Weekly D'var

The Dove: Noah

I REALLY wanted to do Parsha Noah which is next week. But it’s Izzy Gutstein’s Bar Mitzvah.  And his father is the president of our synagogue.  I’m still going to Noah.  But I’m betting my d’var torah will be a little different from Izzy’s.

In Parsha Noah, the dove has starring role.  It is one chosen by Noah to leave the ark and investigate what has happened on the earth.  Have the rains stopped?  Has the flood ended?  Is the earth above water?  Is it safe to return?

On its first reconnaissance, the dove returns with this news.  There is no dry land on which he can land.  The second time the dove returns, it carries an olive branch.  The waters have abated and vegetation has been exposed.  The third time, the dove doesn’t return.

As a result, the beautiful, graceful, pure white dove has become the messenger of peace.  Redemption.  New beginnings.

Religions and cultures around the world have universally adopted this Jewish view.

So, when Israel was declared a state in 1948, of course the dove was chosen as its national bird.  Right, Izzy?  Wrong.  Actually, NO official bird was chosen.

It was a bird-brained omission.  Israel is a bird watcher’s paradise!  Five hundred million birds, representing five hundred thirty different species fly twice a year through Israel, migrating from Europe and Western Asia to Africa.

Israel carefully monitors the birds’ migration routes.  Aircraft are forbidden to fly in their path.

Israel is the only country in the world that has a bird sanctuary on the grounds of its government.  Right next to the Knesset is a garden, a section of which is designated just for birds.

Well, on Israel’s 60th birthday, in 2008, an idea FINALLY took flight.  Israel would have a national bird.

Shimon Peres was Israel’s President. This was significant.  When Simon Persky arrived in then Palestine in 1934, he looked up in the sky and saw a beautiful, soaring bird.  Persky asked the name of the bird and was told it was a Peres.  Simon Persky became Shimon PERES.

As president, Peres could have just designated a national bird himself.  To him there was only one choice.  The dove. It was not only a symbol of peace.  It also had a unique homing ability.  Peres said, “The dove can find its way home from anywhere it may be, despite limitations and long distances.  It is a true Zionist!”

Instead, in a magnanimous act, President Peres declared the people of Israel should choose the national bird.  He asked The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel to organize a contest.

They came up with four criteria for the national bird of Israel. It must:
1) reside permanently in Israel
2) characterize Israel
3) be attractive and sing well; and
4) appear in Jewish tradition

Hundreds of birds were nominated.  Tel Aviv University hosted a seminar to study the candidates.  One thousand bird lovers attended.  They narrowed the nominees to 50.

Then a select committee was assigned to further screen the candidates.  Nine birds became the finalists.

To President Peres’ shock, the dove did not make the cut!!

Over the course of six months, 155,000 Israelis voted for their favorite bird.  Thousands of soldiers texted their votes from army bases.  Employees at 40 Israeli consulates and embassies around the world voted.

Children were invited to vote.  Throughout Israel, 70 thousand, or about 45 percent of the total, voted in their schools.

When the votes were counted, the winner was …
the HOOPOE!

Are you kidding!  The bird is TREIF!  It smells.  It bobs its head up and down at a frantic pace.  It’s moody.  Some accused it of campaigning.  It was known to hop along beside children on their way to school.

On the other hand, the Hoopoe has been described as stunning: a flash of dazzling black and white, combined with a liberal dash of pale orange, offset by a long, sabre-like bill and topped with an extraordinary make-believe fan on its crown.  Some say the Hoopoe looks like it’s wearing a tallis.

The Hoopoe is considered observant, wise, monogamous and protective of its young.  And about that rotting meat smell?  It’s actually a clever defense strategy to keep predators away from them and their baby chicks in the nests.

An Israeli air force unit is named the “Hoopoe” because the bird flies higher than any other bird in Israel.  It has actually been seen at 21,000 feet by climbers on Mt. Everest.

The Hoopoe appears in a twelfth century Persian poem called “The Conference of the Bird.”  The verses tell how all the other birds in the world selected the Hoopoe to lead them in their quest to find the king of birds.  The bird that would lead them to G-d.  Then G-d would teach them the spiritual meaning of life.

There’s more.  The connection between the Hoopoe and the Temple.  According to the Talmud, iron tools could not to be used to cut stones for the Temple.  Why?  Because iron was the material of weapons and the temple was to be a place of peace.  Only a worm called a Shamir could eat through the stone and cut it in just the right shape.

The legend continues that the Hoopoe, with its long beak and clenching claws could catch the worm, that cut the stone, that built the Temple where the people prayed.

And more.  Ethiopian Jews called the Hoopoe the Moses Bird because they believed it would carry them to Jerusalem one day.

Finally, the Hoopoe is most famous for carrying messages between King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, making it well suited as the symbol of Israel’s attempt at shuttle diplomacy.

So Israelis chose the Hoopoe.
A foul-smelling
head bobbing
love-note carrying,
school child-escorting
tallis-wearing
Ethiopian-returning
G-d-finding
high-flying
family-protecting
bird.

But compare that to the dove.  Universally recognized and unanimously admired.  A beautiful bird that heralded a new world.  G-d’s messenger of love and goodwill.  Peace and prosperity.  To mankind.  Forever.

This week Israel reached another bittersweet milestone in its 77 years.  Joy for the hostages released alive.  Heartbreak for those yet to return in caskets.  And trepidation about what comes next.

Israel is Nobel prizes and nakbas.  It’s little Beersheet landing on the moon while bomb shelters are built on the ground.  It’s Aliyah and iron domes.  It’s hundreds of Jews from around the world arriving to pick produce.  While millions of antisemites around the world push BDS.

Would the world treat Israel more kindly if its national bird was renamed the dove?  Please!  Or is it more important how Israeli’s view themselves?

Are Israelis doves or Hoopoes?  That’s easy.  Right Izzy?

Shabbat Shalom