flour
At a glance
In short
Kemach is ordinary flour, ground with the bran and germ still in it: whole wheat flour, and by extension anything of the coarser grade. Soles is the sifted, refined grade: fine flour. Rav Hirsch (Bereishis 18:6) clarifies that the two do not differ in how fine or coarse the flour is per se; they differ as whole wheat flour differs from white flour, soles being made of the endosperm alone. Rashi (Bava Metzia 87a) states that soles is better than kemach.
Distinctions
Kemach (קמח)
Fourteen appearances in Tanach.
- Donash Ibn Labrat, arguing against Menachem Ibn Saruk, pointed to the ostensible Arabic cognate, which means wheat; an anonymous student of Menachem answered that the Arabic word means wheat generally while the Hebrew means specifically wheat that has been ground, that is, flour.
- Donash's own student Ibn Sheshes conceded that in the Sotah offering, where the Torah writes kemach se'orim, flour of barley, the word cannot mean wheat.
- Rashi (Sotah 14a): everything is mixed into kemach. It can be finely ground and still be kemach, since husk and bran remain within the granules (Rashi to Kesubos 112b).
- Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg: kemach is adulterated flour carrying subpar material.
As a metaphor it is the lesser stock: "he does not care about his kemach" (Yevamos 42b, Pesachim 84a, Sukkah 54a) of one who speaks imprecisely, since he grinds kemach and not soles (Rashi there); and of Kimchis, the pious woman who merited that each of her seven sons serve as Kohen Gadol because she was careful always to cover her hair, even indoors, of whom Chazal said "all kemach yields kemach, but the kemach of Kimchis is soles" (Yerushalmi Yoma 1:1 and Bamidbar Rabbah 2:26; the story is at Yoma 47a). Just as wheat yields flour, so people yield offspring.
Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh of Carpentras (Ohalei Yehudah) reads kemach as a compound of ק-מ-ה, standing erect, and מ-ח-ה, erasing, since grinding takes the stalk that stood tall in the field and cuts it down; kamah is standing, uncut grain (Shemos 22:5; Peah 2:7, 4:7, 5:2; Menachos 10:9). Alternatively he derives it straight from י-מ-ח, erasure, on the interchange of kuf and yud. The Kimchi family name (Rabbi Yosef Kimchi and his sons Radak and Rabbi Moshe Kimchi) appears to come from this word. Some have proposed the pronunciation Kamchi, but Rabbi Klein holds Kimchi to be certainly the more popular one, and Rabbi Immanuel Frances rhymes it with simchi, ostensibly attesting to it.
Soles (סולת)
Fifty-two appearances in Tanach, more than half of them in Bamidbar, mostly clustered in Nasso and Pinchas. Every menachah in the Torah is brought of soles except the Omer (Vayikra 23:10-11) and the Sotah offering (Bamidbar 5:15), both of which are barley; the Sotah offering the Torah calls kemach.
- On that basis Rashi (Vayikra 2:1) and Rashbam (Bereishis 18:6) hold that soles always means wheat flour.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim objects from Shemos 29:2, which says soles chittim, flour of wheat, implying that soles alone does not necessarily specify the species.
- Rabbi Klein adds that either way, since the Sotah offering is explicitly said to come from kemach, this implies a different type or grade of flour rather than a different species of grain.
Menachos 6:7 describes sifting the flour for menachos over and over to yield the finest soles (see Rashi to Menachos 76b); Rashi to Taanis 9b explains that the finer white flour passes the sifter first and the coarser after (see also Tosafos there), and Avos 5:15 uses the image: the sieve lets out the kemach and keeps the soles. Rashi (Bava Metzia 87a) states plainly that soles is better than kemach; Kiddushin 69b calls the Babylonian community pure soles against the mixed dough left in Eretz Yisrael.
Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim traces soles to the biliteral ס-ל, repeated action: mesilah is a road much trodden, misalsel (Rosh Hashanah 26b) is one who twists his hair over and over, and sal is the bread basket (Bereishis 40:16, Vayikra 8:2), in daily use. So, he proposes, soles is either the flour precious enough to be kept in a sal rather than dumped in a sack like kemach, or the flour named for the repeated pressing and grinding that produces it.
