[The Egyptians have a] sacred bird called the phoenix, which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old phoenix dies.
Its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follows: The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost exactly that of the eagle. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible; that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to the temple of the Sun, and there buries the body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds thathe can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and puts his parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun.
Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird.
Then I said: ‘I shall die with my nest, And I shall multiply my days as the 'chol'...
THE PHOENIX AT ELIM
Scout: "Great Moses, take note of the place we have discovered, by that airy valley. It is over there, as, I think, you can see. From there a light flashed out at night, some sort of sign, a pillar of fire. There we discovered a shady meadow and springs of water. The spot is lush and abundant. Twelve springs issue forth from one rock, there are many strong and fruitful palm trees, seventy in all. And there is grassland with water round about, forage for our animals...."
"We saw something else too, a strange and remarkable creature, such as no man has ever seen before. He was about twice the size of an eagle and had multi-colored wings. His breast was purplish and his legs red. From his neck saffron tresses hung beautifully. His head was like that of a cock. He gazed all around with his yellow eye which looked like a seed. He had the most wonderful voice. Indeed, it seemed that he was the king of all the birds. For all of them followed behind him in fear. He strode in front, like an exultant bull, lifting his foot in swift step...."
Excerpt from "The Exagoge", a play by Ezekiel the Poet, Translated by Howard Jacobson in The Exagoge of Ezekiel (1983), Cambridge University Press.
The Exagoge is possibly the earliest recorded Midrash known to us today.
Rabbi Yosei bar Zimra said: Three matters were stated regarding that tree: That it was good for eating, pleasing to the eye, and suited for increasing wisdom” – and the three of them were stated in one verse. “The woman saw that…was good” – from here we learn that it was good; “and that it was an enticement to the eyes” – from here we learn that it was pleasing to the eye; “and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom [lehaskil]” – from here we learn that it was suitable for increasing wisdom, just as it says: “A contemplation [maskil] by Eitan the Ezrahite” (Psalms 89:1).
“She took from its fruit and ate” – Rabbi Aivu said: She squeezed grapes and gave it to him [Adam]. Rabbi Simlai said: She came to him persuasively. She said to him: ‘What, do you think that I will die and another Eve will be created for you? “There is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Or, perhaps [you think that] I will die and you will sit alone? “He did not create it [the world] for emptiness, He formed it to be inhabited”’ (Isaiah 45:18).
The Rabbis say: She began sobbing at him plaintively with her voice.
“Also [gam]” is an inclusive term; [as well as Adam,] she also fed the animals, the beasts, and the birds. All of them heeded her [and ate of the fruit] except for one bird that is called ḥol. That is what is written: “I will live many days, like the ḥol” (Job 29:18). The school of Rabbi Yanai says: It lives a thousand years, and at the end of a thousand years, fire emerges from its nest and burns it. An egg-bulk remains of it and it then grows limbs, and lives again. Rabbi Yudan ben Rabbi Shimon says: It lives a thousand years, and at the end of one thousand years, its body wastes away and its wings are shed. But an egg-bulk remains of it and it then grows limbs, and lives again.
The phoenix myth is thus recontextualized and serves as a culturally significant explanation of an ancient crux: if mortality came into the world as the result of Adam's and Eve's first sin, why do the animals also have to die? Since the phoenix is an exceptional animal that is indeed immortal, the other animals' mortality must also stem from their sinful behavior and cannot be considered as an innate characteristic. Genesis Rabbah therefore suggests that Eve seduced all the animals except the phoenix to eat from the tree of knowledge. The immortality of the phoenix confirms the assumption that death derives from disobedience to God. The rabbis retain the mythological dimension of the phoenix while adapting it to a specifically Jewish context.
(9) I claim no bull from your estate,
no he-goats from your pens. (10) For Mine is every animal of the forest,
the beasts on a thousand mountains. (11) I know every bird of the mountains,
the creatures of the field are subject to Me. (12) Were I hungry, I would not tell you,
for Mine is the world and all it holds.
Rabbi Tanḥuma said: They asked me this question in Antioch. I said to them: “For God knows [yodim]” is not written, but rather, “for God knows [yode’a] that, on the day you eat from it.”
Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: It began to slander its Creator. It said: ‘He ate from this tree and then created the world, so He says to you: Do not eat from it so you will not create other worlds. For every person hates the craftsman that competes with him.’
Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon said: [The serpent said:] ‘Everything that was created after its counterpart dominates that counterpart. The heavens were created on the first day and the firmament on the second. Does it [the firmament] not hold them up? That is a rhetorical question. The firmament was created on the second day and the vegetation on the third – does it [the firmament] not supply water for it? Vegetation was created on the third day and the luminaries on the fourth – do they [the luminaries] not cause its [the earth’s] produce to grow? The luminaries were created on the fourth day and the birds on the fifth – the ziz is a very large bird and when it flies it obscures the orb of the sun. Man was created after everything in order to dominate everything. Hurry and eat [the fruit] now, before He creates additional worlds and they will dominate you.’ That is what is written: “The woman saw that the tree was good…” (Genesis 3:6) – she saw the arguments of the serpent.
