How Do Ants Know There's a Crumb on the 9th Floor? 5 Points to Ponder

How Does an Ant Know There's a Crumb on the Counter on the 9th Floor?

Have you ever wondered how an ant knows there's a crumb of bread on the counter on the 9th floor?

Ants have a great sense of smell. Their antennae constantly gather scent particles from the air, allowing them to detect where a scent originates by moving their antennae. In a kitchen, with its abundance of such sources, this is how a lone ant might find its way to your counter.

But the real interesting question is: one ant is understandable, but how do all its sisters suddenly show up?

When an ant locates a food source, it returns to the nest, leaving a trail of pheromones along the way (a chemical substance used for communication). Other ants follow this pheromone trail to reach the food safely.

In this way, ants find the shortest route to a food source, skillfully navigating around various obstacles.

Another wonder is how if an ant sees a grain belonging to another ant, it won't touch it. How does it know the grain belongs to another ant?

When the first ant carried the grain, it marked it with a pheromone, signaling its companions: "Private property, do not touch." The other ants understood the message and stayed away from anything that wasn't theirs.

Have you ever asked yourself how an ant knows how to find food? Who informed it? How does it return to the nest without getting lost? Does the tiny brain of an ant have the 'intelligence' to understand its world so complexly, or does this clearly demonstrate the Creator who equipped it with the necessary tools, instilling in it the instinct to use them?...

A Virtuous Woman: Who Can Find?

Some in the secular community accuse the religious sector of increasing extremism that discriminates against women. They are convinced that Haredi women are restricted, miserable, and oppressed, serving merely as instruments to stay at home, treated as weak and inferior, subjected entirely to their husbands' whims and demands...

So, let's examine how the Torah of Israel regards women and how men who observe Torah and mitzvot are committed to treating them:

1. "A person should honor his wife more than his own body, and love her as himself" (Yevamot 62b; Rambam, Hilchot Ishut 15:19): What does it mean to love her as himself? – One does not want to endure even slight pain, so too, he should not cause pain or distress to his wife. And what does it mean to honor her more than his body? – If he can afford to buy only one garment, he should purchase it for his wife rather than for himself.
2. "One should always be cautious not to wrong his wife [not to distress her], for her tears are common, and harm to her is close [Hashem swiftly punishes him who distresses her]" (Baba Metzia 59a): A person must not distress his wife in any way, as Hashem takes this very seriously. If a man causes his wife distress with words, hurts her with what he says, humiliates her, or argues or curses her, Hashem will not forgive him, and he will be severely punished.
3. "A person must be joyful and in good spirits during the festival, he and his wife and children and everyone associated with him. How does he make them happy?... For the women, he buys garments and jewelry according to his means" (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 529:2): A husband is obligated to buy his wife a gift for each holiday – a piece of jewelry or clothing. Not a broom, nor a cooking pot for the kitchen. Jewelry or clothing for each holiday, just so.
4. "A woman of valor, who can find... and her deeds will be praised at the gates" – A song of praise for the Jewish woman: On Shabbat eve, when returning home from the synagogue, one blesses the mother with "Shabbat Shalom," and in appreciation, it is customary to sing "A Woman of Valor" (Proverbs 31), a song expressing respect and admiration for the mother, the woman. All the members of the household, led by the husband, stand to honor her, constantly toiling, laboring, and caring for the home's proper functioning.

There are countless other examples from the sages and scholars showing that women are daughters of kings and that husbands must take great care in respecting their wives, with practical demands to fulfill this duty.

Those critics are fueled by baseless nonsense and hatred, spread by the media – the same media that objectifies women, treats them as objects, and degrades their dignity. Anyone who observes will find that those who follow the Torah live a lifestyle that honors and elevates the dignity of women!

One's Waste is Another's Food

Anyone who has watched nature documentaries depicting predators in the wild discovers that in this wondrous world we live in, there is no waste, and nothing is without use.

Suppose a lion hunts a deer. The lion will consume the deer's meat, but once it finishes, bones and remnants will remain in the field.

What happens with these meat remnants?

At this point, scavenging birds of prey arrive alongside other scavengers to pick at the remaining meat until nothing but clean bones remain.

And what happens to those bones?

