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Tachash

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 69.66.209.3 (talk) at 21:25, 9 December 2011 (preceding version does not cite specific texts in Talmud and Midrash, etc., says tachash is animal (no proof) and says it is excluded, which makes no sense (who wrote the thing?)—this version gives references we can look up (& I moved 1 sentence). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Tachash (Heb. sing. Template:Hebrew taḥaš—plur. Template:Hebrew taḥašim) is a kind of animal skin or leather referred to in the Bible[1] and used as the outer covering of the tent of the Tabernacle and to wrap sacred objects used within the Tabernacle for transport. The early Greek-speaking Jewish translators (LXX, Aquila) interpreted it as "hyacinth-blue" ύακίνθινον. Rabbinical tradition refers to the Tachash as a unique, kosher, multicolored, one-horned species of desert animal which disappeared once the skins of tachashim had been used for making the outer covering of the Tabernacle and for making sandals for the Israelites in the wilderness. Tachash has also been interpreted in a number of commentaries and Bible translations since the 10th century as possibly the Hebrew name for a known variety of land or sea mammal, either clean or unclean: weasel, genet, rhinoceros, badger, zebra, goat, sheep, narwhal, seal, dolphin, porpoise, dugong, antelope, okapi, giraffe.[2]

Model of the Mishkan. Degem Mishcan made by Michael Osnis, Kedumim Shomron.

[3][4]

Interpretations

What the word 'tachash' refers to is a matter of some debate. In Assyrian taḫshū means "wether" or "skin of a wether".[5] In Egyptian tḥs means well-tanned leather, and on this basis some are of the opinion that taḥash too was merely leather tanned in a certain way.[3] The Tanakh never uses the form Template:Hebrew —ha taḥas "the tachash"— as referring specifically to a creature, but only applies Template:Hebrew —taḥas "tachash" (singular)—and Template:Hebrew—taḥasim "tachashim" (plural)— as modifiers: "skins tachashim" Template:Hebrew, "tachash skin" Template:Hebrew, or simply "tachash" Template:Hebrew (as in "shod with tachash"[6] Template:Hebrew ).

hyacinth blue indigo dye sample.

The Septuagint (3rd century to 132 BCE) translates tachash skins as δερμα υακινθινον—derma huakinthinon—hyacinth skins.[7] Josephus (37-100 CE), in his work "Antiquities" 3:6:4 (Ant. 3.132-133) (93-94 CE), says the skins of the outer curtains of the Tabernacle "seemed not at all to differ from the color of the sky."[8] Aquila of Sinope produced a literal translation of the Tanakh into Greek c. 130 CE. There is some (inconclusive) evidence that he retains the Greek ύακίνθινον (deep blue) as the literal translation of the Hebrew[9] Template:Hebrew. The tanna Judah haNasi (170-220 CE) who compiled and published the Mishnah c. 200 CE rendered his opinion that tachash skins are skins dyed altinon (Greek ἁληδινον aledinon), seemingly purple (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:9).[3][10][11][12] The Aramaic Targums also support this interpretation, rendering them as "skins of purple":

The 4th century (390-405) Latin Vulgate translation (directly from the Hebrew) of Template:Hebrew is ianthinarum pellium—violet skins.[18]

"...it had one horn in its forehead, and its hide had six colors..." R. Yehudah.[19] Oil painting by Heinrich Harder, 1916.[20]

After the 4th century CE, the discussions of Rabbinic Sages and Talmudic Scholars in their writings sometimes refer to Template:Hebrew —ha-taḥash—"the tachash". Many suggested identifications for the taḥash have been proposed, such as the fleet-footed antelope (taking Template:Hebrew taḥash from Template:Hebrew ḥish, "swift (runner), fleet").[3][21][22] According to the Babylonian Talmud (3rd-5th centuries CE), Midrash Tanchuma (c. 5th/8th century), and Rashi's commentary (11th-12th c.), the tachash was a kosher, multi-colored, one-horned desert animal which came into existence to be used to build the Tabernacle and ceased to exist afterward.[23][24][25][26][27]

"God created the animal Tahash exclusively for the needs of the Tabernacle, for it was so enormous that out of one skin could be made a curtain, thirty cubits long. This species of animal disappeared as soon as the demands of the Tabernacle for skins were satisfied."

—Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews[28]

Thirty cubits at 52.6 cm per cubit is 15.78 metres (50 ft. 6 in.) in length.

Saadia Gaon (892-942), Jonah ibn Janah (990-1050), and Avraham son of Rambam (1186-1237) interpret "taḥash skins" as "black leather", leather worked in such a manner as to come out dark and waterproof.[29][30]

Rashi's commentary (c. 1100) on Ezekiel 16:10 in the early editions translates Template:Hebrew —vəna'alaq tachash— into Old French as "e chalcei tei taisatz" (perhaps related to tacheus, "blotched, mottled, variegated" coloring), which later interpreters took to mean taisse "badger".[31] The standard reading of Rashi—"e chalcei tei taisson"—appears to be based on a later misprint of Rashi, reading taisson (Old French for badger) instead of the earlier taisatz.[32] The standard current text thus presents the reader with a contradiction. Rashi's commentary on Exodus 25:5 reads: "This was a species of animal that existed only for a [short] time, and it had many hues."[26] Rashi's commentary on Ezekiel 16:10 in the standard edition reads: "and I shod you with badger [Jonathan renders] And I put shoes of glory on your feet."[14][23][24][28]

The 14th century Wycliffe Bible translates the word tachash as jacinth (hyacinth = blue, indigo, purple, violet).[33] The translators worked from the Vulgate, which was a translation into Latin from the pre-Masoretic Hebrew text of the Tanakh.[34] (See Samaritan Pentateuch.) The German Luther Bibel of 1545 translates Template:Hebrew as Dachsfelle "badgers' skins", reading Hebrew Template:Hebrew "t-ḥ-s" as equal to "d-ḥ-s / dachs".[35] Martin Luther believed that the German word for badger, dachs, originated from the Hebrew taḥas.[36] Also, the Latin word for badger is taxus, but this is misleading since Latin is unrelated to Hebrew.[37] (See Source and influence of false etymologies and Pseudoscientific language comparison.) The Douay-Rheims Bible (1609) reads "violet skins". The King James Version of the Bible (1611) translates tachash as badger.