...and he showed me a chariot and four, under which burnt a fire, and in the chariot was sitting a man, wearing a crown of fire, and the chariot was drawn by forty angels. And behold a bird circling before the sun, and about nine cubits away. And I said to the angel, What is this bird?
And he said to me, This is the guardian of the earth. And I said, Lord, how is he the guardian of the earth? Teach me. And the angel said to me, This bird flies alongside of the sun, and expanding his wings receives its fiery rays. For if he were not receiving them, the human race would not be preserved, nor any other living creature. But God appointed this bird thereto. And he expanded his wings, and I saw on his right wing very large letters, as large as the space of a threshing-floor, the size of about four thousand modit; and the letters were of gold. And the angel said to me, Read them. And I read, and they ran thus: Neither earth nor heaven bring me forth, but wings of fire bring me forth. And I said, Lord, what is this bird, and what is his name?
And the angel said to me, His name is called Phoenix. (And I said), And what does he eat? And he said to me, The manna of heaven and the dew of earth. And I said, Does the bird excrete? And he said to me, He excretes a worm, and the excrement of the worm is cinnamon, which kings and princes use.
...רַבִּי מְנַחֲמָא וְרַבִּי בֵּבַי וְרַבִּי אַחָא וְרַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי יוֹנָתָן אָמְרוּ תַּחַת מַה שֶּׁאָסַרְתִּי לְךָ הִתַּרְתִּי לָךְ, תַּחַת אִסּוּר דָּגִים לִוְיָתָן דָּג טָהוֹר, תַּחַת אִסּוּר עוֹפוֹת זִיז עוֹף טָהוֹר הוּא, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (תהלים נ, יא): יָדַעְתִּי כָּל עוֹף הָרִים וְזִיז שָׂדַי עִמָּדִי. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה בְּרַבִּי סִימוֹן בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהוּא פּוֹרֵשׂ אֶת כְּנָפָיו מַכְּהֶה גַּלְגַּל חַמָּה, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (איוב לט, כו): הֲמִבִּינָתְךָ יַאֲבֶר נֵץ יִפְרֹשׂ כְּנָפָו לְתֵימָן, וְלָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמוֹ זִיז, שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ כַּמָּה מִינֵי טַעַם מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה...
...Rabbi Menchama, Rabbi Beibai, Rabbi Acha and Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Yonatan said: In place of that which I have forbidden for you, I have permitted for you. In place of the forbidden fish, Leviathan the kosher fish; in place of the forbidden birds, Ziz-Sadai the kosher bird, as it says: "I know all the birds of the hills and Ziz-Sadai is with Me" (Psalm 50:11).
Rabbi Yehudah son of Rabbi Simon said that at the time he spreads his wings, he darkens the ball of the sun, this is from what is written: "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, Spreads his wings to the south?" (Job 39:26).
And why is it called the Ziz? Because it has many kinds of tastes, the taste of this and the taste of that...
And Rabba bar bar Chana said: Once we were traveling in a ship and we saw a certain bird that was standing with water up to its ankles [kartzuleih] and its head was in the sky. And we said to ourselves that there is no deep water here, and we wanted to go down to cool ourselves off. And a Divine Voice emerged and said to us: Do not go down here, as the ax of a carpenter fell into it seven years ago and it has still not reached the bottom. And this is not because the water is so large and deep. Rather, it is because the water is turbulent. Rav Ashi said: And that bird is called ziz sadai, wild beast, as it is written: “I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the ziz sadai is Mine” (Psalms 50:11).
לא נשתַיר מן היהדות הישנה אבר חי אלא כביצת ה“חול” השרוף היוצאת מקנו, ביצה זו שנתבקע ממנה לבסוף אפרוח “התחיה”, אפרוח קטן ורך, עירום ועריה, אבל צפצוף חדש וצעיר בא עמו לעולמנו, צפצוף נעים וענוג, שמזכיר יום בהיר ופושר של אביב עם נצנים רכים ו ירוקים מאחורי הגדר… ומתוך צפצוף עליז זה עלה גם קולו של הפיוט ה"לאומי המחודש.
"Our Young Poetry" by Hayim Nachman Bialik 1907
No living organ remains of the ancient Judaism apart from a burnt egg of 'sand' coming out of its nest. Finally a 'resurrected' chick will break out of the egg, a chick small and soft, naked and bare, but with it young, new chirping will come to our world, chirping that is beautiful and pleasant, that is reminiscent of a bright, warm spring day, with soft green shoots beyond the fence... And this cheerful chirping will give rise to the voice of a renewed national poetry
In all mythologies, there is a concept of hope after loss and death. The possibility for Tikkun (amendment/fixing) exists in the phoenix itself – and it is very strong... There is something in the phoenix that tells us: never give up. It is no coincidence that it appears in the context of Job, who has to rise from the ashes and start his life anew... This is a very significant theme both in Hazal and in fantasy. Hazal had to deal with exile, a difficult life, poverty.
So many times in life we are at a moment when everything seems lost. As a mother, I can say that even in childbirth - right before the baby is born, there are moments when you think you are going to die. I remember it from the birth of my first son. From the pain, something was born.