Geres (גרש) and semida (סמידא)
- Rashi (Menachos 27a): geres said of barley (Vayikra 2:14) is to barley what soles is to wheat.
- Ibn Janach defines geres with the word soles outright.
- Menachem, Ibn Janach and Radak all treat ג-ר-ש and ג-ר-ס as one root meaning breaking or grinding.
- The Aramaic semida Rashi glosses as soles (Shabbos 110b, Pesachim 74b, Taanis 24b, Gittin 56a), and Ibn Ezra (Vayikra 2:1) says soles is white flour, known in Arabic and Aramaic as semida.
- There is a counter-usage: the Targum to Bereishis 18:6 often attributed to Rabbi Yonasan ben Uziel renders kemach as semida and soles as solta.
This Aramaic and Arabic word is the etymological ancestor of the English semolina, by way of the Greek semidalis and the interchange of dalet and lamed.
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ג-ר-ס
To break and pound: a soul broken with longing, teeth broken on gravel; and גֶּרֶשׂ, the wheat broken and crumbled.
Broken with longing
גָּרְסָה נַפְשִׁי לְתַאֲבָה (Tehillim 119:20), my soul is broken with longing: broken and pounded from the greatness of its desire for Your judgments. The heavy form, וַיַּגְרֵס בֶּחָצָץ שִׁנָּי (Eichah 3:17 in his edition), he broke my teeth on gravel, which he glosses וישבר, and he broke.
Broken grain
Written with a sin: גֶּרֶשׂ כַּרְמֶל (Vayikra 2:14), broken grain of fresh ears, pointed with six dots, and מִגִּרְשָׂהּ וּמִשַּׁמְנָהּ (Vayikra 2:16), of its broken grain and of its oil, which is the wheat broken and crumbled, and he gives the Old French word for it. Like it in the words of Chazal (Avodah Zarah 65b), חומץ שנפל לתוך הגריסין, vinegar that fell into the grits.
גָּרְסָה נַפְשִׁי לְתַֽאֲבָה (תהלים קיט, כ), נשברה ונכתתה מרוב תאותה אל משפטיך. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] וַיַּגְרֵס בֶּֽחָצָץ שִׁנָּי (איכה ג, יז), וישבר. ונכתבנו בשי"ן גֶּרֶשׂ כַּרְמֶל (ויקרא ב, יד), בשש נקדות, מִגִּרְשָׂהּ וּמִשַּׁמְנָהּ (ויקרא ב, טז), החטה הנשברת והנפרכת פרש"ש בלע"ז. ודומה לו בדברי רבותינו (עבודה זרה סה, ע"ב), חומץ שנפל לתוך הגריסין.
ג-ר-שhis headword גרשׂ
Wheat broken and crumbled, as he explains at the root גרס: גֶּרֶשׂ כַּרְמֶל (Vayikra 2:14), fresh ears broken small, and מִגִּרְשָׂהּ (Vayikra 2:16), its broken wheat.
Radak’s root גרשׂ
גֶּרֶשׂ כַּרְמֶל (ויקרא ב, יד), בשש נקודות, מִגִּרְשָׂהּ וּמִשַּׁמְנָהּ (שם טז), כבר זכרנום בשרש גרס.
To drive out and send away, as a wife from her husband; of the sea, to toss and cast up mire. The open land outside a city is named as though driven out of it.
Driving out
הִנְנִי גֹרֵשׁ מִפָּנֶיךָ (Shemos 34:11), behold, I drive out before you; וְאִשָּׁה גְּרוּשָׁה מֵֽאִישָׁהּ (Vayikra 21:7), and a woman put away from her husband; גָּרֵשׁ הָֽאָמָה הַזֹּאת (Bereishis 21:10), drive out this maidservant; and with no doer named, כִּי־ גֹֽרְשׁוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם (Shemos 12:39), for they were driven out of Egypt.
Exactions heaped on the people
הָרִימוּ גְרֻשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם מֵעַל עַמִּי (Yechezkel 45:9), take away your exactions from my people, he reads as the taxes you heap and cast upon them, lift them off them. Targum Yonasan rendered סְלִיקוּ תִקְלַתְכוֹן מִגוֹ עַמִי, remove your burden from among my people.
