desire

On נַפְשִׁי אִוִּיתִיךָ בַּלַּיְלָה (Yeshayahu 26:9), my soul, I desired You at night, Rabbi Yonah said the word is like אִוָּֽתְךָ, my soul desired You. Radak answers that there is no need: its sense is with my soul I desired You, and so the pasuk goes on, אַף־רוּחִי בְקִרְבִּי אֲשַֽׁחֲרֶךָּ, with my spirit too within me I seek You. So too אֵפוֹד יָרַד בְּיָדֽוֹ (Shmuel I 23:6), whose sense is with an ephod he came down, in his hand, and אַתָּה יָדְךָ גּוֹיִם הוֹרַשְׁתָּ (Tehillim 44:3), whose sense is with Your hand You drove out nations; though for אֵפוֹד יָרַד בְּיָדֽוֹ Radak has a sound explanation of his own, which he gives at the root ירד. Radak's father explains נַפְשִׁי אִוִּיתִיךָ בַּלַּיְלָה as it stands, and the words after it as: while רוּחִי בְקִרְבִּי, my spirit is within me, אֲשַֽׁחֲרֶךָּ, I seek You; and it says at night because then the heart is free of the world's business.

Rabbi Yaakov ben Elazar wrote in Sefer HaShalem that the sense attaches to the suffix, the yud of נַפְשִׁי and the yud of רוּחִי: though soul and spirit are named, the sense rests on the suffix, as if the pasuk had said, I desired You. Many, he wrote, are like it, and so וְצַפַּחַת הַשֶּׁמֶן לֹא חָסֵר (Melachim I 17:16), and the jar of oil did not fail, where the failing falls on the oil and not on the jar.

אִוָּהּ לְמוֹשָׁב לֽוֹ (Tehillim 132:13), He desired it for His dwelling; the noun בְּכָל־ אַוַּת נַפְשְׁךָ (Devarim 12:15), with all your soul's desire, and in another form תַּֽאֲוָה נִהְיָה (Mishlei 13:19), a desire fulfilled; the sense of all of them is desire and longing. In Radak's view לְבֵיתְךָ נָֽאֲוָה ־קֹדֶשׁ (Tehillim 93:5) is of this sense too: the alef is sounded with a chataf patach and the word is a past passive, so that its sense is that holiness is desired for Your house. The reflexive is וְלֹא תִתְאַוֶּה בֵּית רֵעֶךָ (Devarim 5:18), you shall not desire your fellow's house, the desiring being in the heart. The noun in another form is מַֽאֲוַיֵּי רָשָׁע (Tehillim 140:9), the desires of a wicked man, with a dagesh; Rabbi Yonah wrote it without one.

Another sense: נָאווּ לְחָיַיִךְ (Shir HaShirim 1:10), your cheeks are comely; מַה־ נָּאווּ עַל־הֶהָרִים רַגְלֵי מְבַשֵּׂר (Yeshayahu 52:7), how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald; לֹֽא־ נָאוֶה לִכְסִיל כָּבֽוֹד (Mishlei 26:1), honour is not comely for a fool; שְׁחוֹרָה אֲנִי וְֽנָאוָה (Shir HaShirim 1:5), I am black and comely. In all of them the alef is quiescent, and they are the sense of beauty and comeliness.

Rabbi Yehudah brought הַנָּוָה וְהַמְּעֻנָּגָה (Yirmiyahu 6:2), the comely and delicate one, in with them, perhaps having found it written with an alef; Radak has not found it so. Rabbi Yonah too wrote it without an alef, and faulted Rabbi Yehudah for bringing it; Radak answers that there is nothing to fault, since even where the alef is not written it is quiescent after the kamatz. The noun is תַּֽאֲוַת אָדָם חַסְדּוֹ (Mishlei 19:22), that is, a man's beauty, and what is comely for him to do, is his kindness. It may be that these belong to the root נאה, the last root letter showing, on the pattern of גַּאֲוָה, pride. Chazal use the word regularly in the root נאה, and it seems that was its root for them, as when they say (Shabbos 133b) לולב נאה, a beautiful lulav, and התנאה לפניו במצות, make yourself beautiful before Him with mitzvos.

