The Enigmatic Creature of Ancient Times: Discovering the Mysterious Tachash

In the Talmud (Shabbat 38a), it is said that the tachash is a multi-colored creature, "exulting in its hues," meaning it is a spotted animal, similar to the "tala ilan"—an animal that was common in their time (some interpret this to be the "gachon"), but it is not the "tala ilan," for the tachash was a kosher animal, as non-kosher animals weren't used for the Tabernacle. So, who was it then?<\/p>

The Talmud describes the tachash as a "unique creation," not clearly a beast or a domestic animal, but it is pure, has signs of purity, and features a single horn on its forehead. It was encountered by Moses for a time and then hidden away.<\/p>

The Tanchuma Midrash states it was "a large pure animal, with a horn on its forehead." And why use tachash skins? As it's written, "the length of a curtain was thirty cubits," who brings you a curtain of thirty cubits?<\/p>

Therefore, commentators wrote it was a miraculous creature, created for this purpose and then concealed.<\/p>

However, Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschitz, in his commentary on Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah, "Kereti u-Pleti," explains that "hidden" does not necessarily mean like the Leviathan for the future, but rather that it isn't found among humans and is located in forests and fields. In this way, he resolves the view that the "zemer" from pure animals was the tachash, and the Torah wrote it was pure in case it would be found again, as during the time of the Tabernacle, or in other eras.<\/p>

And what is the zemer? Rabbi Saadia Gaon writes it is the giraffe. The giraffe was not known in the region in ancient times, as it mainly lived in jungles near the equator, and lacked food in other places. Today, they are also bred in zoos where they are provided food at the correct height... but it was not so in ancient times, and it wasn't familiar. It is possible that by some miracle, a herd of giraffes marched during that time into the Sinai desert, contrary to their instincts, so that Moses could find a curtain thirty cubits long (if a giraffe is 15 cubits tall, it could provide a curtain twice that length), to cover the Tabernacle from side to side in a magnificent and spotted skin.<\/p>

For many years, the Israelites remembered the spectacular vision of the tachash skins (and the fact that the giraffe has a horn on its forehead), until the modern era, when the cultural world rediscovered giraffes.<\/span><\/p>