David ben Naphtali Fränkel (1704-1762) in his commentary Korban ha-Edah says the cover of the tabernacle was made from ordinary goat skins colored with a dye called taynin, which Sefer ha-Aruch relates to the Latin jacintha, the blue hyacinth flower.[38]

A popular hypothesis of the 19th-20th century proposed that the term "tachash" means dugong. This translation is based upon the similarity between tachash and the Arabic word tukhas الدص , which means dugong (manatee).[3][39] (See meaning of linguistic term False friend.) The Arabs of the Sinaitic peninsula apply the name tucash to the seals and dugongs which are common in the Red Sea, and the skins of which are largely used as leather and for sandals.[5][40][41][42][43] In 1843 Eduard Rüppell classified a variety of dugong (Dugong dugon, Dugong hemprichi) as Halicore tabernaculi, which means "dugong of the tabernacle".[44][45][46] In accordance with this hypothesis several translations, such as the Jewish Publication Society translation (1917), render tachash as seal or dolphin or sea cow.[3][47] In Modern Hebrew the dugong is called by the name Template:Hebrew tachash ha-Mishkan, "dugong of the tabernacle".[48]

Another hypothesis of the 19th-20th century[49][50] is that the Hebrew term Template:Hebrew—" 'orot t'chashim" skins tachashim—refers to very fine dyed sheep or goat leather, hence the Revised Standard Version of the Bible (1952) renders skins tachashim as "goatskins"[51]; the New Living Translation (1996) reads "fine goatskin leather"; and the updated RSV English Standard Version (2001) retains the reading "goatskins", but with a footnote to Exodus 25:5 which says: "Uncertain; possibly dolphin skins, or dugong skins". However, referring to interpretations of Template:Hebrew tachash as "goat" (thus interpreting Template:Hebrew— 'or tachash—as "goatskin"), the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary says, "...the word used is not the normal word for goat."[52]

A number of versions such as the Jerusalem Bible (1966) / New Jerusalem Bible (1985)[53] instead translate the term as "fine leather (Template:Hebrew uwr, skin, leather)", thus interpreting Template:Hebrew as meaning "fine, rich, choice" in the expression Template:Hebrew uwr tachash ("skin tachash", "leather tachash", "tachash leather"). However, according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for "finest, richest, choice" is not 8476 תחש tachash, but 2459 חלב cheleb—the Hebrew text interpreted as "fine leather" in the 4th chapter of the Book of Numbers does not read Template:Hebrew uwr cheleb ("skin choice", "leather rich", "fine leather"), it reads Template:Hebrew uwr tachash ("skin tachash", "tachash skin", "tachash leather").

Others believe the tachash was related to, or that it was identical with, the keresh, the legendary unicorn,[10][54][55] with a similar description mentioned in the Gemara (c. 500 CE). According to the Talmud the keresh is the deer of Be-Ilai (the forest of Dvei Ilai), and the hide of the deer of Be-Ilai is sixteen cubits long (Kodashim, Hullin 59b)[2][3][24][23][56][57]—at 52.6 cm per cubit, about 8.4 metres (26 ft. 4 in.) in length (or height). Some scholars have identified the keresh with the giraffe, and at the beginning of the 21st century they presented a new proposal that the giraffe could be the (hidden) tachash of the Talmud.[58][59][60][61][62][63][64] The giraffe has many of the signs given by R. Meir (139-163 CE), multicolored skin, a horn-like protrusion on its forehead between its ossicones, and some of the signs of a clean animal.[3][64]

Badgers' skins

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible (1708-1710) offers a critique of this translation:

"badgers' skins, so we translate it, but it should rather seem to have been some strong sort of leather (but very fine), for we read of the best sort of shoes being made of it, Eze. 16:10."[65]

Adam Clarke in his Commentary (1831) on Exodus 25:5 wrote:

"4. Rams' skins, badgers' skins (rather violet-colored skins,) and shittim wood".

"Badgers' skins, oroth techashim. Few terms have afforded greater perplexity to critics and commentators than this. Bochart has exhausted the subject, and seems to have proved that no kind of animal is here intended, but a colour. None of the ancient versions acknowledge an animal of any kind except the Chaldee, which seems to think the badger is intended, and from it we have borrowed our translation of the word. The Septuagint and Vulgate have skins dyed a violet colour; the Syriac, azure; the Arabic, black; the Coptic, violet; the modern Persic,[66] ram-skins, & c.

"The colour contended for by Bochart is the hysginus, which is a very deep blue. So Pliny, Coccoque tinctum Tyrio tingere, ut fieret hysginum. "They dip crimson in purple to make the colour called hysginus."—Hist. Nat., lib. ix, c.45, edit. Bipont.[67]

Wilhelm Gesenius (1838, Leipzig 1905) cites J. H. Bondi (Aegyptiaca, i.ff) who adduces the Egyptian root t-ch-s and makes the Hebrew expression 'or tahash mean "soft-dressed skin".[68][69][70][71][72][49][50][73][74]

John Grigg Hewlett, D.D. (1860) argued against the King James translation of Tachash as Badger for three reasons. 1. The badger is not found in Arabia. 2. It is an unclean animal. It would have violated the holiness code of Leviticus. 3. The translators of the Septuagint and the Vulgate translate tachash as blue or purple. Hewlett concluded that the word tachash refers only to the color of the skin not to the kind of skin.[75]

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of The Old Testament, suggests "a species of antelope."[76] The suggestion that taḥash is a species of "antelope" takes Template:Hebrew taḥash from the word Template:Hebrew ḥish, meaning "swift (runner), fleet"[3][21]—cf. Strong's number 2363 חוש chûwsh, koosh; a primary root; to hurry; figuratively, to be eager with excitement or enjoyment: (make) haste (-n), ready.

