Learning About ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ : Religion: Jewish worshipers at the L.A. Zoo will explore animals’ symbolic significance in biblical and Judaic lore.

After the first-ever religious service at the Los Angeles Zoo, about 900 Jewish visitors will roam the park tonight carrying flashlights and listening to docents talking about God’s creatures in Judaic and biblical lore--even the little-known kudu.

Although the shofar that is blown on Jewish High Holy Days is traditionally called a ram’s horn, many are really the long, twisted horns taken from kudus, members of the antelope family, after the animals die.

The idea of using the zoo for a candlelight Havdalah service, a short Sabbath-ending rite observed in some Jewish homes, came from Ken Aitchison, who is married to Associate Rabbi Leslie Alexander of Adat Ari El Synagogue in North Hollywood.

Aitchison wondered whether the “twilight treks” that zoo officials conduct for financial supporters a few times each year might be meaningful if they took on a spiritual character with a service, followed by guided tours to the lairs of creatures mentioned in Judaic lore, the Bible and rabbinical literature.

Rabbi Alexander and others at the synagogue got the enthusiastic support for the idea from Mark Goldstein, director of the zoo, and coincidentally a member of Burbank’s Temple Emanu El.

“I wish someone had thought of this when I was 10 years old,” Goldstein said. He is unaware of any zoo in the country that has hosted a religious service on its grounds.

The rabbi said that among religious references to animals that may be used in the service or on the docent-guided tours are many metaphorical uses, such as the image of an eagle in the Book of Exodus and the Talmud’s use of foxes as symbols of slyness.

Alexander thought that about 500 people might sign up. But 900 did, and organizers had to stop accepting ticket requests.

It might make a nice twist on the Noah’s ark story, but, no, the humans will not be required to file into the zoo two by two.