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Bar yokni

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The bar yokni (Hebrew: בר יוכני or בר יכני, lit.'son of the nest') is a giant bird mentioned several times in the Talmud.

Description

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An source from the early third century, while recounting a series of extraordinary phenomena, claims that the bird was so large that one of its eggs dropped from a height flooded sixty cities and destroyed three hundred cedar trees.[1][2] In two other passages, the egg and the bird are cited as examples of huge size.[3][4]

An assertion suggesting that this bird would be reserved as a source of sustenance for the righteous during Messianic times appears in the writings of Elijah Levita.[5]

Identification

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The Talmud identifies the bar yokni with the ostrich, mentioned in the Book of Job.[6] It describes how this bird, after laying its egg, flies with it at a great height to its nest, where it puts it gently down.[7] Other scholars connect the bar yokni with the ziz and the vâraghna, the swiftest bird mentioned in the Zend Avesta.[8][9]

References

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 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainJastrow, Marcus; Ginzberg, Louis (1902). "Bar Yokni". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 512.

  1. ^ Talmud, b. Bekhorot 57b:5
  2. ^ Van den Broek, Roel B. (1972). The Myth of the Phoenix According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions. Études préliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire romain. Vol. 24. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 265. doi:10.1163/9789004296268. ISBN 978-90-04-29626-8.
  3. ^ Talmud, b. Yoma 80a:4
  4. ^ Talmud, b. Sukkah 5b
  5. ^ Levita, Elia. "יוכנה". Tishbi.
  6. ^ Job 39:13
  7. ^ Rashi on Bekhorot 57b; Rashi and Tosafor on Menachot 66b; compare Sifra, Wayiḳra, Nedabah, 14:13; ed. Weiss, 12b.
  8. ^ Ginzberg, Louis (1925). The Legends of the Jews. Vol. 5. Jewish Publication Society. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-59605-792-0.
  9. ^ McNamara, Martin (1988). "The Bird Hiruath of the 'Ever-New Tongue' and Hirodius of Gloss on PS. 103:17 in Vatican Codex Pal. Lat. 68". Ériu. 39: 93. JSTOR 30024133.