Matthew George Easton, M.A., D.D., (1823-1894), Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Easton's Bible Dictionary 1897) stated unequivocally that the badger's small hide would have been useless as a tent covering.[43]

Victor Hehn (1976) in Cultivated plants and domesticated animals in their migrations from Asia to Europe wrote:

"Here we follow the common opinion, namely, that tasso, taxo, taxus, ...runs into the large many-branched stem to which τέχνη, τέχτων, τεύχω, τύκς, etc. belong.... This explanation is supported by the Greek τρόχος in Aristotle De Gener. Anim., 3, 6, in which word lies, not only the simple meaning of runner, but also of turner, one who runs round (compare τροχός wheel, ...)"[77]

The question of unclean tachash skins

Scholars have debated for centuries the question of whether or not tachash skins for the Mishkan could have been taken from an unclean—Template:Hebrew sheqets—species of animal, such as the badger and the dugong.

In the Talmud, in the debate regarding the tahash that was in Moses' day, R. Joseph observed, "For the sacred work none but the skin of a clean animal was declared fit."[23] In the books of the Midrash, the Midrash Tanchuma says "it was unknown whether it belonged to the clean animals or the beasts of the field until Moses used its skin for the Mishkan, when it was known to belong to the clean kind of animals".[27] This supports the hypothesis that 'orot t'chashim refers to very fine dyed sheep or goat leather as a parallel with "rams' skins dyed red." The New American Bible footnote to Exodus 25:5 (in part) says of Tahash: "The Greek and Latin versions took it for the color hyacinth."[78] In this case, we have "a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and above that a covering of hyacinth skins": a covering of skins dyed red and an outer covering of skins dyed indigo.

Greater Kudu of eastern and southern Africa.

Taking Template:Hebrew taḥash from Template:Hebrew ḥish, "fleet",[3][21] supports the suggestion that tachash was a species of antelope.[22] The New Smith's Bible Dictionary says the word translated into KJV English as "badger" is:

"(Hebrew: Tachash) The antelope. Tachaitze of Eastern Africa, bluish slaty-gray in color. Sculptured in Egypt."[79]

While the Talmudic taḥash has been traditionally defined as a clean kashrut creature (Biblically, a Template:Hebrew tahor animal[17][80]), a number of animals having characteristics defined in the Torah as those which set them apart as Template:Hebrew sheqets,[17][81] filthy, unclean, detestable, disgusting, loathsome, abominable—creatures whose bodies or carcasses are not to be touched (Leviticus 11)—have been proposed as the identity of the tachash: "galaktinin", weasel, ermine, badger, genet, narwhal, rhinoceros, zebra, seal, dugong and sea cow.[82] These proposals have historically been viewed with scepticism.[82] Nevertheless, a number of Biblical translations support this view, interpreting "skins tachashim" as "badgers skins", "dolphin skins", "porpoise skins", "sealskins", "sea cows hides", and "manatee hides". (See, for example, multiple versions of Numbers 4.) Several Rabbinical authorities prior to these have historically been cited as proposing this view. (See Oral Torah.)

"Rabbi Elazar asked: What is the rule about making a tent from the hide of a non-kosher animal? But surely it is written, 'And tahash skins'! (and this is taken to be a non-kosher animal, which indicates that it is permitted!) This is a dispute between Rabbi Yehudah, Rabbi Nechemiah, and the Rabbis. Rabbi Yehudah said: [The tabernacle cover was made from] taynin, and it was named after its color. Rabbi Nechemiah said: It was galaktinin. And the Rabbis said: It was a type of kosher animal that lived in the wilderness. And their opinion is in accordance with that said by Rabbi Lazar of the house of Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Avahu in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish in the name of Rabbi Meir: The Holy One created a sort of kosher wild animal for Moses in the wilderness, and once the work of the Tabernacle had been done with it, it was hidden." (Jerusalem Talmud 3rd-5th century CE)[24]

"Rabbi Nechemiah said that there was one covering that was similar to a tala ilan. But surely the tala ilan is a non-kosher creature (which would indicate that the tachash was non-kosher)?" (Babylonian Talmud)[23]

The Hebrew term tala ilan (lit. "the one who hangs from a tree") is taken to mean the genet.[83]

Rabbi Avraham ben David Portaleone (1542-1612), Shiltei HaGiborim, discussed several one-horned animals that are non-kosher, such as the rhinoceros.[84][85] Rabbi Chizkiya ben David Di Silva (1659-1698), Pri Chadash, Orach Chaim 80:1:2, citing Rabbi Avraham ben David Portaleone, points out that one cannot infer from the one-horned ox of Adam that every one-horned animal is kosher.[86]

Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534-1572), the father of contemporary Kabbalah, whose oral teachings, based on a reinterpretation of the Zohar, compiled by his disciples and referred to as the Lurianic Kabbalah, proposed the rectification or repair of all creation by Tikkun, the proper and prayerful use of all things, teaching that even things unclean contain sparks of divinity which can be released through prayerful and devout use, rendering even what was once unclean pure again and fit for a dedicated, even sacred, use.[87]

