Ziz

Ziz (Hebrew: זיז, pronounced " Sis " voiced with S, also RENANIM or Sekwi or " son of the nest " ) is the name of a giant prehistoric bird of Jewish mythology.

Classification

A certain cultural and historical relationship exists with the other giant birds of the Near Eastern area such as Simurgh ( Persia ) or Roch ( Arabia). Ziz represents the element air and is the counterpart to the better-known Jewish mythical creature Leviathan (Sea) and Behemoth ( earth).

Swell

Other than these Ziz is no specific mention in the Bible itself nor in the Apocrypha, but appears only in rabbinic writings. David Kimchi (1160-1235) describes him as in a commentary on Psalm 50.11, but just generally concerned itself with the " birds of heaven ". By Yehuda Leib Karmenitz comes the essay " Ziz Shadai " from 1600's.

Description

Ziz crawled out of an egg not hatched by the mother bird, but his fate was left (hence, "Son of the nest "). He is said to be so great that he is able to darken the sun with its wings fully ( Galgal hachamma ). His legs are so long that he can stand on the ocean floor with their feet, while handing him the water only up to their knees. A falling to the ground egg of Ziz should have triggered an earthquake, the three hundred cedars fell victim, while the outgoing interior has flooded sixty cities.

Ziz is the protector of all the other birds that would perish without it. He also protects the field hallways before the wind. He will be awarded both singing skills ( " RENANIM " ) as well as Seer shares ( " Sekwi ").

Destruction by God

After a typically presented for Thanksgiving hymn called Akdamut or the Talmud tractate Baba Bathra the Lord will destroy the monster Leviathan, Behemoth and Ziz at the end of time and give their flesh the righteous in a large banquet for food.

Effective history

Unlike the other two monster Ziz was received from the Christian tradition in any way. In the Jewish culture of the bird lives, however, continues to this day, such as in the collection " Jewish Fairy Tales and Fables " by Gertrude Landa ( " Aunt Naomi " ) from 1919, where Ziz in "The Princess of the Tower" and "Sinbad of the Talmud " appears. Mention may also be the children's books "The hardest word - a Yom Kippur story" from 2001 and " Noah and the Ziz " of 2004 by Jacqueline Jules.