An exclusive interview with Rabbi Nosson Slifkin by Rabbi Avraham Zuroff

 

Mishpacha Jewish Family Weekly

Unwinding With The Zoo Rabbi

An exclusive interview with Rabbi Nosson Slifkin by Rabbi Avraham Zuroff

The pastoral two-lane highway that leads to Beit Shemesh reminds one of a bygone era. Passing Kibbutz Tzara and Yishi, I finally arrived at the hilly and breath-taking Ramat Beit Shemesh. Aesthetically pleasing, full of open space and grassy hills, this suburban community has become a leading choice of many English-speaking religious olim. Like other religious communities, Ramat Beit Shemesh boasts a plethora of shopping, parks, synagogues, and schools…and let us not forget the zoo in the Slifkins' backyard. There, parakeets, rabbits, and an iguana eagerly await my arrival.

It is no wonder that Rabbi Nosson Slifkin has earned the title, "Zoo Rabbi." An avreich and self-taught zoologist, Rabbi Slifkin lectures around the world about Judaism and zoology. His publications attempt to clarify Chazal's metaphors about animals by giving us insights on the animal kingdom in a Torah context.

Wrestling with a Crocodile

Nosson Slifkin isn't run-of-the-mill. He wrestled with a crocodile, rode an elephant, and caressed a lion's mane. Rabbi Slifkin feels that by lecturing with hat, jacket, and boa constrictor around his neck, he has succeeded in removing stereotypes of rabbis from unaffiliated Jews (Most rabbis don't wear boa constrictors around their necks); nevertheless, there's more than meets the eye to Reb Nosson's zany zoo antics.

At first I was hard-pressed to take Slifkin seriously. The Slifkins' front door has a placard embossed with zoo animals. Rabbi Slifkin, himself, was wearing a multi-colored tie embossed with numerous zoo animals. As I entered the Slifkins' living room, I spotted a large, well-lit aquarium, full of tropical fish from the Amazons. On the couch, stuffed bears, giraffes, and a rhinoceros were grazing. Nosson's wife, Tali, asked their 17-month old daughter, Tikvah, to make a welcoming lion's roar for me before they were to go shopping. "What a great photo opportunity. Please don't go. The photographer is due to arrive any moment," I implored. They stayed for the duration of our two hour-long-interview, allowing HaMishpacha's readership a rare glimpse into the Slifkin family's less well-known side.

Slifkin's Serious Side

The interview began with a tour of his library. If HaMishpacha's readership would be asked, "What does a traditional Jew's home library include?" most would say: "the Talmud, Shulchan Aruch, Chumash, … and maybe a sampling of Hanoch Teller stories." All the above and more were in Slifkin's extensive library including four shelves encompassing his extensive collection of rare books on zoology and animals of the Bible.

Reb Nosson spends a great part of his day researching the Torah's outlook on zoology at a local beis midrash and occasionally at Jerusalem's National Library for obscure sifrei kodesh. During the 19th Century, numerous books were written on the topic of zoology and Torah. Four different types of books were written for four different reasons. Rabbi Slifkin is one of the first researchers to examine all four topics: animals in the Bible; halachic issues; laws of tzar ba'alei chaim; and scientific issues. During the 19th century, numerous books were written on the animals of the Torah. Other works have since been written on man's relationship to animals and tzar ba'alei chaim. Rabbi Slifkin researches both of these topics, as well as conflicts between Torah and science.

In the Works: a new Torah Zoology Encyclopedia

Rabbi Slifkin has spent the last four years researching for his Torah zoology encyclopedia. Although Professor Yehuda Feliks has already written a Torah zoology encyclopedia in Hebrew, Rabbi Slifkin hopes to be the first to publish an extensive English-language encyclopedia. He expects that it will take him another four years before his massive work will be ready for publication. Rabbi Slifkin feels that by better understanding the animals mentioned in the Torah and in liturgy, one will enhance his understanding of the imagery that Chazal are attempting to convey. For example, Sefer Iov describes the behamos as a large and powerful beast. By knowing that the behamos is a mighty hippopotamus, one will better understand Hashem's desire to humble Iov and put him in his place regarding his queries about the Creator. Another example of powerful metaphor is the tan's wailing. If one realizes that tanim are jackals, he will understand the author's comparison to the Jewish People's wailing over the destruction of the Temple in the Kinos liturgy.