Rabbi Benjamin Musafia (1606-1676) taking Rabbi Nechemiah's galaktinin as derived from gala xeinon explains this term etymologically as denoting the weasel of western Asia.[88]

According to the Pnei Moshe commentary (1720) the taynin proposed by Rabbi Yehudah and the galaktinin proposed by Rabbi Nechemiah are the names of non-kosher animals.[89]

Rabbi Pinchas Horwitz (c.1731-1805) in his commentary to Exodus 26:14 suggested that the zebra was the tachash of the Tanakh.[90]

Rabbi Chassam Sofer (1762-1839), Commentary to Niddah 51b, stated that the view that only kosher animals were used for the Tabernacle may have been disputed.[91]

The suggestion that the Tachash of the Talmud was a [[Abomination (Bible)|sheqets Template:Hebrew creature]] was first raised in the nineteenth century journal from Vienna, Kochavei Yitzchak.[92]

Rav Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), first Chief Rabbi of pre-State Israel,[93] said regarding the animal Tachash that the Mishkan embodied timeless aspects of the universe, encompassing the expanse of all times and all things; and that it was possible therefore that its outermost covering was made from an impure animal (Ein Eyah volume III, pages 105-7).[94][95][96][97][98] He does not specify explicitly which species of animal, and he does not directly address the Levitical prohibition against touching the (freshly) dead carcass of any impure creature in the making of its outer covering.

Zoologist Israel Aharoni (1882-1946) argued that the narwhal was the tachash. As support for this hypothesis Aharoni pointed out that small whales are called tukhush in the Arabic dialect.[3][99]

The suggestion first raised in the journal Kochavei Yitzchak of a sheqets Tachash received more comprehensive treatment in an article by J. Furman, "Tachash", Tarbitz 12 (1940-1)[100][3], and was more recently proposed by Rabbi Amitai ben-David in Sichas Chullin (1995).[61]

Rabbi Avraham Korman, Ha Parshah Le Doroseha (1998), suggests that when the Talmud speaks of animals used for the Tabernacle being kosher (literally, "pure"), it does not mean kosher to eat, but rather that the carcass does not transmit spiritual impurity.[101] The Talmud likewise makes a distinction between that which is unclean and that which defiles.[23]

Eduard Rüppell (1794-1884), Henry Baker Tristram (1822-1906), and the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (1906), propose that the word tachash denotes porpoises, dolphins, seals, and dugongs.[102][42]

Before the events related in the Book of Leviticus, the touching of the carcass and skin of any Template:Hebrew sheqets unclean creature was not prohibited by the Torah. The Torah does not establish the law of kashrut until after the Mishkan had been constructed and set up and the cloud had come down and covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord had filled the tabernacle, and not until after Moses and Aaron had consecrated it and made it holy, and the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings had been made, and the people had been blessed (Exodus 40:17–35 and Leviticus 5:2–3; compare Exodus 19:21–27:21 and Exodus 28:1–31:18 with Leviticus 8–11.)

Tachash skins as beaded leather

Turquoise beads.
Blue-green beads.

Dr. Stephanie M. Dalley,[103] Oxford, marshalled philological and archaeological evidence (2000) as proof that dušu / duḫšu / taḥas (taḥash) is neither a substance (leather, dye) nor a color, but a technique of sewing blue faience beads onto leather to attain various chromatic effects, demonstrating that the Hebrew term 'oroth T'Hashim actually means beaded skins.[104] Dr. William H. C. Propp,[105][106] University of California, San Diego, cites this research (2006), translating taḥas / taḥasim as "beaded" ("beaded skins") in his translation of the Book of Exodus, Exodus 19-40, part of the Anchor Bible Series.[107][108]

The brief mention in Ezekiel of being sandalled or shod with tachash seems to some scholars to be referring to a decorative upper part of a sandal. Akkadian duḫsu refers to colored beadwork that was often attached to leather. The processed-leather background to this patterned duḫsu work was usually deep blue or turquoise, which fits with both the taynon of Rabbi Yehudah in the Jerusalem Talmud and also the hyacinth blue of the Septuagint. Duḫsu beadwork on blue-dyed leather was also often used in conjunction with red-dyed leather, which is how tachash leather was used with "ramskins dyed red" in the outer covering over the Tabernacle. And beautiful sandals that were decorated with duḫsu beadwork were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, which supports the description in Ezekiel of beautiful tachash-sandals.[109] The materials from which the outer covering of the Tabernacle was made, "rams skins dyed red and a covering of tachash skins above" (Exodus 36), retain a genuine desert tradition, being those of a bedouin tent, and particularly the qubba (portable tent-shrine),[110] from Arabic qubboh (literally "dome", originally "tent of hides").[111][112]

The 500 scholars, including 120 translators, from 24 different religious denominations who formed the committee that produced the Common English Bible translation (2011),[113] have also rendered the Hebrew Template:Hebrew as "beaded leather". Their translation of Template:Hebrew—vəna'alaq taḥash—is "fine sandals" (Ezekiel 16:10).