The sea that casts up mire
וַיִּגְרְשׁוּ מֵימָיו רֶפֶשׁ וָטִֽיט (Yeshayahu 57:20), its waters cast up mire and mud, and כַּיָּם נִגְרָשׁ (Yeshayahu 57:20), like the tossing sea, which he reads as a sea shaking with its waves, and they go out to the shore. The same form is in נִגְרַשְׁתִּי מִנֶּגֶד עֵינֶיךָ (Yonah 2:5), I am driven out from before Your eyes, and in וְנִגְרְשָׁה (Amos 8:8), it heaves up, וְנִשְׁקְעָה כִּיאוֹר מִצְרָֽיִם, and sinks like the river of Egypt.
The moons that drive the fruit out
גֶּרֶשׁ יְרָחִֽים (Devarim 33:14), the putting forth of the moons, is a noun pointed with six dots, and is the season when the fruits bud and blossom with force, as though the moon were driving them outward.
Nouns with a mem added
With a mem added, מִגְרָשׁ: לְמַעַן מִגְרָשָׁהּ לָבַֽז (Yechezkel 36:5) is a noun standing in place of the infinitive, as if it said למען גרוש אותה לבז, so as to drive it out for spoil. The same noun names the open lands that lie outside a city, וּמִגְרָשׁ לֶֽעָרִים (Bamidbar 35:2), and open land for the cities, and וּמִגְרְשֵׁי הֶֽעָרִים (Bamidbar 35:4), the open lands of the cities. In another pattern, לְקוֹל זַֽעֲקַת חֹֽבְלָיִךְ יִרְֽעֲשׁוּ מִגְרֹשֽׁוֹת (Yechezkel 27:28), at the sound of the cry of your pilots the outlying lands shake, called so because they lie outside the city, as though they had been driven out of it.
Radak’s root גרשׁ
הִנְנִי גֹרֵשׁ מִפָּנֶיךָ (שמות לד, יא), וְאִשָּׁה גְּרוּשָׁה מֵֽאִישָׁהּ (ויקרא כא, ז), הָרִימוּ גְרֻשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם מֵעַל עַמִּי (יחזקאל מה, ט), פירוש המסים שאתם גודשים ומשליכים עליהם הרימו אותם מעליהם. ויונתן תרגם סְלִיקוּ תִקְלַתְכוֹן מִגוֹ עַמִי וַיִּגְרְשׁוּ מֵימָיו רֶפֶשׁ וָטִֽיט (ישעיה נז, כ). והנפעל כַּיָּם נִגְרָשׁ (שם), פירוש כים שהוא מתנדנד בגליו ויוצאים אל השפה. נִגְרַשְׁתִּי מִנֶּגֶד עֵינֶיךָ (יונה ב, ה), וְנִגְרְשָׁה וְנִשְׁקְהָ [וְנִשְׁקְעָה] כִּיאוֹר מִצְרָֽיִם (עמוס ח, ח). והפעל הכבד [פִּעֵל] גָּרֵשׁ הָֽאָמָה הַזֹּאת (בראשית כא, י), ושלא נזכר פועלו [פֻּעַל] כִּי־גֹֽרְשׁוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם (שמות יב, לט), והשם גֶּרֶשׁ יְרָחִֽים (דברים לג, יד), בשש נקדות והוא זמן שהפירות מניצים ופורחים בכח היה כאילו הירח מגרש אותם לחוץ. והשם עוד בתוספת מ"ם מִגְרָשׁ לְמַעַן מִגְרָשָׁהּ לָבַֽז (יחזקאל לו, ה), והוא שם במקום מקור כאילו אמר למען גרוש אותה לבז. וזה השם עוד לפרזות אשר הם חוץ לעיר וּמִגְרָשׁ לֶֽעָרִים (במדבר לה, ב), וּמִגְרְשֵׁי הֶֽעָרִים (שם ד). ומשקל אחר לְקוֹל זַֽעֲקַת חֹֽבְלָיִךְ יִרְֽעֲשׁוּ מִגְרֹשֽׁוֹת (יחזקאל כז, כח), ונקראו כן לפי שהם חוץ לעיר כאילו נגרשו מן העיר.
