Look… Up in the sky…

April 3, 2005 - 2:17 PM by Israelity

Yes, it’s a bird.

For the past week or so I’ve been seeing lots of these really large white birds with black markings during my morning drive to work. I’ve asked a few of my hitchhikers what kind they are, but the Hebrew answer hasn’t helped me much.

Go ahead and laugh… by a show of hands, how many of you out there know the names of more than a couple of wild birds in English?! Not so smug any more, are we?

Anyway, while I sat in synagogue this past Shabbat and listened to the Torah reading, a word jumped out from the English translation, and a little light bulb went on.

They were Storks (Hasida in Hebrew)!

I asked around after ‘shul’ and sure enough, this is the time of year when they migrate through Israel on their journey from Africa to Europe.

According to ‘Storchennest.de, a German site about, well, Storks (Yes, there really is a web site for everything), there are only two routes that white storks take from their winter habitat in Africa to reach their summer breeding grounds in Europe; via Gibraltar or via Israel.

According to the neat map they have on the site, it would seem that the Storks who migrate through Gibraltar are destined for Spain, Portugal and southern France. While the Storks that come through Israel are headed for Germany and even as far north as Denmark (where the Stork is the national bird!).

So, on a practical note, if you see any white storks in Germany or Denmark this summer, you can bet they flew through Israel in early April.

But in a ‘gee wiz’ sort of way, how cool is it that the Storks pick the very week they are mentioned in the Torah (parshat Shemini) to fly through Israel?

I’m just saying…

Cross posted on Treppenwitz

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