Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 31:34/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״א:ל״ד
אוי"מ בכר כדמות מרדעת, והנכון בעיני שכר הגמל כמו "שלחו כר מושל ארץ" (ישעי' טז, א) וכן "ובכרכרות" (שם סו כ), ומנהג הכר או הרוכב עליו יקרא הכרי, והנה רחל לקחה התרפים ושמה אותם במקום ששם כר הגמל:
1[IN THE SADDLE.] Some say that kar (saddle) is a kind of saddle cloth.55 However, I believe that the term kar ha-gamal (saddle of the camel)56 as a double word and that Scripture uses two words having the same meaning even though one word would suffice. See I.E.’s comment on Gen. 8:11 and the notes thereto. means a camel, as in Send ye the camel (kar) for the ruler of the land57 is a noble and especially swift species of camel. Cf. I.E.’s comments on Is. 16:1; 66:20. (Is. 16:1); and u-va-kirkarot (and upon the camels) (Is. 66:20).58 I further hold that the driver or rider of the kar (camel) is called the kari (II Kings 11:19). Rachel took the teraphim and put them in the place where the camel (kar ha-gamal) was kept.59
בותשב עליהם. ולא היתה באהל:
2AND SAT UPON THEM. She was not in the tent.60 to mean cushion, or saddle, is that the word kar is not so used in Scripture. It is only so used in Rabbinic literature (Cherez).