society
handmaid
At a glance
In short
Shifchah is a bondwoman: as Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer puts it, the female counterpart of the eved, set to whatever work the household needs. Amah is a maidservant or handmaid in the more dignified position: a nursemaid to her master's children (Bedersi) or a housekeeper who oversees the household rather than doing its menial work (Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim). Eved is the one word for both the Jewish and the non-Jewish male slave. Some argue that shifchah means a non-Jewish woman and amah a Jewish one. Rabbi Klein allows that this may hold in rabbinic usage, but notes that it gives only a partial picture of Tanach, where both words cross the line.
Distinctions
Amah (אמה)
See the three derivations above. Rabbi Moshe Sherrow adds the halachic reason the Torah needs a separate word: a Jewish woman sold as an amah loses nothing of her status, may certainly not marry a non-Jewish eved, and is expected to marry her master or his son (Shemos 21:8-9), so she remains an ordinary Jewish woman. Hence amah against shifchah, where the male has only eved.
Shifchah (שפחה)
Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer: a shifchah and an eved are both genuinely slaves, put to a range of tasks, while an amah is closer to a housekeeper, whose work is domestic, a different institution altogether. That is why the female has two words and the male one. Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg notes that Bilhah and Zilpah are still called shifchah after Yaakov married them (Bereishis 32:23, 33:2, 33:6), out of humility: raised to be full wives, they went on as before and did not assert their new standing.
Menachem Ibn Saruk, Ibn Janach and Radak, unlike the readings of the root above, trace shifchah and mishpachah to the triliteral ש-פ-ח but divide its core meaning in two, "maidservant" and "family, clan, tribe": the two words come from the same root, but their meanings are not interconnected.
Eved (עבד)
One word for the Jewish bondsman and the non-Jewish slave alike. The Tosafists (Moshav Zekeinim to Shemos 21:4): a Jewish man sold as an eved loses something of his standing as a Jew, which is why his master may require him to cohabit with a non-Jewish bondwoman, ordinarily forbidden to him. Rabbi Moshe Sherrow draws the conclusion: since neither the Jewish nor the non-Jewish male slave is in the ordinary position of a Jew, one word covers both.
HaKsav VeHaKabbalah (to Shemos 21:26): when eved stands beside amah, the eved is a Canaanite slave. An amah is only a young girl, and a Hebrew male cannot be sold as a boy, only as an adult; since the pairing speaks of servants of one age, the eved cannot be a Hebrew one.
Where the authorities disagree
What amah adds. Three readings, two of them from the same word.
- Nursemaid. Rabbi Avraham Bedersi HaPenini: amah is from eim, "mother," a maid who takes on motherly duties and nurses her master's children. He adduces it from Hagar, who is called shifchah throughout Bereishis 16, and amah from the birth of Yishmael onward (Bereishis 21, but see 25:12). This understanding of amah is comparable to the English "nanny," engaged to help raise her employer's children as though she were their mother.
- Housekeeper. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim (Cheshek Shlomo), also from eim: a shifchah is put to menial work, an amah is more dignified and sees only to the ordinary running of the house. He derives the other senses from this one: the hand, which serves a man as the amah serves the household, and from the hand the cubit.
- From aimah, fear. Rabbi Eliezer Reines (Maftechos HaDamesek): the Jewish handmaid is called amah because she is not yet mistress of the house, and the fear (aimah) of the real mistress is upon her.
The root of shifchah.
- Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg: the root, which he writes with a shin, sin or samech before peh and ches, denotes connection or addition, so a shifchah is joined to the mistress of the house, both expected to perform services for the master (compare Kesubos 59b, that a woman who brings a hundred shefachos into her marriage still owes certain chores herself); mishpachah, a family, is otherwise separate individuals connected by familial relations.
- Others, including Rabbi Aharon Marcus and Rabbi Zev Hoberman: the root refers specifically to an extra appendage attached to something else, whence sapachas, a type of tzaraas (Vayikra 13:2), and sapach, an appendix; a mishpachah is the patriarch's children as secondary attachments ascribed to him, and a shifchah an adjunct attached to the otherwise complete faculty of a household.
