Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ramban · Torah

Ramban on Exodus 16:14/רמב"ן על שמות ט״ז:י״ד

אדַּק מְחֻסְפָּס עַל דַּעַת אוּנְקְלוֹס (תרגום אונקלוס על שמות ט"ז:י"ד) מִן "מַחְשֹׂף הַלָּבָן" (בראשית ל לז), "חָשַׂף ה'" (ישעיה נב י), בְּחִלּוּף הַשִּׁי"ן בְּסָמֶ"ךְ, וְעַיִן הַפֹּעַל כְּפוּלָה:

1DAK’ (A FINE) ‘MECHUSPAS’ (PEELED THING). In the opinion of Onkelos, [who translated the word mechuspas as meaning “peeled,” the word] is associated with the expressions: ‘machsoph’ (streaks making bare) the white;³⁸¹ ‘chasaph hashem’ (the Eternal hath made bare) His holy arm.³⁸² The letter sin [in the words machsoph and chasaph] is interchanged for the letter samach [in the word mechuspas], and the second root-letter of the verb [chasaph]³⁸³ of the verb.” Following the theory of Dunash ben Labrat, the great Hebrew grammarian of the tenth century, we call the three letters of the root of any verb by the names of the three letters of the Hebrew ‘po’al’ (verb) [which is spelled pei, ayin and lamed]. Thus the first letter of any verb is called the pei of the verb, the second is called the ayin, the third is called the lamed. In the verb chasaph before us, the second root-letter is the sin or its interchange, the samach, as explained in the text. In the word mechuspas, the samach appears twice. This then is the meaning of Ramban’s saying, “and the ayin (second letter) of the verb is doubled.” is doubled, [thus making it mechuspas].

בדַּק כַּכְּפֹר הוּא הַנּוֹפֵל בִּימֵי הַקֹּר, וְכֵן "כְּפוֹר כָּאֵפֶר יְפַזֵּר" (תהלים קמז טז). וְתִרְגֵּם אוּנְקְלוֹס (תרגום אונקלוס על שמות ט"ז:י"ד) "דַּעְדַק כְּגִיר כִּגְלִידָא עַל אַרְעָא". וְכָתַב רַשִׁ"י (רש"י על שמות ט"ז:י"ד) זַ"ל כְּאַבְנֵי גִּיר, וְהוּא מִין צֶבַע שָׁחֹר, כִּדְאָמְרִינַן גַּבֵּי כִּסּוּי הַדָּם (חולין פח:) הַגִּיר וְהַזַּרְנִיךְ. דַּעְדַק כְּגִיר דִּגְלִידָא עַל אַרְעָא, דַּק הָיָה כְּגִיר וְשׁוֹכֵב מֻגְלָד כְּקֶרַח עַל הָאָרֶץ. וְכֵן פֵּרוּשׁוֹ, דַּק כַּכְּפֹר, שָׁטוּחַ וְקָלוּשׁ וּמְחֻבָּר כִּגְלִיד, דַּק, שֶׁהָיָה מַגְלִיד גֶּלֶד דַּק מִלְמַעְלָה. וּמַה שֶׁתִּרְגֵּם אוּנְקְלוֹס, תּוֹסֶפֶת הוּא עַל לְשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, וְאֵין לוֹ תֵבָה בַּפָּסוּק: וְאֵין כָּל זֶה נָכוֹן, כִּי הַגִּיר הוּא הֶעָפָר הַלָּבָן הַנִּדְבָּק לָאֲבָנִים וִינַפְּצוּ אוֹתוֹ וְטָחִין בּוֹ הַכּוֹתָלִים בְּסִיד, וְהוּא לָבָן מְאֹד, וְטוֹב מִן הַסִּיד לָטוּחַ עַל הַקִּירוֹת, וְכֵן כָּתוּב (דניאל ה ה) "עַל גִּירָא דִּי כְתַל הֵיכְלָא", וְעַל כֵּן יִחֵס בּוֹ הַמָּן, שֶׁהוּא לָבָן וּמְפֻזָּר עַל הָאָרֶץ כְּגִיר הַמְּנֻפָּץ:
וְאוּנְקְלוֹס תִּרְגֵּם בְּמִלַּת כְּפוֹר בִּשְׁנֵי פָּנִים, עֲשָׂאוֹ תְּחִלָּה מִן "וְכָפַרְתָּ אֹתָהּ מִבַּיִת וּמִחוּץ בַּכֹּפֶר" (בראשית ו יד), וְלָכֵן אָמַר כְּגִיר, שֶׁבּוֹ טָחִין וּמְכַסִּים, וַעֲשָׂאוֹ עוֹד מִן "כְּפוֹר כָּאֵפֶר יְפַזֵּר" (תהלים קמז טז), שֶׁהוּא הַקֶּרַח הַדַּק הַיּוֹרֵד בַּקֹּר, כְּמוֹ שֶׁתִּרְגֵּם "וְקֶרַח בַּלָּיְלָה" (בראשית לא מ) "וּגְלִידָא נָחִיתָ עָלַי בְּלֵילְיָא", וּמִמֶּנּוּ מִינִים, וְהָאֶחָד יִקָּרֵא גְּלִיד, כְּמוֹ שֶׁשָּׁנִינוּ בַּמִּשְׁנָה מִקְוָאוֹת (ז א) אֵלּוּ מַעֲלִין וְלֹא פוֹסְלִין, הַשֶּׁלֶג וְהַבָּרָד וְהַכְּפוֹר וְהַגְּלִיד. וְכֵן יְתַרְגֵּם אוּנְקְלוֹס בִּשְׁנֵי פָּנִים בִּכְתוּבִים רַבִּים: אֲבָל בַּנֻּסְחָאוֹת הַבְּדוּקוֹת מִן הַתַּרְגּוּם כָּתוּב בָּהֶן "דַּעְדַק דְּגִיר כִּגְלִידָא עַל אַרְעָא", וּפֵרוּשׁוֹ עָשׂוּי חֳמָרִים חֳמָרִים כִּגְלִיד עַל אַרְעָא, וְהוּא הָאֱמֶת, שֶׁאִם הָיָה מִלְּשׁוֹן גִּיר הָיָה מְתֻרְגָּם כְּגִירָא דִּגְלִידָא, כִּי כֵן דֶּרֶךְ הַלָּשׁוֹן הַהוּא:

