HARE (אַרְנֶ֗בֶת, hare, all Eng. VSS). “The hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean” (Lev 11:6; cf. Deut 14:7). This context of the only two occurrences was once considered contradictory, but recent work confirms the apparently strange statement. Hares, like rabbits, are now known to practice “refection”: at certain times of the day, when the hare is resting, it passes droppings of different texture, which it at once eats. Thus the hare appears to be chewing without taking fresh greens into its mouth. On its first passage through the gut, indigestible vegetable matter is acted on by bacteria and can be better assimilated the second time through. Almost the same principle is involved as in chewing the cud. Hares, somewhat like the European Hare or American Jack Rabbit (which is a true hare) but rather smaller, are found in many parts of Pal.