Whether the Jewish/non-Jewish split is in the words themselves. Some argue shifchah inherently means a non-Jewish slave woman and amah a Jewish one. That may be true of rabbinic usage, but it is only a partial picture of Tanach: Vayikra 25:44 uses amah of female slaves taken from the non-Jewish population of the Holy Land, Avraham davened for Avimelech's wife and his amahos, whose wombs had been closed as a punishment (Bereishis 20:17), also non-Jewish, and Avigail calls herself Dovid's amah six times and his shifchah twice (Shmuel I 25), which suggests shifchah applies to a Jewish handmaid as amah does.
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
א-מ-ה
A maidservant; but at וַתִּשְׁלַח אֶת־ אֲמָתָהּ, which he reads as she sent her maid, some read אַמָּתָהּ with a dagesh, her arm, as Rav Saadiah Gaon explained it.
The maidservant
וְגַם אֶת־בֶּן־ הָֽאָמָה (Bereishis 21:10 in his edition), and also the son of the maidservant: the heh at the end is the feminine ending, and the heh that is the root's last letter drops, showing in וְאַמְהֹתָיו וַיֵּלֵֽדוּ (Bereishis 20:17), and his maidservants, and they bore. Their sense is known, that they are maidservants.
Her maid, or her arm
So too וַתִּשְׁלַח אֶת־ אֲמָתָהּ (Shemos 2:5), she sent her maidservant, שפחתה. It is said that the reading of this word is disputed: some read it with a dagesh, אַמָּתָהּ, from אַמָּה אָרְכּוֹ (Shemos 30:2), a cubit its length; and so Rav Saadiah Gaon explained it in his Arabic commentary, whose words mean ותשלח זרועה, and she put out her arm.
וְגַם אֶת־בֶּן־הָֽאָמָה (בראשית כא, י), הה"א לנקבה והה"א למ"ד הפועל נופלת, ונראה במלת וְאַמְהֹתָיו וַיֵּלֵֽדוּ (בראשית כ, יז), וענינם ידוע כי הם השפחות, וכן וַתִּשְׁלַח אֶת־אֲמָתָהּ (שמות ב, ה), שפחתה. ואומרים כי המלה הזאת מחלוקת בקריאתה כי יש שקוראים אותה בדגש אַמָּתָהּ מן אַמָּה אָרְכּוֹ (שמות ל, ב). וכן פירש רבינו סעדיה בפירושו בערבי ומד"ת דרעה"א, פירוש ותשלח זרועה.
ע-ב-ד
To serve: service to men, divine service, and working the land. עֶבֶד is a servant; the land's produce is named for the work, and the word can mean deeds.
Who serves and who is worked
The plain verb is said both of the one who serves and of the one who is worked, but the one worked is joined to it with a beis, as לֹא־ תַֽעֲבֹד בּוֹ (Vayikra 25:39), you shall not work him. So of the servant you say עובד אותו, he serves him, and of the master עובד בו, he works him. Onkelos takes וַֽעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם (Bereishis 15:13), and they shall serve them and they shall afflict them, as though it read ועבדו בם, they shall work them, and so rendered וְיִפְלְחוּן בְּהוֹן, they shall work them. It can also be read as it sounds, with the serving said of Israel and the afflicting of Egypt.
The service that is song
עֲבֹדַת עֲבֹדָה (Bamidbar 4:47), the service of service, is the song, which is the service of the korban.
Working the land
וְעָבַדְתָּ לּוֹ אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה (Shmuel II 9:10), you shall till the land for him, and עֹבֵד אֲדָמָֽה (Bereishis 4:2), a tiller of the ground. Because a man's need of the land is so great, and he must be busy with it always, he stands to it as a servant before his master. In וְנִֽהְיֶה אֲנַחְנוּ וְאַדְמָתֵנוּ עֲבָדִים לְפַרְעֹה (Bereishis 47:19), and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh, the land is as a servant to its owners. The land's produce is named for the work done on it, וַֽעֲבֻדָּה רַבָּה מְאֹד (Iyov 1:3), a very great yield.