2DAK’ (FINE) ‘KAK’PHOR’ (AS THE HOAR-FROST). K’phor is the covering [of minute ice-particles] upon the ground in cold weather. It is similar in usage to the expression, He scattered ‘k’phor’ (hoar-frost) like ashes.³⁸⁴ Now Onkelos rendered [the Hebrew dak kak’phor al ha’aretz] into Aramaic thus: da’adak k’gir kig’lida al ar’a. On this, Rashi wrote [as an interpretation of Onkelos, that the word gir occurs in the expression], “as stones of ‘gir,’³⁸⁵ which is a kind of black color. This is just as we say in connection with the covering of the blood [of a slaughtered wild animal or fowl, which the Torah specified must be done with earth.³⁸⁶ The Rabbis enumerate amongst the kinds of earth that can be used]:³⁸⁷ ‘gir (powdered chalk) and arsenic (or orpiment).’ [Onkelos’ Aramaic rendition da’adak k’gir kig’lida al ar’a thus means:] ‘thin [and brittle] like powdered chalk, and lying congealed as frost on the ground.’ And this is the meaning of the Hebrew dak kak’phor: spread out fine and connected like hoar-frost. Dak means that there was a thin incrustation on top. And that which Onkelos translated, k’gir (as powdered chalk), is an addition to the Hebrew text, there being no word corresponding to it in the verse.” [These are the words of Rashi.]But all this is not correct. Gir [is not a kind of black color, as Rashi wrote, but instead it] is a white earth which sticks to stone, and when crushed, it is used as plaster upon walls. It is very white and is better for the plastering of walls than lime, [which does not have the admixture of that white earth]. And so it is written, upon the ‘gira’ (plaster) of the wall of the king’s palace.³⁸⁸ This is why the manna which was white and spread out upon the earth could be associated with that crushed white earth.Onkelos then translated the Hebrew word k’phor in two ways. First, he derived it from the expression, and thou shalt pitch it within and without ‘bakopher’ (with pitch).³⁸⁹ Hence, he said k’gir (as the white earth) with which [the stones] are fastened and covered. Then he derived it also from the expression, He scattered ‘k’phor’ like ashes,³⁸⁴ which is the covering of minute ice needles which form in a cold atmosphere, just as he translated [the Hebrew] ‘v’kerach’ (and the frost) by night,³⁹⁰, 31:40. “ug’lida (and frost) came down upon me at night.”³⁹¹ in Onkelos’ translation has no corresponding word in the Hebrew text. According to Ramban, both Aramaic words, k’gir and kig’lida (“as powdered white earth” and “as frost”), are two renditions of the one Hebrew word kak’phor. Such was Onkelos’ style, to give two translations of one Hebrew word. The word can be used in the plural [g’lidin],³⁹² (ices have sorrounded me), a metaphoric expression of a person describing that the hairs of his mustache and beard have turned gray (Rashi, ibid.) while the singular is called g’lid (ice), just as we have been taught in the Mishnah in Mikvaoth:³⁹³ “These are the things which only serve to fill up the immersion-pool [to its prescribed measure of forty s’ah] and do not render it invalid: snow, hail, hoar-frost, v’hag’lid (and ice).” And so indeed does Onkelos translate many Scriptural texts in two ways. But in carefully-edited texts of Targum Onkelos, it is written, da’adak d’gir³⁹⁴, as we have assumed the reading in Onkelos to be until now. The reading of k’gir had forced Ramban to interpret that Onkelos simultaneously used two different translations of the Hebrew word kak’phor, namely, “as powdered white earth” and “as frost,” as explained above. This is clearly a difficult position. But with this present reading in Onkelos — d’gir, which means a heap — the Aramaic text leads to one unified thought: the manna was piled up in heaps as ice upon the earth. kig’lida al ar’a, and the meaning thereof is that the manna was piled up in heaps as ice upon the earth. This is the truth, for if [the word k’gir in the Targum] were of the root gir (powdered white earth or plaster), as we assumed at first], the Aramaic translation should have been: k’gira d’g'lida (as the powdered flakes of the ice), [and not, as we have it, k’gira ‘kig’lida], for such is the style of the Aramaic language.³⁹⁵ (“as” ice), and not d’g'lida (“of” the ice), it shows that the antecedent word is d’gir (a heap) and not k’gir (as powdered white earth). Thus the thought conveyed by the Targum is that the manna lay powdered in heaps as ice upon the ground.