Ant
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Anthropology'
"fid, Yer. Yeli. viii. Wi, In conueetidn with the last reference, it may lie remarked that the Ant's jiiiee is even to-day sonietimes popularly recommended asa curative of jaundice. As may he expected, the wise little animal is not absent from the folk lore of the Talmudic literature. In Her. (54/-) it is related that when Oir. kinj; of Biishan. took upaniounliiin of tlirce parasanu's i«i extent in order to bury under it the entire camp of Israel. God caused white ants to bore a hole in the rock, .so that it slii>ped over the head of Og and remained fastened upon his neck. The Ant also comes in for a share of the legislation of the Talmud (Mak. 16A; compare Peah, ii. 7. iv. 11: Maas. v, 7; .Men. 71/<; M. K. 6/-); it is forbidden The passage in Peah (iv. 11) contains a as food. quaint piece of legislation which would show that the seed-stores of the ants in Palestine were of considerable size and imiiortance. It is sjiid there that the granaries of ants found in the midst of a growing crop of corn should belong to the owner; but if these gratiaries are found after the reapers have pa.ssed. the upper jiart of each heaji should gIishle Sliualim <if Berechiah ha Nakdan is practically identical with Lafontaine's well-knowu
the
"
"Le Fourmi et la Cigale." In passing over to the religious aspects of the Ant in post Talmudic writings, the religio-philosophical anil legal phases become apparent. As regards the former. Bal.iya ibn Pakinla, in his " llobot ha-Lebabot." xi. 'i. in dealing uith the passjige in 'Er. 1(K)//. already cited, points to the divine wisdom which is manifested in the ants. In book v. the conduct of the Ant, as in Pro v. vi. G, is recommended as an example in the treatment of our own affairs, insigluticant when measured by the greatness of the Creator, but still more contemptible when marred by fable.
disorder.
Maimonides, in his introduction to Seder Zera'im, deduces from the fact that the ants are sometimes winged, scmietimes without wings, that it is due to the limilationsof our minil that we can not gage the purpose of many things in the universe. .Tose|)h Albo. in his "Ikkarim," iii. 1, like Bal.iya, utilizes Er. 100/* to reconuneud the mond example alTorded by the animals. The Ant es]iecially tc^aches us industry and honesty by the manner in which it gains
its
food.
Among
the exegetes. Levi ben Gershon, in his to Proverbs, dwells at some length on the sagacity and resourcefulness of the Ant, and derives from Prov. xxx. 'iT> an admonition to humility. .Joshua ben Shuoi. a discijile of Solomon ben Adrel. in his Derashol " lo I)eit. xvi. S tn xxi. !), ])ointsoul the wisdomof theants. and adds that this wisdom is not due to reason, but is derived from the sparks of the Supreme Sold iXcii/iiimiiJi /ki-'EIi/diui/i ). of the active intellect {nfkel hii-jxiil, i-nic -nii/nnor), which God bestows on them in order to instruct man. Isaac 'Arama. in his"'Akedat Vizhak." xxviii., shows that according tn the passage Prov. vi. 6, while
commentary
liy God's ]>roviilence, man his livelihood by industrious In .scctiiin 71 he points on! thai some beings
everything
is
determined
must nevertheless gain work. Ants. 1.
Male.
Female.
2,
3.
Worker
(oeuter).
4.
Pupa.
6.
Larva.
question of gleaning, the decision should be in favor of the gleaner. A description of the process of destroying ant-heaps is given in >I. K. 6/;. The halakic aspects of the Ant are discussed in the
"Halakot Gednlcii " (cd. Warsaw. ]). 2(>'2i/) of Simon Ka vara, and in the "Sliulhau 'Aruk, YorehDe'ah." §84. "12, 13; g 10(1. § 104). In the post-Talmudic writings Arabic influence (compare Koran, sura xxvii., surnamed the "Ant ") of
conspicuous. To this we owe the pretty story of the meeting of King Solomon with the ants, in which the wise king was outwitted by the cunis
In PostTalmudic Writings,
ning
ha^Nemalah," 1873;
23
German
little
et seq.).
Samuel ibn Hisdai.
in "
Ben ha-Mclek weha-Nazir "
Hebrew rendering from the Arabic version "Barlaam and Josjifat," holds up the Ant as an ex
(xv.). a
of
animals (compare "Ma'aseh
in Jellinek's "B. H." vol. v., Vienna, part, pp. 11 et seq.; Hebrew part, pp.
attain to perfection, thouirh ihey may nnt lieendowed with all the four Aristotelian principles (comi)are Aristotle, " Physics, ii. 7; " Metaiihysics," i. Ii); and gives as an instance the Ant, which has no e'dn^ or "form" in thetechnicalsen.se. He thus derives the lesson that man. in whom all four |)rinciples are united, should strive by means of science to obtain mental perfection. From a jiurely scientific (liiological) point of view the Ant is treated by Gershon t)en Solomon, father of the exegete Levi ben Gershon. in his Scientific work "Siia'ar ha-Shamayini." The Treatment. Ant, he says, gathers its wheat in the harvest, biting off the germs of the grains in order to (irevent them from sprouting, and thus preserving them from rotting a fact verilied by recent observation. Each Ant gathers seven grains, One who although one would suflice it for life. gathers more treasures than he can use is therefore called an "Ant."' The Ant. he sjiys further, is proportionately the strongest of all creatures, being able to carry from two to four times its own weight.
—
Moreover, backward.
it
can move both ways, forward and