One might think there's nothing to be done with those bones, but the truth is, nourishing and fatty bone marrow hides within, desired by many animals. Animals like hyenas (part of the canine family) can crack bones with their jaws, and there is a bird that has learned to reach the marrow using an interesting technique. This bird, the bearded vulture, specializes in breaking bones by dropping them from a height onto a rocky surface.

Amazing! Everything has a use; nothing is created in vain. One's waste is another's food, and all coexist in perfect harmony, contributing to the sustenance of the wonderful world we live in. Could such harmony exist without a creator and planner?

The Knowledge of All Beasts and Animals

The Bible contains endless scientific information... if only one mistake is found, the truth of the Bible would collapse! But... for approximately 3,500 years and until today, not a single error has been found. An example? Certainly:

The Torah states that anyone wishing to eat terrestrial animals must ensure two signs of purity: A. A cloven hoof. B. Chews the cud. As it says: "This is the animal you shall eat from all the beasts on the earth. Whatever has a cloven hoof, split hooves, and chews the cud, among animals, it you may eat" (Leviticus 11:2-3).

In the subsequent verses, the Torah reveals a secret - a natural law - stating that among all thousands of species of terrestrial animals, only four (!) have only one of the signs: they either chew the cud but don't have cloven hooves, or have cloven hooves but don't chew the cud. All other animals will either have both signs of purity, or neither.

The Torah also lists these four animals and the specific sign each has, stating:

"Only these you shall not eat from those that chew the cud and from those that have cloven hooves: the camel because it chews the cud but does not have a cloven hoof, it is impure for you. And the hyrax because it chews the cud but does not have a cloven hoof, it is impure for you. And the hare because it chews the cud but does not have a cloven hoof, it is impure for you. And the pig because it has a cloven hoof and is split-footed but does not chew the cud, it is impure for you" (Leviticus 11:4-7).

Summary of the natural law stated in the Torah: Only the camel, hyrax, and hare – chew the cud and do not have cloven hooves. Only the pig – has cloven hooves and does not chew the cud. For all other animals – they will either have both signs of purity or neither.

Let us consider the implications. The writer of the Torah commits for all generations that any beast or animal we encounter, it is either one of these four, or if we find one sign of purity in it, the other sign will necessarily also be present!

This commitment is subject to scrutiny. If another animal is found with only one sign of purity, the truth of the Torah would be undermined! For we know Hashem makes no mistakes, and only committed to four!

Note: the "writer of the Torah," who makes this claim and commitment, must have comprehensive knowledge of all beasts and animals worldwide, understand the anatomical structure of animals, and confidently make such a statement for thousands of future years!

Needless to say, over the more than three millennia that have passed since the giving of the Torah to our time, not a single animal was found that only chews the cud or only has cloven hooves – other than the four mentioned by the Torah! Among the myriad of animal species, either both signs appear or neither!

Who else could have known this for certain, other than the Creator? Whoever pledged such a statement – is the one who created all beasts and animals. After all, every creator knows their creation, right?

Subterranean Testimonies

In the past, many scientists used geological layers of the Earth and the fossils found within to prove their great antiquity and the stages of evolutionary development of life forms that existed in the distant past.

If the layers and finds discovered within them consistently appeared in the expected order, it might have served as proof for evolutionary development and the timeline assigned to it. But in reality, this is not the case. It's quite common to find layer arrangements where later fossils appear in very ancient layers, inappropriate for them. Moreover, human signs appear in very early ages, while according to research assumptions, humans were a relatively late "animal" in the evolutionary scale. Their signs appear at a stage when neither mammals nor birds had appeared.

The deeper the geological layer, the older it is presumed to be, and consequently, the fossils within should be older than those in the higher, more recent layers. However, with the advancement of geological research worldwide over recent decades, it is clear – to the astonishment of many – that numerous findings were discovered in layers that do not belong to their supposed time according to evolution. For instance, in different geological layers, deemed according to evolution as belonging to times long before humans appeared, various engravings and artifacts made by humans were found! Could it be that the dinosaurs' ancestors crafted them?...

Another inconsistency: fossils have been found in a layer where the earliest period animal fossils were found alongside fossils of living creatures that exist today! This discovery conclusively proves that all animals appeared simultaneously in the same geological period and not in stages as proposed by evolution.