Chol (bible)

This article is about the Chol bird (avarshina or phoenix). For other uses, see Chol.

In Jewish tradition, the Hebrew terms chol (Hebr. חול , "phoenix", lit. "sand") and avarshina (Hebr. אורשינה "phoenix") refer to a supernatural bird, often glossed as, or identified with, the phoenix from Greek mythology.[1]

In the Jewish Bible

In the book of Iyov of the Jewish Bible, the "chol" (Hebr. חול ) is mentioned as a bird of long life - as a metaphor, not as an attestation:[2][3]

And I said, I will perish with my nest, and I will multiply days as the chol (phoenix). Iyov - Chapter 29 - Vers 18

It may however be noted that Job 29:18 may be translated as "I thought, 'I will die in my own house, my days as numerous as the grains of sand."[4]

Rashi comments, that on the bird called chol (Hebr. חול ), no punishment of death was decreed because it did not taste of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At the end of one thousand years, it would renew itself and return to its youth.[5]

In the Talmud

According to the Midrash (Sanhedrin 108 folio b), the avarshina (Hebrew אורשינה [6] Greek: "phoenix") is one of the animals on board of Noah's Ark. Noah found the phoenix "lying in the hold of the ark. “Dost thou require no food?” he asked it. “I saw that thou wast busy,”"it replied, “so I said to myself, I will give thee no trouble.” “May it be (God's) will that thou shouldst not perish,” he exclaimed; as it is written"[7][8]

Rabbi Yannai taught,[9] that the phoenix would live thousand years and eventually a fire would emerge from its nest and burn it to ashes. But an amount of it, equivalent to an egg, would remain and grow limbs and live.

In his commentary to the Talmud Rashi points out, that "‘Avarshina’ (is) a type of bird, called ‘chol’ in the terminology of the Bible, which never dies."[2]

In Modern Hebrew

In modern Hebrew a phoenix is called Off Ha-Chol (lit. "the chol bird").

According to Natan Slifkin, chol may have simply been a noun meaning 'sand' and, due to the context of its employment, was subsequently misidentified with the bird from Greek mythology. The understanding of chol as a phoenix-like bird has resulted in an amount of discourse on the topic.[10]

The book title of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is translated as Misdar Off Ha'chol.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Wolf, Binyomin. "A Jew Can Always Recreate Himself - The Phoenix in Chazal". http://dixieyid.blogspot.de''. blogspot.de. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Krulwich, Dov (2006). Harry Potter and Torah. S.l.s.n.: Amazon Distribution. pp. 40–44. ISBN 9781847532374.
  3. ↑ "JOB - In Rabbinical Literature". The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  4. ↑ http://biblehub.com/job/29-18.htm
  5. ↑ Rashi commentary to Iyov 29:18 "Iyov - Job Chapter 29:18". The Torah (Jewish Bible) - Scriptures - Job. Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Coffman, Rabbi C. "AVARSHINAH -". Background to the Daf - SANHEDRIN 108. Kollel Iyun Hadaf - dafyomi.co.il. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  7. ↑ Sanhedrin 108b
  8. ↑ "Tractate Sanhedrin Folio 108b". Babylonian Talmud. come-and-hear.com. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  9. ↑ Talmud, Brachot 19:5
  10. ↑ Slifkin (2007:235-238).

References

  • Slifkin, Natas (2007). Sacred Monsters: Mysterious and Mythical Creatures of Scripture, Talmud and Midrash. Zoo Torah. ISBN 9781933143187