canopy

וּפְנֵי הָמָן חָפֽוּ (Esther 7:8), and Haman's face was covered, he takes as a verb that governs nothing: his face was pressed down into the ground, for he was ashamed at what the king said to him. Some take it as a verb with an object like its fellows, that is, the king's servants covered his face, as the faces of those to be hanged are covered, since the servants sensed that the king would order him hanged, having seen how angry he was with him; therefore Charvonah said גַּם הִנֵּה־הָעֵץ (Esther 7:9), here too is the tree.

חִפָּה עֵץ בְּרוֹשִׁים (Divrei HaYamim II 3:5), he overlaid it with cypress wood, and וַיְחַפֵּהוּ זָהָב טוֹב, and overlaid it with fine gold; in the passive, כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה נֶחְפָּה בַכֶּסֶף (Tehillim 68:14), a dove's wings covered with silver. All of it is covering, and the Targum of וַיְכַס (Shemos 10:15), and it covered, is וַחֲפָא.

From this sense and root comes וַיְחַפְּאוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל (Melachim II 17:9), where an alef stands for the last root letter: the children of Yisrael drew a screen between themselves and the Creator, saying that the deeds of men are hidden from Him and that He neither knows nor grasps anything of them, and therefore built themselves high places; the whole parsha runs so. Yeshayahu says the like of them, woe to those who go deep away from Hashem to hide their counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, who say who sees us and who knows us (Yeshayahu 29:15), and the navi says of them, for they say Hashem does not see us, Hashem has forsaken the land (Yechezkel 8:12). Chazal explained it the same way in the Yalkut on Melachim II 17:9: what did the children of Yisrael say? This pillar neither sees nor hears.

סֹֽכְכִים בְּכַנְפֵיהֶם (Shemos 25:20), covering with their wings, and כְּרוּב הַסֹּכֵךְ (Yechezkel 28:16), the covering keruv; יְסֻכֻּהוּ צֶאֱלִים (Iyov 40:22), the shady trees cover him. So too וְשַׂכֹּתִי כַפִּי (Shemos 33:22), and I will cover with My palm, though it is written with a sin. Of one who covers another, בְּאֶבְרָתוֹ יָסֶךְ לָךְ (Tehillim 91:4), He will cover you with His pinion, and וַיָּסֶךְ בִּדְלָתַיִם יָם (Iyov 38:8), He screened off the sea with doors.

Most of the root, he says, is סיכוך למעלה, covering from above; but part of it is a partition and shield that divides one thing from another. So וְסַכֹּתָ עַל־הָֽאָרֹן אֶת־הַפָּרֹֽכֶת (Shemos 40:3), you shall screen the aron with the paroches, since the paroches was not over the aron but beside it, dividing between it and the ohel moed; and so פָּרֹכֶת הַמָּסָֽךְ (Shemos 35:12), the screening paroches, and מָסַךְ הַפֶּתַח (Shemos 35:15), the screen of the entrance.

וְסֻכָּה תִּהְיֶה לְצֵל־יוֹמָם מֵחֹרֶב (Yeshayahu 4:6), a booth for shade by day from the heat, and בַּסֻּכֹּת תֵּֽשְׁבוּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים (Vayikra 23:42), you shall dwell in booths seven days. With an added mem, פָּרַשׂ עָנָן לְמָסָךְ (Tehillim 105:39), He spread a cloud for a screen; its proper form, he says, is מִסְכָךְ, on the pattern of מִכְלָל.

וְהֻכַן הַסֹּכֵֽךְ (Nachum 2:6), the covering is made ready: boards with hides over them, under which those attacking a city come up to the wall and dig beneath it, shielded from the stones thrown down on them from above.

From this root and this sense is מוּסַךְ הַשַּׁבָּת (Melachim II 16:18), the covering for Shabbos. It is on the pattern of מוֹרָד (Melachim I 7:29), whose root is רָדַד; though the one has a shuruk and the other a cholam, the two are one. Rabbi Yonah explained it מחסה המשמרה, the shelter of the watch; Radak takes that to be the place where the men of the watch take cover. Yonasan renders it טִיקוּס, which Radak leaves unexplained. Rashi wrote that it is the roof of a tent made for shade, to sit under in the azarah on Shabbos.

כִּי אֶעֱבֹר בַּסָּךְ (Tehillim 42:5), for I would pass in the סָךְ, is in the number of the congregation, counted within it. Chazal have the like of a total count, סך הכל (Avodah Zarah 11b), the sum of it all, and with a mem added, סכום מקח (Beitzah 29b), the sum of a purchase.