A third sense: עַֽד־ תַּֽאֲוַת גִּבְעֹת עוֹלָם (Bereishis 49:26), to the boundary of the everlasting hills, וְהִתְאַוִּיתֶם לָכֶם (Bamidbar 34:10), and you shall mark out your boundary, and תְּתָאוּ לְבֹא (Bamidbar 34:8), you shall mark the boundary to the entrance; their sense is a boundary. עַֽד־תַּֽאֲוַת גִּבְעֹת עוֹלָם is explained: as long as the boundary of the everlasting hills stands, the blessings will be on Yosef's head. תְּתָאוּ ought by rule to be תְּתַאֲווּ, and it is well to place it in this root, so that it has companions in the sense, וְהִתְאַוִּיתֶם לָכֶם and עַֽד־תַּֽאֲוַת גִּבְעֹת עוֹלָם; or it is from the root תָּאָה or תָּוָה, and then it stands alone in its root in this sense. And it is likely that its root is תוה, from וְהִתְוִיתָ תָּו (Yechezkel 9:4), and you shall set a mark, whose sense is close to a boundary, the alef standing in place of a vav.

חָמַד רָשָׁע מְצוֹד (Mishlei 12:12), the wicked desires the net, and וְחָֽמְדוּ שָׂדוֹת וְגָזָלוּ (Michah 2:2), they covet fields and rob them, and לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶךָ (Shemos 20:14), do not covet your fellow's house. In the passive it is נֶחְמָד לְמַרְאֶה (Bereishis 2:9), desirable to the sight, and הַנֶּחֱמָדִים מִזָּהָב (Tehillim 19:11), more desirable than gold.

אֶת־בִּגְדֵי עֵשָׂו בְּנָהּ הַגָּדֹל הַֽחֲמֻדֹת (Bereishis 27:15), the חמודות garments of Esav her elder son, are garments of worth and desirable ones; and כִּי חֲמוּדוֹת אָתָּה (Daniel 9:23), for you are חמודות, means a man of חמודות, that is, one who holds great excellences and good qualities. The nouns: מַחְמַד עֵינֶיךָ (Yechezkel 24:16), the delight of your eyes; אֶרֶץ חֶמְדָּה (Yirmiyahu 3:19), a land of desire; and כַּרְמֵי־ חֶמֶד נְטַעְתֶּם (Amos 5:11), you have planted vineyards of delight.

לֶחֶם חֲמֻדוֹת (Daniel 10:3) is bread of worth and desirable. Rabbeinu Hai explained it as להם חם, bread that is hot, and like it in the words of the Chachamim (Chullin 56a), נפלה לאור ונחמדו בני מעיה, it fell into the fire and its innards were נחמדו, that is, נתחממו, they grew hot. So they too explained lechem chamudos (Yoma 76b): what is lechem chamudos? Rabbi Yehudah the son of Rav Shmuel bar Sheilach said in the name of Rav, even warm wheat bread with olives they did not eat.

כִּי חָפֵץ בְּבַֽת־יַֽעֲקֹב (Bereishis 34:19), for he delighted in Yaakov's daughter, and וְאִם־לֹא יַחְפֹּץ הָאִישׁ (Devarim 25:7), and if the man does not wish. The noun is חֵפֶץ, and in the plural וְכָל־ חֲפָצֶיךָ לֹא יִֽשְׁווּ־בָֽהּ (Mishlei 3:15), all your desires cannot equal her.

On דְּרוּשִׁים לְכָל־חֶפְצֵיהֶֽם (Tehillim 111:2), sought out by all חֶפְצֵיהֶֽם, he holds the right reading is that חֶפְצֵיהֶֽם is an adjective, formed like זִקְנֵיהֶם, their elders: they are sought out by all who desire them.

יַחְפֹּץ זְנָבוֹ כְמוֹ־אָרֶז (Iyov 40:17), he יַחְפֹּץ his tail like a cedar, has been explained as a sense of movement, the tzadi exchanged for a zayin, the two coming from one place in the mouth, as in לֹא יַחְפּוֹז (Iyov 40:23), he does not hasten, a word of quick movement. On this reading his tail, great as a cedar, he moves swiftly.