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The Lions of Zion: Biblical Natural History and the Significance of Israel
The Lions of Zion takes readers on an adventure through the wild animals, plants, and other natural phenomena of the Bible. Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin, founder and director of Israel’s unique Biblical Museum of Natural History, shows how the natural world of the Bible plays a central role in Jewish heritage and connects the Jewish People to the Land of Israel, from ancient times through global dispersion through to modern Israel.
Highly engaging, The Lions of Zion not only provides a comprehensive overview of the natural world of the Bible and its significance in Jewish thought, but is also an invaluable resource for understanding how to combat challenges to Israel’s legitimacy.
Highly engaging, The Lions of Zion not only provides a comprehensive overview of the natural world of the Bible and its significance in Jewish thought, but is also an invaluable resource for understanding how to combat challenges to Israel’s legitimacy.
380 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2025
3 people want to read
About the author
Natan Slifkin
12 books43 followersBorn in England, Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin spent many years of study at yeshivot in Jerusalem and received his rabbinic ordination from Ohr Somayach Institutions. He graduated from the Lander Institute in Jerusalem with an MA in Jewish Thought and Law, and completed a PhD in Jewish history at Bar-Ilan University, with a dissertation on rabbinic encounters with zoology. Rabbi Slifkin has published numerous works on the interface between Judaism and the natural world. He has also taught at several institutions and is a popular lecturer around the world. Rabbi Slifkin is the founder and director of The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh, Israel, and he lives with his family in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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January 22, 2026
For several years before Rosh Hashana, I have listed the year’s best books. If I listed the worst, The Empty Wagon: Zionism's Journey from Identity Crisis to Identity Theft by Rabbi Yakov Shapiro would likely top it.
A particularly concerning aspect of Shapiro’s book is its minimization of the inherent and innate importance of the Land of Israel to the Jewish nation, and its efforts to dissociate it from Judaism. Attempting to separate the Jews and their land risks overlooking the deep historical and spiritual connections shared between them.
Shapiro’s approach is similar to that of some anti-Israel activists, as it sets aside the religious and historical importance of Israel to the Jewish people. This presents a challenge for readers, who may not always have clear responses to these arguments.
Missionaries similarly misuse the Tanach to argue that Jesus is the Messiah. Few can refute, for example, their view of Isaiah 53, the basis for the suffering servant idea. Those unfamiliar with Tanach are vulnerable to such arguments.
To counteract this, R’ Dr. Natan Slifkin’s The Lions of Zion: Biblical Natural History & the Significance of Israel provides a powerful argument affirming the Jewish people's deep-rooted ties to their ancestral homeland. The animals and plants of Jewish cultural heritage serve as compelling evidence of this connection, and the book brilliantly details that.
Expanding on these connections, Slifkin writes that “the Bible expresses the historical and cultural connection of the Jewish people, the animals and plants of their ancestral homeland. And today, the Jewish people can feel this connection, not just as Diaspora Jews longing for it from afar, but as a living, intimate physical and spiritual relationship, in the revitalized ancient Jewish homeland of the Land of Israel”.
In this fantastic work, Slifkin demonstrates the deep historical connection of the Jewish people to their land—an idea that, while clear to some, is often overlooked by the general population.
Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot write in While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East that Israel has been notorious for putting the wrong people in public diplomacy roles and not using the right officials as the country's face and voice in the media.
They argue Israel must treat the media as critically as the Gaza or home front and that public diplomacy must be ongoing, not just in war. It needs prepared messages so the public will understand when conflict erupts.
Adding to that observation from Katz and Bohbot is that Israel has also not done an adequate job of showing how the Jews were the original indigenous people of the land of Israel. That is, in large part, what Slifkin fixes here.
The book has two parts; the first highlights the connection between the natural world, Israel, and the Jewish people. Part 2 addresses statements and claims from academia, NGOs, and pro-Palestinian groups regarding Israel, particularly in relation to animals and nature, and offers Slifkin’s responses.
Part 1 is similar to his previous work, The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom, in which he details the animals that are and were indigenous to the Land of Israel and attempts to identify them.
When determining the size of an olive, an integral part of halachic measurements, rabbinic authorities in Europe often had to rely on logic and hermeneutics. This was because olives were not readily available in Europe. Contrast that to the rabbis living in Israel, who did not have that problem. They simply had to walk outside to see the true size of an olive.
This also affected identifying biblical animals and plants of Israel, which didn’t exist in Europe, especially in the colder northern climates.
He examines animals such as the namer, nesher, and tzvi, long mistranslated as tiger, eagle, and deer, due to observers not seeing them. Slifkin shows the correct translations are leopard, griffon vulture, and gazelle.
Part two, Israel, Nature and Politics, addresses Palestinian activists and academics working to delegitimize Israel and the Jewish connection to the land.
There are individuals in academia, including those in prominent positions, who promote views that challenge Israel's legitimacy and support Palestinian perspectives.
