Animals of Midrash 🐒🐈🐄

Rabbi Tanchum bar Merion said: there are dogs in Rome that know how to insinuate themselves, [the dog] goes and sits in front of a shop, and he pretends to take a nap, and the shopkeeper takes a nap, and the dog lets a bread roll fall near the ground, and and as onlookers are collecting [the scattered pile] the dog gets a bread roll for himself.

And what is "study its ways and learn"? Our rabbis say study its manners, because it flees from theft. Rabbi Shimon ben Halafta said: It once happened that a single ant dropped a grain. And all of them (the ants) were coming by and smelling it, and yet not one of them took it. The one who it belonged to came and took it. See the wisdom that there is in it (the ant). And all of this praise that it has it did not learn from a creation, and it does not have a judge or an officer. As it is stated, "Without leaders, officers, or rulers." You for whom I have designated judges and officers, all the more-so that you shall listen to them, and there will be judges and officers set for you in all of your gates.

Our rabbis taught: An incident once took place with a Jewish man who had one cow [which he used] for ploughing. [Then], his hand [fortune] was diminished and he sold her* [the cow] to a non-Jewish man and it ploughed with him [for the] six day of the week. On Shabbat he took her out to plough with him and she laid down under the yoke. He then walked [to the cow] and hit her, and she did not move from her place. Since he saw it was so, he walked and said to the Jewish man who sold her to him: "Come [and] take your cow, perhaps she has some [debilitating] pain since [no matter] how many times I hit her and she [still] does not move from her place." The Jewish man understood [the cause of the cow's action], saying [to himself] this is for the sake of Shabbat, [for] she has learned to rest on Shabbat. He [the Jew] said to him [the non-Jew]: "Come, I will make her stand up." When he neared [the cow], he spoke into the cow's ear: "Cow, you know that when you were in my possession you would plough during the days of the week and on Shabbat you would rest. [But] now that I have been afflicted by suffering, and you are in the hands of a non-Jew I am asking you to stand up and plough." Immediately, she stood up and ploughed. The non-Jew said to him: "I had not asked you to take the cow until now, and I did not come to you to address any matter apart from this. And I will not let you go until you tell me what you did to her in her ear, [for] I struggled with her and I hit her and she did not stand up." The Jewish man began to appease him and said: "I did no magic or sorcery, rather in this specific manner did I divert her." Immediately, the non-Jew was awestruck, saying [to himself]: If a cow which does not have [the ability of] speech nor understanding can recognize her Creator, then how can I - who was formed in His image, and who was given understanding - not walk and recognize my Creator. Immediately, he went and converted. And he studied and became worthy of [teaching] Torah. And they called his name "Yochanan be Tortah" and [even] until today, our Rabbis have reported Halacha in his name. And if you will wonder how it came to be that a cow led one man to be gathered under the wings of the Divine Presence, in fact, on the account of a cow all of Israel became pure as we read concerning [the Red Heifer] "This is the statute of the Torah" (Numbers 19:2).

Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa had some goats. His neighbors said to him: Your goats are damaging our property by eating in our fields. He said to them: If they are causing damage, let them be eaten by bears. But if they are not eating your property, let each of them, this evening, bring a bear impaled between its horns. That evening, each one brought in a bear impaled between its horns.

Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa had some goats. His neighbors said to him: Your goats are damaging our property by eating in our fields. He said to them: If they are causing damage, let them be eaten by bears. But if they are not eating your property, let each of them, this evening, bring a bear impaled between its horns. That evening, each one brought in a bear impaled between its horns....

The Gemara asks a question about one of the details of this story. And Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa, from where did he have goats? Wasn’t he poor, as stated above? And furthermore, the Sages have said: One may not raise small, domesticated animals in Eretz Yisrael, as they destroy the fields and property of others. How, then, could Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa raise goats? Rav Pineḥas said that this is how it came to pass: An incident occurred in which a certain man passed by the entrance of Rabbi Ḥanina’s house and left chickens there. And Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa’s wife found them and cared for them. And Rabbi Ḥanina said her: Do not eat of their eggs, as they are not ours. And the chickens laid many eggs, and chickens hatched from the eggs. And as the noise and mess of the chickens were distressing them, they sold them and bought goats with their proceeds. Once that same man who lost the chickens passed by and said to his companion: Here is where I left my chickens. Rabbi Ḥanina heard this and said to him: Do you have a sign by which to identify them? He said to him: Yes. He gave him the sign and took the goats. The Gemara concludes: And these are the very goats that brought bears impaled between their horns.

(8) "Egypt rejoiced at their departure" (Psalms 105:38) Rabbi Berchiah said: this can be compared to a corpulent man that was riding on a donkey. The donkey hopes, "When will he get down from me?!" and [the man] himself hopes, "When will I get off the donkey?!". When he gets down, the man rejoiced and the donkey rejoices. But I don't know who is happier. Such was it when Israel was in Egypt. The plagues were coming on the Egyptians and the Egyptians were hoping, "When will Israel go out?!" And Israel was hoping, "When will the Holy One Blessed Be He redeem us?" When they were redeemed, both these and these were happy, but we don't know who was happier. From what David said: "Egypt rejoiced at their departure", we know that Egypt was happier.

(3) Variantly: "and I bore you on eagles' wings": How is the eagle different from all other birds? All other birds keep their young under their feet, fearing other birds that fly above them — unlike the eagle, who fears man alone, that he not shoot an arrow at him. Better that it strike it and not its young. An analogy: A man was walking on the road leading his son before him, when robbers came to snatch his son — whereupon he placed him behind him — whereupon a wolf came to snatch him from behind — whereupon he placed him before him. Robbers before him and a wolf behind him, he took his son and placed him on his shoulder, viz.: (Devarim 1:31) "… and in the desert, where you saw how the L rd your G d bore you, as a man bears his son.