Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

Hi Liz,

As far as I know, the ostrich was not known in the Ancient Near East, and
so the "Bat Ya`anah" must be another bird. "Dessert owl" is as good a guess
as any. When the ostrich did become known to Jews, the Rabbis decided that
it was not kosher (since Lev. doesn't give clear "signs" for birds, the
status of new species has been decided case-by-case. I know of no Halakhic
authority who has said otherwise. So my guess is that you were either lied
to or made the brunt of a joke in bad taste (excuse the pun). I've had
restaurateurs try to get me to drink scotch on Passover, claming that they
sold only "Kosher for Passover" food. Just one more reason not to eat in
"treif" restaurants in Israel.
In Modern Hebrew, an Ostrich is called "Ya`en", which would be the
masculine of "Ya`anah". And I'm not sure where this came from, but while
experts know that a "Ya`en" is not a "Bat Ya`anah", many people do not make
the distinction.


Yigal

At 04:53 PM 8/9/2002 -0400, Lisbeth S. Fried wrote:
>
>My son has started reading the bible
>(miracle of miracles) and told me that
>ostriches were not kosher. Sure enough
>according to the English translation of Lev. 11:16
>they are not. But I was served ostrich in Israel and
>was told it was kosher. So, was I Iied to in Israel
>(that restaurant also served escargot and other
>strange things)? or had the rabbis decided that
>the animal which we translate as "ostrich" is not the
>ostrich afterall? It is bat haya(anah in Hebrew. According
>to the BDB, this is the only occurrence.
>Liz Fried
>
>
>
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Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.