ס-ל-ת
Solet, the flour of a coarse grinding; so the Mishnah speaks of a sieve that lets the flour through and holds the solet back.
The flour of a coarse grinding
סֹלֶת חִטִּים (Shemos 29:2), solet of wheat, and מִסָּלְתָּהּ וּמִשַּׁמְנָהּ (Vayikra 2:2), of its solet and of its oil: it is the flour ground with a coarse grinding. So the Mishnah has it (Avos 5:15), נפה שהיא מוציאה את הקמח וקולטת את הסולת, a sieve that lets the flour out and holds back the solet.
סֹלֶת חִטִּים (שמות כט, ב), מִסָּלְתָּהּ וּמִשַּׁמְנָהּ (ויקרא ב, ב), הוא הקמח שהוא טחון טחינה גסה. וכן אמרו במשנה (אבות פרק חמישי משנה טו) נפה שהיא מוציאה את הקמח וקולטת את הסולת.
ק-מ-ח
Flour. Where a pasuk says to grind flour, it names the thing by what it will become, since no one grinds what is already flour.
Flour
קֶמַח שְׂעֹרִים (Bamidbar 5:15), barley flour, with a segol, and וַתִּקַּח־ קֶמַח וַתָּלָשׁ (Shmuel I 28:24), and she took flour and kneaded it.
Named for what it becomes
קְחִי רֵחַיִם וְטַֽחֲנִי קָמַח (Yeshayahu 47:2), take millstones and grind flour, says flour on account of its end, since a man does not grind flour. So too אָפִיתִי עַל־גֶּחָלָיו לֶחֶם (Yeshayahu 44:19), I baked bread on its coals, since it is not bread until it has been baked, and others besides these, as he wrote at the root אָפָה. And so בְּלִי יַֽעֲשֶׂה־ קֶּמַח (Hoshea 8:7), it shall yield no flour, which he wrote at the root לָחַם.
קֶמַח שְׂעֹרִים (במדבר ה, טו), בסגול. וַתִּקַּח־קֶמַח וַתָּלָשׁ (שמואל א' כח, כד), קְחִי רֵחַיִם וְטַֽחֲנִי קָמַח (ישעיה מז, ב), אמר קמח על שם סופו כי לא יטחון אדם הקמח. וכן אָפִיתִי עַל־גֶּחָלָיו לֶחֶם (ישעיה מד, יט), כי לא יהיה לחם עד שנאפה ואחרים זולתם כמו שכתבנו בשרש אָפָה. וכן בְּלִי יַֽעֲשֶׂה־קֶּמַח (הושע ח, ז), כתבנום בשרש לָחַם.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Flour Power," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 3 July 2021.
Cited in the essay: Vayikra 2:1 with Rashi and Ibn Ezra, 2:14, 8:2, 23:10-11; Bamidbar 5:15; Shemos 22:5, 29:2; Bereishis 18:6 with Rashbam and Rav Hirsch, and in the Targum attributed to Rabbi Yonasan ben Uziel, 40:16; Menachos 6:7 and 10:9, with Rashi to Menachos 27a and 76b; Avos 5:15; Rosh Hashanah 26b; Taanis 9b with Rashi and Tosafos, and 24b; Bava Metzia 87a with Rashi; Yevamos 42b; Pesachim 84a and 74b; Sukkah 54a; Kiddushin 69b; Kesubos 112b with Rashi; Sotah 14a with Rashi; Yoma 47a with Yerushalmi Yoma 1:1 and Bamidbar Rabbah 2:26; Shabbos 110b; Gittin 56a; Peah 2:7, 4:7, 5:2; Menachem Ibn Saruk; Donash Ibn Labrat; Ibn Sheshes; Ibn Janach; Radak; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Cheshek Shlomo s.v. סל; Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg, HaKsav VeHaKabbalah; Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh of Carpentras, Ohalei Yehudah; Rabbi Immanuel Frances.