16 Jul JEWISH LIONS: ROARING THROUGH HISTORY

One of the more
famous symbols of
the Jewish army is
that they are
referred to as lions.
There are drawings
of lions in soldier uniforms and songs that
liken the Jewish people to lions and lion
cubs. Is this rooted anywhere in our
sources?
The Ramban deals with this idea and
writes(יח ,ח במדבר (:” It is known that
Israel are valiant and courageous in battle,
for they are likened to lions and wolves
that seize prey, and they conquered the
kings of Canaan in battle.”
Where did the Torah liken the Jewish
people as such? There are a few places.
One is within the last blessing of Yaakov
before he passed away to Yehuda,
saying(ט ,מט בראשית (:” A lion cub is
Yehudah; from the prey, my son, you
elevated yourself. He crouches and lies
down like a lion and like a lioness.”
Jews are called Yehudim after the tribe of
Yehudah because most of us are indeed

from the tribe of Yehudah. In the days of
Rechovam, the son of Shlomo, the
kingdom split into two: Israel and
Yehudah. Since most of the tribes of
Israel served idolatry, they assimilated. A
more profound reason could be that we
inherited such courageous and brave
traits like those of Yehudah.
But there are deeper explanations as to
why we are named this way. In Parshat
Vayechi, when Yaakov blesses his
children, he blesses Yehudah as follows:
“Yehudah, you are the one whom your
brothers will acknowledge”. Yehudah
received that name upon his admission to
his failure with the Tamar episode;-יהודה
הודאה therefore, we received his name
since we follow his courage in being able
to stand up to very hard tasks.
This explanation is brought down in the
translation of the sage Yonatan ben Uziel:
“Yehudah, you are the one whom your
brothers will acknowledge for the deed
with Tamar; therefore, your brothers will
call themselves Yehudim after your
name”.

Indeed, when
Pharaoh appointed
midwives to assist
in the births of
Jewish women and
take care of the
babies, the verse
calls them “Hebrew
midwives,” but the
Targum Onkelos
changes those
words and
translates it as
“Jewish midwives”
The ,חיתא יהודייתא –
reason seems to be,
in accordance with
the explanation before, that the Hebrews
were called Jews right away, especially
those who sacrificed themselves with
courage, as Yehudah did, and for that, he
received that name.
This explains well why Yehudah was
referred to as a lion, as lions are
courageous animals, and the resemblance
to the Jewish people with the same
bravery and courage.
Another source that the Jewish nation
symbolizes lions is written in the
prophecy of Bilam, who spoke about Am
Israel (כד ,כג במדבר(: Behold, a people that
rises like a lioness, Leaps up like a lion,
Does not rest until it has feasted on its
prey And drunk the blood of the slain.
Another Pasuk in the prophecy
(ט ,כד במדבר (:” He crouched and lay
down like a lion and like a lion cub.”
Chazal(ב ,יג חגיגה (call the lion the king of
the animals because the lion represents
several traits of a king. For example, the
lion embodies bravery. This is why the
Shulchan Aruch(א ,א הלכה (opens with
instructions to “wake up as a lion,”
meaning that one should have the courage
to overcome the desire to keep
sleeping(שם משנ״ב (. The lion also does
not fear other animals. The Gemara(ב״ק
ב ,טז (says that all animals kill their prey
before eating it because they are afraid it
might fight for its life, But the lion, being
the king of the animals(שם רא״ש (, eats its
prey before killing it because it isn’t
afraid. Everyone is afraid of the lion, as
the pasuk says(ח ,ג עמוס (:” When a lion
roars, who isn’t scared?”
This resemblance to the nation of Israel is
striking, as they are known for their
courage and lack of fear in the face of
adversaries.
This comparison of the lion to Israel is so

(ברכות יב, ב) Chazal that powerful
considered including Bilaam’s prophecy
in the Shema, so that whenever we recite
the Shema, we would also recite these
verses. What is the reason for that? It
seems to be due to this phenomenon of
bravery that is above nature and must be
attributed to the Creator. Just as He
created the lion as the bravest of all
animals, and the lion’s bravery is not due
to its own effort but rather to how it was
created, so too should our courage be
treated with humility and thankfulness to
Hashem. We should not take credit for it
ourselves. However, Chazal ultimately
decided not to include it because the
parasha of Bilaam is very lengthy and
would place too much of a burden on
those praying.
The wars of Israel are evidence of that
courage which astounds all the nations.
From the wars against the Babylonians
during the first temple period to the
Romans during the second temple period,
we have seen breathless courage
displayed. This legacy continues until
this very day. We witnessed extreme
courage and bravery and despite beliefs
that our generation is weak and spoiled;
we displayed even more bravery than
ever before at the last war.
Or HaChayim touches on this and
explains that Am Israel is compared to a
young lion cub that, as soon as it can get
on its feet, is ready to pounce on its prey.
Similarly, the nation of Israel rises to give
a victorious fight even when they aren’t
ready or trained. Take, for example, the
Jewish people after they emerged from
the Holocaust: they were few and weak,
not trained to fight wars, and hardly
armed. Yet, they were victorious in all
their wars in the new state against many
Arab nations that had trained armies and
were fully armed and equipped.