One Step Back, Two Steps Forward: The flamingo has a very distinctive way of feeding – it eats upside down! When feeding, the flamingo thrusts its head into the water in an upside down position. This helps the bent upper part of the bill (see interesting facts) scoop into the mud, picking up beak-fulls of mud. Then the bird forces out the mud and water through the comb-like arrangement in its bill called lamellae, retaining anything that is edible.

Our soul, according to Judaism, also bends over backwards: it came from heaven where it was near G-d and descended into a ‘shallow’ physical body where G-dliness is concealed. But the trip is promising: through Torah and mitzvot, our soul can achieve great “profits”, and reach levels that are only a dream beforehand. Let’s make sure the trip is worth it!

Watch Your Tongue: As incredible as it sounds, emperors in ancient Rome served at their banquets plates heaped with flamingo tongues. Unlike most other birds, the flamingo has a large, soft, fleshy tongue. The flamingo’s tongue serves as a powerful pump, moving rapidly back and forth drawing water on the backward pull and expelling it on the forward drive. In this way the flamingo strains its food through the beak’s filters, as mentioned above.

In the animal world the tongue has a vitally important function in the feeding process. In the human race, the tongue is primarily identified with speech. A human being is expected to use this great Divine gift wisely and carefully – to speak only what is true and kind, while guarding it from -- "filtering" out -- speaking falsehoods, unkind words and idle gossip. G-d has given us a very special tongue that is capable of doing its job perfectly well. Let’s use it to our advantage.