Slifkin has examined academic arguments and offers detailed responses to positions that he believes are unfounded or misleading. These often include statements that single out Israel or distort facts. Slifkin provides thoughtful answers to these claims.
Unfortunately, some individuals in academia, in their persistent critique of Israel, may mirror the very accusations they direct at Israel.
I repeatedly asked Shaul Magid, a Dartmouth Jewish Studies fellow, how he could accuse Israel of occupation while teaching at Dartmouth, which sits on land taken from Native Americans. He blocked me on social media.
Slifkin does a brilliant job of cutting through that nonsense of the Palestinian academic with fact-based answers.
It’s hard to stress how important the work The Lions of Zion is. From even before October 7, there have been major efforts to undermine Israel’s legitimacy. Much of the rhetoric claims Palestinians are the true indigenous people and Zionists are mere colonizers.
The book shows the timeless and deep-seated Jewish connection to the Land of Israel and is an incredibly important read.
A particularly concerning aspect of Shapiro’s book is its minimization of the inherent and innate importance of the Land of Israel to the Jewish nation, and its efforts to dissociate it from Judaism. Attempting to separate the Jews and their land risks overlooking the deep historical and spiritual connections shared between them.
Shapiro’s approach is similar to that of some anti-Israel activists, as it sets aside the religious and historical importance of Israel to the Jewish people. This presents a challenge for readers, who may not always have clear responses to these arguments.
Missionaries similarly misuse the Tanach to argue that Jesus is the Messiah. Few can refute, for example, their view of Isaiah 53, the basis for the suffering servant idea. Those unfamiliar with Tanach are vulnerable to such arguments.
To counteract this, R’ Dr. Natan Slifkin’s The Lions of Zion: Biblical Natural History & the Significance of Israel provides a powerful argument affirming the Jewish people's deep-rooted ties to their ancestral homeland. The animals and plants of Jewish cultural heritage serve as compelling evidence of this connection, and the book brilliantly details that.
Expanding on these connections, Slifkin writes that “the Bible expresses the historical and cultural connection of the Jewish people, the animals and plants of their ancestral homeland. And today, the Jewish people can feel this connection, not just as Diaspora Jews longing for it from afar, but as a living, intimate physical and spiritual relationship, in the revitalized ancient Jewish homeland of the Land of Israel”.
In this fantastic work, Slifkin demonstrates the deep historical connection of the Jewish people to their land—an idea that, while clear to some, is often overlooked by the general population.
Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot write in While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East that Israel has been notorious for putting the wrong people in public diplomacy roles and not using the right officials as the country's face and voice in the media.
They argue Israel must treat the media as critically as the Gaza or home front and that public diplomacy must be ongoing, not just in war. It needs prepared messages so the public will understand when conflict erupts.
Adding to that observation from Katz and Bohbot is that Israel has also not done an adequate job of showing how the Jews were the original indigenous people of the land of Israel. That is, in large part, what Slifkin fixes here.
The book has two parts; the first highlights the connection between the natural world, Israel, and the Jewish people. Part 2 addresses statements and claims from academia, NGOs, and pro-Palestinian groups regarding Israel, particularly in relation to animals and nature, and offers Slifkin’s responses.
Part 1 is similar to his previous work, The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom, in which he details the animals that are and were indigenous to the Land of Israel and attempts to identify them.
When determining the size of an olive, an integral part of halachic measurements, rabbinic authorities in Europe often had to rely on logic and hermeneutics. This was because olives were not readily available in Europe. Contrast that to the rabbis living in Israel, who did not have that problem. They simply had to walk outside to see the true size of an olive.
This also affected identifying biblical animals and plants of Israel, which didn’t exist in Europe, especially in the colder northern climates.
He examines animals such as the namer, nesher, and tzvi, long mistranslated as tiger, eagle, and deer, due to observers not seeing them. Slifkin shows the correct translations are leopard, griffon vulture, and gazelle.
Part two, Israel, Nature and Politics, addresses Palestinian activists and academics working to delegitimize Israel and the Jewish connection to the land.
There are individuals in academia, including those in prominent positions, who promote views that challenge Israel's legitimacy and support Palestinian perspectives.
Slifkin has examined academic arguments and offers detailed responses to positions that he believes are unfounded or misleading. These often include statements that single out Israel or distort facts. Slifkin provides thoughtful answers to these claims.
Unfortunately, some individuals in academia, in their persistent critique of Israel, may mirror the very accusations they direct at Israel.
I repeatedly asked Shaul Magid, a Dartmouth Jewish Studies fellow, how he could accuse Israel of occupation while teaching at Dartmouth, which sits on land taken from Native Americans. He blocked me on social media.
Slifkin does a brilliant job of cutting through that nonsense of the Palestinian academic with fact-based answers.
It’s hard to stress how important the work The Lions of Zion is. From even before October 7, there have been major efforts to undermine Israel’s legitimacy. Much of the rhetoric claims Palestinians are the true indigenous people and Zionists are mere colonizers.
The book shows the timeless and deep-seated Jewish connection to the Land of Israel and is an incredibly important read.
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