I'm aware that the Torah says the serpent spoke to Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3:1) and Balaam's ass spoke to him on his journey to see Balak (Numbers 22:28). Are there any other instances of animals speaking in the Torah?
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3do you mean physical words? Do you mean in the pshat of the text or in medrash?– rosendsCommented Jul 6, 2020 at 22:04
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@rosends Yes, I mean physical (audible) words in the Torah text. But I would like to cast a wide net with the term "animals", so as to include everything living but non-human.– ronCommented Jul 6, 2020 at 22:16
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5It's hard to source it but I think the answer is just no.– Double AA ♦Commented Jul 6, 2020 at 22:33
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1I wont write this as an answer since you seem to look for straight out sources. However, the Moshav Zekainim has an interesting pshat in Bereishes 3:4 which says that the animal and birds spoke loshon hakodesh just like everyone else ,and only after all languages got mixed up did they communicate in their own way. So acc to this ,all animals spoke .– samCommented Jul 7, 2020 at 0:59
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Considering chazzals's emphasis in Avos that the donkey's mouth (or the capability for it to speak) was created bein hashmashos, I'd venture along with @Double and say there were certainly no other soaking creatures. Why Chazzal didn't focus on the snake would be a different can of worms on how to understand that narrative.– user6591Commented Jul 7, 2020 at 2:29
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1 Answer
In gamara sanhedrin, 108b, both the יונה and עורב had what to say.
אמר ריש לקיש: תשובה ניצחת השיבו עורב לנח, אמר לו: רבך שונאני ואתה שנאתני. רבך שונאני: מן הטהורין שבעה, מן הטמאים שנים. ואתה שנאתני, שאתה מניח ממין שבעה, ושולח ממין שנים. אם פוגע בי שר חמה או שר צנה, לא נמצא עולם חסר בריה אחת? או שמא לאשתי אתה צריך?
אמרה יונה לפני הקב"ה רבש"ע יהיו מזונותי מרורים כזית ומסורים בידך ואל יהיו מתוקים כדבש ומסורים ביד בשר ודם
[> Resh Lakish said: The raven gave Noah a triumphant retort. It said to
him, 'Thy Master hateth me, and thou hatest me. Thy Master hateth me — [since He commanded] seven [pairs to be taken] of the clean [creatures], but only two of the unclean.28 Thou hatest me — seeing that thou leavest the species of which there are seven, and sendest one of which there are only two. Should the angel of heat or of cold smite me, would not the world be short of one kind? Or perhaps thou desirest my mate!'
R. Eleazar said: The dove prayed to the Holy One, blessed be He, 'Sovereign of the Universe! Let my sustenance be as bitter as the olive, but in Thy charge, rather than sweet as honey and in the charge of flesh and blood.']2