Rabbi Natan Slifkin says that of the great variety of suggestions offered as the meaning of tachash, including finishes and dyes of blue and violet and black and yellow-orange, or of clean livestock and clean and unclean wild beasts, this one of beadwork on leather is a very likely candidate.[114] However, according to the editors of Encyclopaedia Judaica all of these suggestions are conjecture. The actual meaning of taḥash remains obscure.[3]

References

  1. ^ References to 'or tachash "skin tachash" and 'orot tachashim "skins tachashim" appear in only 13 places in the Tanakh: Tachash (Heb. sing. Template:Hebrew taḥash) in the Book of Ezekiel also specifies a particular type of footwear:
  2. ^ a b Natan Slifkin (2007). Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythological Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash. published by Zoo Torah. p. 348. ISBN 1933143185. Chapter One: Unicorns of Different Colors, pages 41-79, Distributed by Yashar Books/Lambda Publishers, 3709 13th Avenue, Brooklin, NY 11218, Distributed in Israel by Judaica Book Centre, 5 Even Israel Street, Jerusalem, 94228.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition (2007), Volume 19 SOM-TN, page 435a "TAḤASH". Jehuda Feliks Bibliography: I. Aharoni in: Tarbiz, 8 (1936/37), 319-339; J. Furman, ibid., 12 (1940/41) 218-29; J. Feliks, Animal World of the Bible (1962), 50.
  4. ^ Aryeh Kaplan, "The Living Torah and Nach", 1981, text online at World ORT Navigating the Bible II.
  5. ^ a b "Badger" (Heb. taḥash)—The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible, Henry Snyder Gehman, ed., William Henry Green Professor of Old Testament Literature and Chairman of the Department of Biblical Studies, Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary, and formerly also Lecturer in Semitic Languages, Princeton University, copyright © MCMLXX (1970) The Westminster Press, published by The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania® Standard Book No. 664-21277-8. p. 89b.
  6. ^ Hebrew-English parallel text of Ezekiel 16:10 Template:Hebrew and Hebrew text of Ezekiel 16:10 Template:Hebrew, vəna'alaq taḥash—"shod with tachash" (not "shod with skin of the tachash" Template:Hebrew, and not Template:Hebrew"shod with skins of tachashim—i.e., tachashes").
  7. ^ The Septuagint: Introduction (kalvesmaki.com) —English translation of Septuagint Book of Numbers, chapter 4: "blue skins" (4:6ff) —Greek Septuagint Book of Numbers, chapter 4: δερμα υακινθινον (4:6ff) "derma huakinthinon".
  8. ^ Flavius Josephus (c.93 CE), "The Works of Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews: Book III: Chapter 6", books.google.co.uk, William Whiston, A. M., 1736, p. 88b, retrieved 18 October 2011 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help).
  9. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), "Aquila of Sinope": Fragments in the "Hexapla".
  10. ^ a b Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:9 (Qoh. Rab. 1:9)—cited in Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition (2007), Vol. 19 SOM-TN, page 435a "TAḤASH".
  11. ^ Midrash Koheles Rabbah (Qoh. Rab.) Hebrew text.
  12. ^ Full Text Ecclesiastes Rabbah: Blackwell Reference Online.
  13. ^ Rashi commentary on Ezekiel 16:10—citing Jonathan Ezekiel 16:10: "and I shod you with badger: [Jonathan renders] And I put shoes of glory on your feet." (chabad.org show Rashi)
  14. ^ a b Targum Jonathan Ezekiel 16:10 Template:Hebrew— khn.
  15. ^ Template:Hebrew from→ Template:Hebrew from→ Template:Hebrew—Cf. SearchGodsWord.org Hebrew Lexicon: Strong's Concordance Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of the Old Testament, number 3550 כהנה kəhunnâh ... "priesthood" (office) —and Eliyah.com Strong's Concordance: Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of the Old Testament, number 3547 כהן kahân ... "mediate, officiate, put on regalia" (i.e. regalia of great dignity/authority)
  16. ^ glory, i.e., the color of the sapphire-stone, the sky, the seat of glory. —Cf. Ezekiel 1:26–28 –"the likeness of the glory Template:Hebrew of the LORD"—Exodus 28:31 –"And you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue"—Exodus 28 –"you shall make them for glory Template:Hebrew and beauty." Exodus 28 Template:Hebrew "honor and glory"—Rashi: Heb. Template:Hebrew to sanctify him.
  17. ^ a b c James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D. (1890). Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. World Bible Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 370, Iowa Falls, Ia. 50126. ISBN 0-529-06679-3 (regular), ISBN 0-529-06680-7 (thumb-indexed). {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) First Edition Printed April 1894. Forty-ninth Printing 1987.
  18. ^ Vulgate: Numeri 4 (Numbers 4).
  19. ^ Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 6: "Rabbi Yehudah said: There was a large, kosher wild animal in the wilderness, and it had a single horn in its forehead, and its skin was six colors; they took it and made the tapestries from it."—quotation as cited in Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", chapter one, page 59.
  20. ^ Heinrich Harder's painting here represents a creature with a coat of six colors: cream-white, tan, chestnut, chocolate, gray, and black. Cf. camouflage and horse coat colors.
  21. ^ a b c Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, commentary on Exodus 26:14, cited by Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 75.
  22. ^ a b Rabbi Ludwig Lewysohn, Die Zoologie Des Talmuds, p. 153, cited by Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 75
  23. ^ a b c d e f Talmud, Seder Moed, Shabbath 28ab.
  24. ^ a b c d Talmud Yerushalmi, Shabbath 2:3.
