A horn is also a musical instrument, beginning with the shofar, the crown of all musical instruments in the Torah.
Unicorns have one horn protruding from their forehead. They're always turning corners, always becoming nothing, so you'll never see one.
In the Bible, the re'eim is usually translated as unicorn and is said to have one horn. Its name means exalted one.
The sages speak of 3 1-horned animals: the ox Adam sacrificed; the tachash whose skin was used in the Tabernacle; the keresh, a wild deer.
The initials of keresh, re'eim, ox, tachash are the 4 last letters of the alef-bet which = 1000. The sum of all 4, 2055 = 15 times 137.
The Aramaic translation of dishon, the 5th of the 7 pure wild animals (corresponding to the emotive attribute of thanksgiving), is re'eim.
The ox that Adam sacrificed was a domestic animal, the keresh a wild animal. The sages were not sure regarding the many-colored tachash.
Building a sanctuary for God requires a once-in-a-lifetime experience (the tachash was a creation of the moment) of wild-domestic animation.
Daniel, in a prophetic vision, saw a "manifest horn" between the eyes of ferocious goat. The horn symbolized Alexander the Great.
Unicorn means one horn (corn = horn, as in corner). Something corny: There's a unicorn around the corner eating corn.
Someone asked, is there any source or allusion in the Torah to the non-Jewish notion that unicorns possess affinity to virgins?
We saw above that the 5th of the 7 pure wild animals of the Torah is a unicorn. Its sefirah, hod, means kingly splendor, alluding to 1 horn.
The Zohar says, "She is in hod." "She" refers to the virgin princess on her wedding day. She reflects queenly splendor, a single horn.
Under the wedding canopy a ray of light, a "horn," ascends from the head of the groom and the head of the bride.
In Kabbalah, the horn of the groom is called "the glory of the groom," and the horn of the bride is called "the glory of the bride."
The glory of the groom is the aura/horn above his head created by his love for his bride. The glory of the bride is her love for her groom.
The wedding canopy unites the two horns to become one. The two auras/horns of love merge together and ascend to heaven.
Love is expressed as both light and song. The horn symbolizes both. In the future we, the bride, will sing to God a new song.
The initials of "light" & "song" spell "fire." Fire shines light while singing a song of love. The remaining letters = "one" times "heart."
2 comments
Thank you, Rabbi, for all of your teachings! And for this one which has brought a smile to my face! God bless you, Rabbi! Thank you for being here in the world at this time!
Hello Rabbi. I'm very interested in knowing a bit more about this 7 animals you mentioned in this text. What are they? what do they represent? do they appear only once?