Reconciliation between Torah & Science

In Rabbi Slifkin's newest book, Mysterious Creatures, he outlines five approaches in reconciling differences between Torah and Science:

"1. The Sages possessed superior (or perfect) knowledge of the natural world, which they derived from the Torah or Divine inspiration; scientists, on the other hand, are fallible.
2. Both the Sages and scientists are correct; the physical nature of he world has changes since the time of the Sages.
3. Both the Sages and scientists are correct; we have simply misunderstood what the Sages were talking about.
4. The Sages spoke in metaphor; we have simply misunderstood their intent. (Cf. Rambam's Commentary on Mishna, Perek Chelek, Maseches Sanhedrin).
5. Although great in Torah knowledge, the Sages did not possess better knowledge of the natural world than did other people of their era, which was very limited." (Cf. Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Trusting the Torah's Sages, Chapter 4)"

Rabbi Slifkin feels that it is important to teach the less well-known approaches of Rav Hirsch and the Rambam. Occasionally, he has received e-mail from readers who have questions of emunah regarding reconciliation of Science with Torah. By using these alternative approaches, he has often been able to restore a reader's faith. Once, Reb Nosson encountered a ba'al teshuva who had questions of emunah. Upon Reb Nosson's further probing, the ba'al teshuva admitted that he had incorrectly assessed Judaism's profundity; A Rabbi's pat answer to a scientific issue had put off the ba'al teshuva. Reb Nosson was able to intelligently answer the ba'al teshuva's query, and restore the young man's appreciation for Judaism while maintaining scientific integrity.

A religious woman wrote to Reb Nosson about her husband's questions of faith, which had prompted him to forfeit religious practice. As a result of his reading one of Rabbi Slifkin's books, the man resumed keeping Shabbos.

Sometimes, Reb Nosson admits that he has no answer. "They respect you for your integrity. One can't teach sheker," Reb Nosson cautions. "The Yam shel Shlomo says that distortion of Torah is not allowed, it's yahareig v'al Ya'avor."

Welcome to the Slifkin's Private Zoo

We walked outside to the Slifkins' private zoo. I was amazed at the aesthetically pleasing garden, shaded by bamboo mats on wooden pergola roofing. Prominently displayed were clay statues of a tortoise and an eagle. The rippling water effect of the tropical fishpond added to the calming environs. The menagerie includes numerous types of birds, rabbits, and a medium-size iguana, which is on loan from Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo. "The iguana was getting beaten up by the bigger iguanas, so the zoo is looking for a warm home to care for him. In the meantime, he's our guest," said Reb Nosson. From an outsider's view, I assumed that the upkeep of the Slifkin zoo would be a full-time job. I was surprised to find out that maintenance is no more than two minutes a day. Reb Nosson leaves some grapes and leafy vegetables for the animals to help themselves; since the zoo is outdoors, he doesn't have to deal with cleaning-up dirty animal droppings. One of the occupational hazards is making sure that Reb Nosson's toddler won't help herself to any of the grapes.

A Sensible Trade for a Nice, Jewish Boy?

As a child, Reb Nosson always wanted to work in a zoo. His Parents told him, "Do something sensible, like becoming a computer programmer." When Reb Nosson was a yeshiva bochur, he saw an ad for a training course for volunteers at Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo. He figured that this would be a great way to combine teaching Torah with his childhood aspirations. Upon graduation, Reb Nosson started teaching immediately. Reb Nosson thought that it was a peculiarity that the Biblical Zoo's only connection to the Bible was a couple of placards that mentioned a biblical verse where a particular animal is mentioned. Reb Nosson brainstormed. He told the zoo's director, Shai Doron, "Let's put the Bible back into the Biblical Zoo." As a result of his meeting, Reb Nosson started researching Torah educational material.

Ranting & Raving at the Biblical Zoo

The director was enthusiastic about Reb Nosson's initiative, which eventually developed into zoo Torah-tours. The zoo eventually commissioned Reb Nosson to write an in-house publication, entitled In Noah's Footsteps: Biblical Perspectives On the Zoo. Numerous dignitaries, including Jerusalem's Mayor Uri Lupoliansky (then Deputy Mayor), attended a party at the zoo celebrating Rabbi Slifkin's In Noah's Footsteps book release. Also attending was a boa constrictor that was under the weather. Due to his illness, the boa lunged towards the surprised Mayor. Luckily, the snake missed. Reb Nosson now gives lectures and zoo tours throughout the world. Although many people assume that this is for children, Rabbi Slifkin's material is really for adults. Reb Nosson finds that competing with the zoo animals for a 2-3 hour children's tour is a formidable task; he finds that the adults will better appreciate his research. Reb Nosson has even found three hours not enough time to explain the Torah's view on the animal kingdom. He has subsequently expanded to a full-year seminar, at one class per week, given to yeshiva and girls' seminary students. Rabbi Slifkin has taught at Midreshet Moriah, Peninim, and Yeshivas Lev HaTorah. "I'd like to do more teaching," said Reb Nosson. "But not necessarily Gemora. There are plenty of Rabbis who could teach that. But there are few who will teach what I'm teaching," he adds. Some of his lectures are: "The Jewish Approach to Zoology", "Identifying Animals in the Torah", "Science and Religion", and "Legends of the Unicorn." In his lecture series, Rabbi Slifkin starts with the most spectacular big beasts, like hippos and elephants, and concludes with appreciating Hashem's minute Creations in the ant kingdom. Reb Nosson explains how it's quite remarkable how task-oriented the ants are. He told me how much we could learn achdus from the ants. We could also learn achdus from Reb Nosson's zoo: the rabbits are Spanish, the parakeets are from Australia, the quails are Chinese, and the iguana is Central American - and they still get along together.