  25. ^ Rashi commentary on Talmud, Seder Nezikin, Baba Bathra 16b PDF "...like the horn of a keresh."—Commentary: " 'The horn of the keresh ' – a type of wild animal, and its horns are as black as dye." Rashi—as cited by Natan Slifkin (2007), "Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythological Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash", published by Zoo Torah, ISBN 1933143185, Chapter One: "Unicorns of Different Colors" pages 41-79—"Is the Unicorn a Multicorn?" (p. 71). The author points out that Rashi mentions more than one horn.
  26. ^ a b Rashi commentary on Shemot-Exodus-Chapter 25:5 in Hebrew with English translation at chabad.org. "tachash skins: This was a species of animal that existed only for a [short] time, and it had many hues ( Template:Hebrew ). Therefore, [Onkelos] renders [it] Template:Hebrew, because it rejoices ( Template:Hebrew and Template:Hebrew are often interchangeable] and boasts of its hues ( Template:Hebrew ). – [from Shab. 28a,b]."
  27. ^ a b Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 6 — Hebrew text —Partial text of Midrash Tanḥuma in English (p.111) Numbers Rabbah.
  28. ^ a b Louis Ginzberg, 1843-1953, (published 1909-1938). Legends of the Jews. Johns Hopkins University Press, The Jewish Publication Society, 2005. p. 1650. ISBN 9780827607095. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Volumes I—IV: Bible Times and Characters from the Exodus to the Death of Moses (volume three): Volume III: Bible Times and Characters from the Exodus to the Death of Moses: Moses in the Wilderness: —The Altar: beginning fifth paragraph down: "The materials employed for the constructions of the Tabernacle, the skins and the wood, were not of the common order..."
  29. ^ Footnote to Aryeh Kaplan's The Living Torah and Nach at bibref.hebtools.com: online text Navigating the Bible II – footnote Exodus 25:5 "blue-processed skins": – "Teynun" (blue), "black leather", "glaksinon, galy axeinon" (ermine), weasel, badger, "keresh", wild ram, antelope, okape, giraffe, narwhal, sea cow, dugong, and seal (according to Pliny, "Naturalis Historiæ" 2:56). See listing of The Living Torah by Aryeh Kaplan (bible.ort.org) in the list of translations (3rd from the bottom) at http://bibref.hebtools.com/?book=%20Exodus&verse=25:5&src=!.
  30. ^ Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, pp. 59-79
  31. ^ Cf. Modern French tanière 'animal den, lair'; Italian cognate tasso 'badger', Spanish cognate tejon 'id.'; Etymology—from Old French taisniere, tesniere, from taisse, taisson 'badger', from Gaulish tasgō 'badger'. List of French words of Gaulish origin: Modern French: I-Z: "tanière". Taisse appears to be a conjectural interpretation of taisatz, the actual meaning of which was wholly obscure and unknown to French interpreters of the 15th-16th centuries. Hillel Roitter, "Le Ta'hash et la licorne".
  32. ^ Hillel Roitter, "Le Ta'hash et la licorne", cited by Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p.56 footnote 25.
  33. ^ Wycliffe Bible: Exodus 25:5, 26:14, 35:7, 35:23, 36:19 and 39:34; Numbers 4:6,8,10-12,14,25 and Ezekiel 16:10.
  34. ^ Cf. Scrollscraper Tikkun - Shemot-Exodus Terumah 25:5 —"ve'orot tchashim"—with and without masorah.
  35. ^ Luther Bibel 1545: 2 Mose 25:5.
  36. ^ Stephanie Dalley, "Hebrew Taḥas, Akkadian Duḫsu, Faience and Beadwork," Journal of Semitic Studies (2000) XLV: pp. 1-19; Peter Cooper, "Of Badger Skins and Dugong Hides: A Translator's Guide to Tabernacle Covers," Bible Review 16:06, Dec. 2000, cited by Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 58 footnote 26.
  37. ^ Compare the roots of Afroasiatic and Indo-European, and the roots of Hebrew and German.
  38. ^ cited by Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 36
  39. ^ Compare the Arabic text of Exodus 25:5 in the Arabic Life Application Bible version at BibleGateway.com with Arabic translations for "manatee (dugong)", "dolphin", "porpoise", "seal" at the English - Arabic Online Dictionary - a Bilingual Dictionary from ECTACO eBook Readers & Translators.
  40. ^ International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) "badger" (studylight.org).
  41. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia (1914) "Tabernacle"
  42. ^ a b Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon (1906), page 1065a תחש: A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament with an Appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic written by Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs based on the Lexicon of William Gesenius as Translated by Edward Robinson, first edition 1906; impression 1936; scanned 2008; publisher Oxford, Clarendon Press, page 1065a (print edition), djvu/1089a (WikiSource): (fourth entry down) †ι. תחש n.m. taḥaš.
  43. ^ a b Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, by Matthew George Easton, M.A., D.D. (1823-1894), published 1897 Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN. —"badger".
  44. ^ The Probert Encyclopaedia: Dugong: "A variety was discovered in the Red Sea by Rüppell, and called Halicore tabernaculi" (1843).
  45. ^ The Paleobiology Database: enter Halicore tabernaculi in top window/field "scientific name", click [Search]: at "Dugong dugon" look to bottom of page, select view classification of included taxa: Classification Trichechus dugon (Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell 1843).] –a chronological listing of the zoological classification of the dugong: Trichechus dugung Erxleben 1777 – Dugong indicus Lacepede 1799 – Dugong dugong Illiger 1811 – Halicore hemprichii and Halicore lottum Ehrenberg 1832 – Halicore tabernaculi Ruppell 1843 – Halicore Australis Owen 1847 – Halicore cetacea Heuglin; it was recombined as Halicore dugung Trouessart 1898 – it was recombined as Dugong dugon Scheffer and Rice 1963, also Husar 1978, Downing 1994, 1996, and Rice 1998
  46. ^ Rüppell (Wilhelm Peter) Eduard (Simon)—The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Fifteenth Edition, Micropedia Ready Reference Volume 10, © 2010 by Encyclopædia Britannica, p. 243.
