Jews have sovereignty again and we have to defend oursel against our enemies. Um so now again it's the military strength it's the physical strength of the lion uh that we need to emulate. So uh we did a memorial for the soldiers who fallen and we quoted that you know that puk and it's just interesting how we're now after you know thousands of years after David Hamel coined that phrase speaking about the physical attribute of the lion you know it switched to being a spiritual strength and now we can switch it back and use it in its original context. >> Unbelievable. Rabbi Slifkin is with us from Israel. Were you able to keep the museum open? Are people coming over the last two weeks or there's great restrictions? >> Well, right. Well, the first week we had to close completely. Uh, right now we've able to partially reopen. There's restrictions because um you can only Well, you have a maximum of 50 people and it's also limited by the size of the mad of the safe room, right? >> So, we can fit about 30 people in our safe room. We have 10 staff. So, we're limited to about 20 visitors at a time. Uh, so we have some people coming. They're very appreciative because people, you know, are desperate to get out. >> Yeah. They need things to do. And uh and give us your impressions of what's going on because you've you're always outspoken for good reason about >> about the incredible commitment of of those who serve in the IDF and you mentioned of course how the majority of uh people in Israel obviously are running back and forth to the MAMA, to the shelters, etc. Uh we we we are sitting on the sidelines while you're on the front lines. Uh what can you tell us about the last couple of weeks? >> I mean I'm on the front lines in terms of maybe in terms of missiles. You know bet unfortunately we had uh uh three impacts uh around here. Uh one very tragically resulting in in nine people being killed. Um but I'm not in the in that sense maybe we're on the front lines but obviously you know people really on the front lines doing the sacrifice of the uh the soldiers including my son. Um they just called up another 100,000 reserveists. There were already 50,000 additional reserveists, you know, beyond the standing forces. They called up 50,000. There were still 50,000 extra called up because of the still, you know, residue of of uh of October 7th and then they just called up another 100,000. So that's 150,000 uh reserveists. Um it's just and the commitment people have is just just astonishing. I just read that they uh in Israel has a a milk uh a milk bank from nursing mothers to provide milk for babies whose mothers have been called up. >> Unbelievable. >> To reserve duty. Is that unbelievable that because of the manpower shortage, there's there's nursing mothers being called up to reserve duty and they find milk for their babies. >> Unbelievable. Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin. His book, The Lions of Zion, Biblical Natural History and the Significance of Israel, is available now on Amazon. You can literally search his name, Rabbi Natan Slifkin, S L I F K I N, and get the book. We highly recommend it. We had a nice conversation about the book when it was released. And um the Shagatari, the name of this operation Israel's in is the roar of the lion. And Rabbi Slifkin, in conclusion, I wonder from your perspective, I don't know if you've ever measured this. I don't know if you have decibel measuring equipment, but do we assume the roar of the lion is the loudest um sound of an animal in the animal kingdom? I mean, if a really, you know, if a uh if a uh I don't know, a wolf or a dog would be at their highest volume, would they beat the lion at that? Where where where does the roar of the lion rank? >> Uh I don't know statistics. I can tell you that I have heard lions roar in Africa and the sound travels travels very very far. Um >> and you would suspect and you would suspect even further than a dog or a wolf or any of those. >> Oh yes, I would definitely think so. Uh although I will tell you that the uh the f the furthest traveling sound comes from a whale. Whales can actually communicate with other whales in the other side of the world. That's how far their their their calls travel. And that's specifically because they're in water or they just have that ability. >> Uh because the frequency the frequency it's so low. >> Unbelievable. >> They can travel for miles. All right. I just want to mention one more thing cuz we got pes coming up. >> So uh locusts you know we have our line of kosher locusts >> which are always popular for crunchy on the outside and a chewy center. >> Are they a big hit for? Is that >> Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. People love them. I mean not everybody. Look look some people eat them. Some people are like, you know, they don't want to eat them, but they want them as a talking point, right? Uh, you know, one year we sent them out to all our donors, and most people were very, very appreciative. Just one person said, you know, how much do I have to donate to the museum for you not to send me a jar locus? Anyway, we have some available for shipping in the US, but if people want to buy them, then they it's not on Amazon. They'll have to go to the museum website for that. Uh, biblicalnaturalhistory.org. >> And uh, and if they want >> if you do a search online for kosher locust, you'll find us. And if they want to donate to the museum and keep it going, that would be the same website, correct? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Kaka Motor by Sliffkin. Always a delight. Have a wonderful Shabas. >> Thank you. You too. We see you. Good times. >> Amen. There he is. Dr. Natan Sliffkin in Israel. The zoo rabbi if you will. That's how we always knew him. But the founder of the museum and the author of the Lions of Zion and so many other books. He is absolutely amazing. Check it all out.