Your Magidei Shiur are not the only ones wondering about this Agadah. The main discussion of the "one day old Re'em" is in Bava Basra - it was one of Rabah bar bar Chanah's observations. The commentaries there offer various metaphorical explanations for RBBC's bizarre observations. For instance, the Maharsha there offers a beautiful explanation for the piece about the day old Re'em as referring to Yehoshua ('v'Karnei Re'em Karnav", see Rashi Devarim 33:17), who stopped the Jordan with the " Kapos Raglei Kohanim" and stopped the sun, such that his might was witnessed and respected by the entire land, just as Har Tavor, the tallest mountain in the land, was visible to all - etc.

But if the testimony of RBBC is no more than a metaphor, what bearing does it have on the argument between Reish Lakish and Rebbi Yochanan, and why is it discussed in our Sugya! I suppose this is what was bothering your Magidei Shiur as well.

Let me share with you what I found on this matter:

(a) The BEN YEHOYADA concludes, because of our question, that this Gemara is nothing more than "Pilpula d'Oraisa." The Gemara should actually have said "That is nothing more than a metaphor!" But instead it "played out" the question and deals with it as though it were a serious question in order to "practice Talmudic methodology."

I found that the RASHBA in Peirushei ha'Hagados (Bava Basra 74a, p. 98 in Mosad Rav Kook edition) makes a similar observation (regarding the discussions of the Leviathan there). He notes that once the Gemara makes a Mashal to teach a certain concept, it often follows through on the Mashal as though it were actually describing a reality.

(b) The MAHARAL in Chidushei Agadah takes the Agadah more seriously. He explains that although the size of the beast is a metaphor, nevertheless, the size of the Teivah also has metaphorical meaning (aside from its literal meaning). If the metaphorical size of the beast is too large to fit into the metaphorical size given for the Teivah, the metaphors demonstrate that, for whatever reason, the former cannot be brought into the latter.

(c) If you are interested in a philosophical/allegorical approach, I will suggest my own interpretation of this Agadah (which, in my opinion, is in keeping with the words of both the Maharal and the Rashba cited above). In brief , here it is.

First, what is the "Re'em"? I would suggest that this is the giant Behemot b'Harerei Elef of the RBBC Gemara in Bava Basra 74. Even if it isn't (after all, the Behemoth was sterilized before bearing any young, and it seems that the Urzila/Re'em did have young), it has a similar metaphorical meaning to the gargantuan Behemoth beast.

The Rashba (ibid.) discusses at length the metaphorical meanings of the male and female Leviathan and Behemoth, that will be devoured by the righteous in the World to Come. (We referred to his words briefly in our Insights to Avodah Zarah 3:3.) In short, he has the female and male Leviathans representing the components of human thought (respectively, thinking itself, and the ability to control that process and direct it towards following the will of Hash-m). The Behemoth, as its name implies, represents the more mundane aspects of man: respectively the material ("Chomer") from which the body is made, and the form ("Tzurah") that that material is given. Based on these definitions, he proposes wonderfully enlightening explanations for numerous Agados in the RBBC Sugya.

The Gemara here understood that the Mabul was more than just a flood of hot water. It was a Gezeirah from Heaven of annihilation. It carried with it a spiritual "anti-life" force, in a sense.

When a living object is destroyed, it can eventually regenerate and regrow - but only if there is something left for it to regenerate from, sort of like a seed that can develop into a tree. Thus, if the entire world had suffered a Mabul, the Gemara understood that there would not be a way for life to return to the world, since it could no longer could support the "Chomer and Tzurah" of physical life. The Gemara explains that according to Rebbi Yochanan, who maintains that Eretz Yisrael was spared from the Mabul's destructive forces, the earth's power to support life regenerated from what was left of it in Eretz Yisrael. But according to Reish Lakish, how did the earth return to supporting life? The assumption here is that what survived in the Teivah was not considered to be "part of this world" at all. The Teivah was its own environment -- sort of like a different planet, floating in the waters of the Mabul. That is how it survived the life-taking force of the Mabul. Thus, it could not return to the earth its life-giving powers.

The Gemara answers that according to Reish Lakish, the Teivah was indeed part of the world around it; it was not disassociated from the earth. The "nose" ("va'Yipach b'Apav Nishmas Chayim") of physical creatures, from which life entered and would be regenerated, was firmly stuck in the Teivah itself. Being part of the world, the waters around it were affected by its protected presence and were cooled somewhat. "Horns" -- the uppermost part of an animal -- always represent greatness and prominence. The cream of the living creatures of the earth inhabited the Teivah, and it was from them that the earth regenerated life.

I hope you find this helpful. Best wishes for a Gemar Chasimah Tovah,

M. Kornfeld

Kollel Iyun Hadaf