  47. ^ e.g.—Amplified Bible 1901 "dolphin or porpoise skins", JPS Old Testament 1917 "sealskins", New American Standard Bible 1971 "porpoise skins", Revised English Bible 1989 "dugong-hide", World English Bible 1997 "sea cow hides", Holman Christian Standard Bible 2004 "manatee hides".
  48. ^ Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 77.
  49. ^ a b J. H. Bondi et al., Aegyptiaca, Festschrift für Georg Ebers, Wilhelm Engelmann Leipzig 1897.
  50. ^ a b Bondi, J. H. Dem Hebräisch-Phönizischen Sprachzweige Angehorige Lehnwörter in hieroglyphischen und hieratischen Texten Leipzig 1886—on the Egyptian loanwords from Semitic.
  51. ^ Exodus 25:5: "tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood". RSVCE —Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain (1946–1996). Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America (ed.). The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. Thomas Nelson. pp. 1005, Old Testament, pp. 250, New Testament. ISBN 0-89870-490-1, 0-98970-491-X. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: date format (link).
  52. ^ Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Chad Brand, Charles Draper, Archie England, eds., Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, TN, 2003, page 166: "badger skins". ISBN 0-8054-2836-4.
  53. ^ Cf. Bible in Basic English BBE (1949) "leather"; New Century Version NVC (1986) "fine leather"; New Revised Standard Version NRSV (1989) "fine leather"; God's Word Translation (GW) 1995 "fine leather".
  54. ^ Cf. Unicorn: Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythological Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash", Chapter One: Unicorns of Different Colors, pages 41-79: "...there is another fascinating potential unicorn mentioned in the Torah. This is the tachash..." p. 55.
  55. ^ The Medieval Bestiary: monoceros and unicorn.
  56. ^ Talmud, Seder Kodashim, Hullin 59b PDF
  57. ^ Midrash Rabbah: Midrash Koheles Rabbah (Qoh. Rab.) 1:28. —Hebrew text.
  58. ^ Natan Slifkin, Zoo Torah, Identification of Biblical animals
  59. ^ giraffe—19th century journal Kochavei Yitzchak
  60. ^ giraffe—Furman, J., article "Tachash", Tarbitz 12 (1940/41) pp. 218-29.
  61. ^ a b giraffe—Rabbi Amitai ben-David, Sichas Chullin (Jerusalem: Medrash Bikerui Yosef, 1995).
  62. ^ Perlman, S. M. (1908): "Is the Okapi Identical With the "Thahash" of the Jews?"—Zoologist, London, set. 4, 12: 256–260.
  63. ^ The Torah u-Madda Journal: Giraffe: A Halakhically Oriented Dissection, Doni Zivotofsky, Ari Z. Zivotofsky and Zohar Amar. —See page 204 "The Giraffe as the Biblical Zemer".
  64. ^ a b "We can now present a new proposal as to the identity of the keresh, and also of the tachash, according to the view that it was identical to the keresh...that it could be the giraffe." —Rabbi Nathan Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 72
  65. ^ Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible: commentary on Exodus 26:7-14.
  66. ^ "modern Persic": Judeo-Persian language. Henry Martyn's translations of the Bible into Urdu, Persian and Judeo-Persic were modern in the 19th century.
  67. ^ The Adam Clarke Commentary, godrules.net, and The Adam Clarke Commentary, studylight.org
  68. ^ GESENIUS, FRIEDRICH WILHELM: 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia—Jewish Encyclopedia.com.
  69. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm: "Thesaurus Philologico-Criticus Linguæ Hebraicæ et Chaldaicæ Veteris Testamenti" 1858.
  70. ^ Hebräische Grammatik 1813-14, Hebrew Grammar of Wilhelm Gesenius 1898 (originally published 1813)—Gesenius–Kautzsch Hebrew Grammar, Collins and Crowley, Henry Frowde, M.A., Publisher to the University of Oxford, London, Edinburgh, and New York: Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar as edited and enlarged by E. Dautzsch, Professor of Theology in the University of Halle, translated from the Twenty-fifth German edition, by the late Rev. G. W. Collins, M.A., the translation revised and adjusted to the Twenty-sixth edition, A. E. Crowley, M.A., at the Clarendon Press 1898, printed at the Clarendon Press by Horace Hart, M.A., Printer to the University.
  71. ^ German editions of Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon: (1834) Wilhelm Gesenius' Hebräische und chaldäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, Neunte Auflage. Neu Bearbeitet von F. Mühlau und W. Volek (Leipzig: Vogel, 1883); (1838) Wilhelm Gesenius' hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, in Verbindung mit Prof. Dr. H. Zimmern, Bearbeitet von Dr. Frants Buhl. Vierzehnte Auglage (Leipzig: Vogel, 1905)
  72. ^ "Egyptian parallels have been adduced mainly from Wiedemann, Bondi, Ermann, Steindorff and Spiegelberg, with occasional reference to Lepsius, Brugsch and Ebers." Preface: A Hebrew and English lexicon of the Old Testament (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
  73. ^ Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament: page xiii, Abbreviations: ... Bondi–J. H. Bondi, Hebr. Lehnwörter in Heiroglyphischen... Texten. (WikiSource page djvu/17).
  74. ^ International Standard Bible Encyclopedia ISBE: "BADGER". last sentence in article. (internationalstandardbible.com)
  75. ^ John Grigg Hewlett, D.D. (1860). Bible difficulties explained (Google eBook). London: Beare and Jealous. pp. 159-163
  76. ^ James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., 1822-1894, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, c. 1890 by James Strong, Madison, N.J., Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of The Old Testament: Strong's Number 8476 tachash.
  77. ^ Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science I Amsterdam Classics in Linguistics Volume 7, Victor Hehn, Cultivated Plants and Domesticated Animals: Historico-linguistic studies, Amsterdam—John Benjamins B.V. 1976, © Copyright 1976 – John Benjamins B.V., ISBN 90 272 0871 9 / 90 272 0879 4, LCC Number 74-84632: Cultivated plants and domesticated animals in their migrations from Asia to Europe by Victor Hehn, page 493, note 84, page 352. ISBN 9027208719, ISBN 9027208794, LCC Number 74-84632.
