Kosher Animals - Small Land Creatures

Small Land Creatures

Leviticus 11:42-43 specifies that whatever "goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable." (Hebrew: sheqets). Before stating this, it singles out eight particular "creeping things" as specifically being ritually unclean in Leviticus 11:29-30. Like many of the other biblical lists of animals, the exact identity of the creatures in the list is uncertain; the Masoretic Text names them as follows:

• holed; the Talmud describes it as a predatory animal that bores underground.
• akhbar; in Arabic, the cognate word, akhbar, refers to the jerboa
• tzab; the Talmud describes it as being similar to a salamander
• anaqah; this Hebrew term literally means groaner, and consequently a number of scholars believe it refers to a gecko, which makes a distinctive croaking sound.
• ko'ah
• leta'ah; the Talmud describes it as being paralyzed by heat but revived with water, and states that its tail moves when cut off
• homet
• tinshemet; this term literally means blower/breather, this term also appears in the list of birds

The Septuagint version of the list doesn't appear to directly parallel the Masoretic, and is thought to be listed in a different order. It lists the eight as:

• galei; a general term including the weasel, ferret, and the stoat, all of which are predatory animals noticeably attracted to holes in the ground.
• mus; the mouse.
• krokodelos-chersaios; the land crocodile, which is thought to refer to the monitor lizard, a very large lizard of somewhat crocodilian appearance.
• mygale; the shrew.
• chamaileon; the chameleon, which puffs itself up and opens its mouth wide when threatened
• chalabotes; a term derived from chala meaning rock/claw, and therefore probably the wall lizard
• saura; the lizard in general, possibly here intended to be the skink, since it is the remaining other major group of lizards
• aspalax; the mole-rat, although some older English translations, not being aware of the mole-rat's existence, have instead translated this as mole

• The earthworm, the snake, the scorpion, the beetle, the centipede, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground are not kosher.
• Worms, snails and most invertebrate animals are not kosher.
• All reptiles, all amphibians and insects with the exception of four types of locust are not kosher.