No, not all the rabbis were so starry-eyed. There were those who observed the goats chewing up the crops and tearing the leaves and fruit off the trees in the Land of Israel and, without mincing words, declared: "Armed robbers!" All this and more about goats in this edition of JHOM.

In celebration of Passover and the Had Gadya (One Little Kid) ballad sung at the end of the seder, we devote this sixteenth edition of JHOM to goats. Among the articles:

"You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk" – Nahum Sarna discusses the enigmatic biblical regulation

Dispatching a goat to Azazel: An ancient guilt trip

The goat as armed robber in ancient Israel, by Nogah Hareuveni

A Hasidic folktale about a sacred goat, as retold by Martin Buber

The fable of the goat whose milk tasted of Eden, as told S.Y. Agnon

A history of the popular Had Gadya song

Communism in El Lissitky's watercolor illustrations of Had Gadya, by Haia Friedberg

A Hebrew lesson: All about goats

Enjoy also our expanded Nisan/Passover section with much fascinating material which you can share with friends and family at your seder. And don't forget to check out our lovely Passover (and other) electronic greeting cards.

Wishing you all a Happy Passover and Hag Sameah,
The Editor

 

[1] BT Berakhot 57a. [back] Rabbi Yosef (bar Hiyya), was a third generation amora (290-320 CE); head of the Pumbedita Academy in Babylonia. [2] BT Ketubbot 111b [back]

 

HAD GADYA Table of Contents