Flipping through a recent issue of National Geographic, I came across a fascinating article about crocodiles or crocodilians as the species is formally called.  The article opened with a recounting of a sad story of the recent killing of “Donna,” a crocodile that had made its home amongst the students on the University of Miami campus – contrasting that one death to the incredible staying power of the mighty crocodiles. The article stating, “Having endured millions of years of planetary climate change, tectonic-plate musical chairs, and other ecological vicissitudes, [the crocodiles of] today face a new challenge to their survival – us. 

To think that crocodiles have roamed this earth for over 240 million consecutive years is just mind boggling.  More sobering is the fact that as of 1970 there were less than 400 in all of Florida, a number that has since grown to just over 2000 today due to diligent conservation efforts and laws prohibited random killings. 

Lest we think we are the only generation of humans involved in bringing animals to the brink of extinction, our Torah portion this week mentions the tachash, (translated in our JPS Bible as a dolphin) an animal, according to our sages, which was a multi-colored creature with a single horn in its forehead, the skin of which was used to cover the Mishkan, the mobile tabernacle or representative home of God’s presence which protected the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert.  This animal, while existing in the time of our ancestors 40 journeys in the wilderness, soon afterward disappeared from sight.  Today we unfortunately have no clear evidence of what this animal looked like, what role it played in the animal kingdom, nor how it was killed off.  We do know though, from the Torah, that it merited being used in the creation of the most holy object the Israelites possessed on their trek through the wilderness.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Pre-State Israel offered that “the tachash, with its many hues and colors represented the ultimate value of the many forces in the world, in all their variations, and its inclusion in the Mishkan enabled expression of our intellectual recognition of God’s essential unity.” (Gold From the Land of Israel: By Rabbi Chanan Morrison)  What a shame that this magnificent animal, as so many other of God’s creatures, has disappeared over the years; some species dying through the process of natural selection, but many others as a direct result of our inability to act as Shomrei Adamah, keepers of God’s magnificent natural world.  Every one of God’s creations plays a significant role in reminding us of God’s image and power in our lives and when one species is lost, God’s presence is subsequently diminished in our own lives.

During this year, while our synagogue has been engaged in learning about the role food plays in our lives and the need for us to be conscious of who in our world is lacking sustenance, it is equally important to remember this first command by God to all humanity – to be watchers of all of God’s creatures and this blessed earth that God has given us, thereby assuring the protection of God’s image, that most powerful and necessary quality of divinity in our lives.

-Rabbi Richard Camras

Shomrei Torah Synagogue