Zoo Torah & Social-work

Reb Nosson's wife, Tali, uses her skills as a social worker to help answer intriguing e-mails. Some of the questions include: "My dog has died. Which perek of Tehillim should be said?" One of the more unusual queries was from a groom who wanted to know which corner of the chuppa should he put his cat's cremated ashes. Deciding that a scientific or halachic approach would be ineffective, Reb Nosson consulted with his wife on how to advise the groom to get counseling. "It's hard to get some of my readers to accept the fact that animals are subservient to humans," explained Reb Nosson. Once a woman wrote to him that she was angry at Hashem for 'killing her cat.' At first, Reb Nosson wanted to explain to her Mankind's superiority over Beast, but Tali coached him on providing a more palatable response. Occasionally, Reb Nosson will ask his Seminary students what they would have responded. "Get a real life" was the majority rejoinder to the "Cat Woman." Learning to become more compassionate to other humans is another side-benefit of Reb Nosson's e-mail encounters. Four years later, the same woman contacted Reb Nosson, this time with good news. She changed her attitude as a result of Rabbi Slifkin's sympathetic response. The woman channeled her feline affinity towards Hashem by opening a gallery of paintings based on David HaMelech's Perek Shira.

Perek Shira: Not just a Segula

Reb Nosson laments the fact that many of the pious recite Perek Shira because "it's a segula when it's not just a segula; rather musar. And they miss the whole point. The whole idea of Perek Shira is to work on oneself." In Nature's Song, Rabbi Slifkin elucidates Perek Shira. Rabbi Slifkin writes: "the concept behind Perek Shira is that everything in the natural world teaches us a lesson in philosophy or ethics, and the verse gives a clue as to what that lesson is. The result is the 'song' of the natural world, the tapestry of lessons for life that the natural world is telling us." An example is the crane's song, "Praise Hashem with the lyre, make music for Him with the ten-stringed harp" (Tehillim 33:2). Says Rabbi Slifkin: Although the crane cannot sing musically, they clatter the mandible of their beaks together like maracas. They thereby allude to the theme of the pasuk, which speaks of praising Hashem with musical instruments rather than song. The message is that we all have our own unique talents and abilities, which we should develop for our avodas Hashem.

Animal Rights & Wrongs

Reb Nosson says that one must draw the line between promoting sensitivity to tsar ba'alei chaim and from becoming an animal rights activist. "On the one hand, one must educate children not to throw cats into the Lag B'Omer Bonfire; On the other hand, PETA is going too far. These people are nuts!" denounces Reb Nosson. PETA, or People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, condemned Yasser Arafat about his employing donkeys as unwitting suicide bombers against Jews. "But what about killing humans? Apparently that didn't matter to them" said Reb Nosson.

Where is the balance between Man and Beast? Surprisingly, Reb Nosson describes himself as definitely not an animal rightist. "I'm not a vegetarian. If I were a vegetarian, it would definitely hamper my work. We are superior to animals-We should allow medical experimentation on animals; On the other hand, we should be compassionate and sensitive to the animal kingdom that Hashem Created." "What about stepping on ants?" I asked. "Do so with a heavy heart, as well as with a heavy shoe," Reb Nosson summed-up his philosophy on one foot.

Reb Nosson quibbles that we, as a progressive, urban society, have been out of touch with both the Animal Kingdom and ourselves. "Why do only children's books have animal symbols?" Reb Nosson said, "It's a shame that kids grow-out of it. Animals provide a wealth of different colors, shapes, textures, sounds, and personalities. They give us a rich insight into the beauty of Creation." He added, "Take a look in Chovos HaLevavos, Sha'ar HaBechinah, where the author talks about the beauty of Creation."

Fulfilling Dreams

Reb Nosson feels that we are out of touch with ourselves by not always fulfilling our destiny. Reb Nosson's childhood dream of working in a zoo has been fulfilled. "It gives me meaning in life. Twenty-five years later, my dream had become reality - Never make fun of a child's dream," he advises. When asked if his parents are pleased with his ambitions, Reb Nosson, making a sheepish smile, said with a voice mimicking a proud parent, "My son, the Zoo Rabbi!"

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All credit goes to Zootorah.com, Rabbi Avraham Zuroff and The Mishpacha Magazine