Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah

Ibn Ezra on Genesis 30:38/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל׳:ל״ח

אפצל. הטעם כרת כריתות קטנות:

1PEELED. The word pitzel (peeled) means he made small cuts.⁶⁷ is found in Scripture only in verses 37 and 38. According to I.E. it does not exactly mean to peel. See S.D. Luzzato’s commentary on this verse.

בברהטים. מקום חבור המים שישתו הצאן שם:

2IN THE GUTTERS. Pools containing water for the sheep to drink from.⁶⁸ (gutters) as being synonymous with shikatot ha-mayim (watering troughs) (Weiser).

גויחמנה. נתחברו פה לשון זכרים ונקבות כמו "וישרנה הפרות" (ש"א ו יב):

3AND THEY CONCEIVED. Va-yechamnah (and they conceived) is a combination of masculine and feminine forms.⁶⁹. The yod is a masculine prefix. Hence va-yechamnah combines the masculine (the yod) with the feminine. We find the same in the word va-yisharnah (and took…the straight way) in And the kine took the straightway (va-yisharnah) (I Sam. 6:12).⁷⁰. See note 69. The feminine should have been used since kine is feminine.