When I began pondering this prompt, I was amazed to discover that doves, and their prosaic siblings, pigeons, appear in a wide variety of contexts in Jewish life and literature. It begins, of course, with Noach, who learns that the floodwaters have subsided when the dove he sent returns with an olive branch. This image is enshrined both as an enduring symbol of peace and in a favorite Shabbos hymn, “Yonah Matzah,” which describes how we, like the dove, find rest for our weary spirits on Shabbos. The Jewish people returning to Eretz Yisrael are compared by the prophet Yishayahu to doves finding their way home, “ka’yonim el aruboseihem,” a prophecy whose fulfillment we have been fortunate to witness.
Recently, Daf Yomi learners studied descriptions of various dubious practices involving doves and pigeons: gambling on races or fights and learning birdcalls to steal from a neighbor’s dovecote. These birds were useful in the times of Chazal, whether to send messages (cool!), as food (thankfully supplanted by chickens), and as sacrifices (Kinnim is a short but really difficult tractate of Mishna – and it’s all about birds and the consequences of their constant movement in and out of their nests).
It’s also a name; both a given name (Yona, Yonit, Toba) and a surname (Taub and variations).
I cannot think of doves without considering their counterparts, ravens. I’m from Baltimore, a city that named its football team after Poe’s famous poem. Perhaps next year thinking about the Ravens will bring me a bit more joy…