  78. ^ NAB Exodus 25 Collection of Materials, footnote at bottom of page: * |25:5| Tahash.
  79. ^ The New Smith's Bible Dictionary: B: (see "badger").
  80. ^ Strong's number 2891: —Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary of the Old Testament: —(number) 2891. טהר ţâhêr, taw-hare' ; a primary root; prop. to be bright; i.e. (by implication) to be pure (physically sound, clear, unadulterated; Levitically uncontaminated; morally innocent or holy): — be (make, make self, pronounce) clean, cleanse (self), purge, purify (-er, self).
  81. ^ Strong's number 8263. שקץ sheqets, she'kets; from 8262; filth, i.e. (figuratively and specifically) an idolatrous object: —abominable (-ation). שקץ shiqqûts. See 8251. — Strong's number 8262. שקץ shâqats, shaw-kats' ; a primary root; to be filthy, i.e. (intensively) to loathe, pollute: —abhor, make abominable, have in abomination, detest, X (denotes a rendering in the KJV that results from an idiom peculiar to the Hebrew) utterly. — Strong's number 8251. שקוץ shiqqûwts, shik-koots' ; or שקץ shiqqûts, shik-koots; from 8262; disgusting, i.e. filthy; especially idolatrous or (concretely) an idol: —abominable filth (idol, -ation), detestable (thing).
  82. ^ a b Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythological Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash", pages 55-79: rhinoceros pp. 55, 67, 74, 79; galaktinin, p. 56; weasel and ermine, p. 57; badger ("the invention of Martin Luther"), pp. 57-58, genet, p.59; narwhal, p. 64; zebra, p. 75; seal, dugong, sea-cow, pp. 77-78. Sceptical reactions of scholars to each of these proposals are noted and discussed.
  83. ^ cited by Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 59.
  84. ^ Rabbi Avraham ben David Portaleone, Shiltei HaGiborim, cited in Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 67.
  85. ^ "the rhinoceros is not kosher", Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 75
  86. ^ Rabbi Chizkiya ben David Di Silva (1659-1698) Pri Chadash, Orach Chaim 80:1:2, as cited in Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 67 footnote 39.
  87. ^ Chaim Vital, Etz Chaim ("Tree of Life"), 8 volumes, first published in Europe by Isaac Satanow, Zolkiev, 1772.
  88. ^ cited by Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", pp. 56-57.
  89. ^ Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p.56.
  90. ^ cited by Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 76-77.
  91. ^ Chassam Sofer, Commentary to Niddah 51b, cited in Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 68.
  92. ^ Journal Kochavei Yitzchak, cited in Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", footnote 45.
  93. ^ The British Mandate for Palestine.
  94. ^ Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Ein Eyah, vol. III, pp. 105-7, as cited in Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 68
  95. ^ Rav Kook on Terumah: "Tachash" Skins in the Tabernacle.
  96. ^ Rav Kook on Terumah: The Tachash and the Erev Rav.
  97. ^ Rav Kook on the Weekly Torah Portion – Shmot (Exodus)
  98. ^ Chanan Morrison (2007). Gold from the Land of Israel: A New Light on the Weekly Torah Portion from the Writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakoken Kook. Urim Publications. p. 147. ISBN 978-9657108925.—all of creation is included.
  99. ^ cited by Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 65.
  100. ^ J. Furman, "Tachash", Tarbitz 12 (1940/41) pp. 218-29, cited in Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, footnote 45.
  101. ^ Rabbi Avraham Korman, Ha Parshah Le Doroseha (1998), as cited in Slifkin, "Sacred Monsters", p. 66 footnote 36.
  102. ^ Canon H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible (1900).
  103. ^ Dr. Stephanie M. Dalley, Academic Staff Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford
  104. ^ S. Dalley, Journal of Semitic Studies 45:1-19, Hebrew taḥas, Akkadian duḫšu, Faience and Beadwork, 2000.
  105. ^ Dr. William H. C. Propp, Professor of history and Judaic Studies, University of California, San Diego, Endowed Chairs in Judaic Studies—Harriet and Louis Bookheim Chair in Biblical Hebrew and Related Languages. His main contribution is a two-volume commentary on Exodus, published as part of the Anchor Bible Series
  106. ^ Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries).
  107. ^ William H. C. Propp, The Anchor Bible: Exodus 19-40: Volume 2A: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Nov. 2006, p. 374: "beaded skins T'Ḥasim (singular taḥas) is an ancient riddle that has now been solved...."
  108. ^ William H. C. Propp, Translating Exodus.
  109. ^ Canon H. B. Tristram, The Natural History of the Bible, pp. 44-5; Encyclopedia Mikra'it, Stephanie Dalley, "Hebrew Taḥas, Akkadian Duḫsu, Faience and Beadwork": cited in Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 77.
  110. ^ Paul J. Achtemeier, with the Society of Biblical Literature, ed. (copyright © 1985 by The Society of Biblical Literature, Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022, First Edition). Harper's Bible Dictionary. Harper & Row, Publishers, San Francisco, Cambridge, Hagerstown, New York, Philadelphia, London, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Sidney. pp. 1013–14. ISBN 0-06-069863-2 (thumb-indexed), 0-06-069862-4. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check date values in: |year= (help) "tabernacle".
  111. ^ Nibley, Hugh W., The Ancient State: Tenting, Toll, and Taxing: Holy Camp and Holy City, article originally published in Western Political 19/4 (1966), 599-630.
  112. ^ Meri, Josef F., The cult of saints among Muslims and Jews in medieval Syria, Oxford Oriental monographs, Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0199250782, ISBN 9780199250783.
  113. ^ Translator information on CEB site.
  114. ^ Natan Slifkin, Sacred Monsters, p. 79
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