מלך לשדה נעבד
מֶלֶךְ לְשָׂדֶה נֶעֱבָֽד (Koheles 5:8) is read two ways. Either the field, from the constancy of a man's work in it, is called נעבד, worked, though it is itself the one serving, as in וְנֶעֱבַדְתֶּם וְנִזְרַעְתֶּֽם (Yechezkel 36:9), you shall be tilled and sown; or the lamed of לשדה means for the sake of, and its meaning is that even the king is served only for the sake of the field, out of which comes what he gives and what feeds his armies. That second reading, Radak says, is the correct one.
Making another serve
וַיַּֽעֲבִדוּ מִצְרַיִם אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (Shemos 1:13), the Egyptians made the Children of Israel serve, and וְהַֽעֲבַדְתִּיךָ אֶת־אֹיְבֶיךָ (Yirmiyahu 17:4), I will make you serve your enemies. לֹא הֶעֱבַדְתִּיךָ בְּמִנְחָה (Yeshayahu 43:23) means: I did not force you to pass before Me with a meal offering.
Deeds
לָכֵן יַכִּיר מַעְבָּֽדֵיהֶם (Iyov 34:25), therefore He knows their deeds: מַעְבָּֽדֵיהֶם is their deeds, as the Targum renders מעשה, a deed, by עוּבְדָא; and without the added mem, וַֽעֲבָדֵיהֶם בְּיַד הָאֱלֹהִים (Koheles 9:1), their deeds are in Hashem's hand. Likewise וְעָֽבְדוּ זֶבַח וּמִנְחָה (Yeshayahu 19:21), and they shall make sacrifice and offering; וּבֹשׁוּ עֹֽבְדֵי פִשְׁתִּים שְׂרִיקוֹת (Yeshayahu 19:9), and the makers of flax dotted with colours shall be ashamed; וְלַֽעֲבֹד עֲבֹדָתוֹ נָכְרִיָּה עֲבֹדָתֽוֹ (Yeshayahu 28:21), and to do His deed, strange is His deed; and וַֽעֲבֹדַת הַצְּדָקָה (Yeshayahu 32:17), and the work of righteousness.
וְעָבַד הַלֵּוִי (במדבר יח, כג), עָֽבְדוּ אֶת־כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר (בראשית יד, ד). וַֽעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם (בראשית טו, יג), וַֽעֲבַדְתַּנִי חִנָּם (שם כט, טו), לֹא־תַֽעֲבֹד בּוֹ עֲבֹדַת עָֽבֶד (ויקרא כה, לט), וְעָבְדוּ בוֹ גּוֹיִם רַבִּים (ירמיה כז, ז), אִם־יִשְׁמְעוּ וְֽיַֽעֲבֹדוּ (איוב לו, יא), לְמִי אֲנִי אֶֽעֱבֹד (שמואל ב' טז, יט) פֶּן תַּעַבְדוּ לָֽעִבְרִים (שמואל א' ד, ט), בַּֽעֲבֹדָה אֲשֶׁר תַּֽעֲבֹד עִמָּדִי (בראשית כט, כז), הֲלֹא בְרָחֵל עָבַדְתִּי עִמָּךְ (בראשית כט, כה). והתאר עֶבֶד אֲדֹנִי זֶה (דניאל י, יז), בשש נקודות. עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים יִהְיֶה לְאֶחָֽיו (בראשית ט, כה). וְנִֽהְיֶה אֲנַחְנוּ וְאַדְמָתֵנוּ עֲבָדִים לְפַרְעֹה (בראשית מז, יט), פירוש כי האדמה כעבד לבעליה. והשם עֲבֹדַת עֲבֹדָה (במדבר ד, מז), פירוש השיר שהוא עבודת הקרבן. ומשקל אחר וּבְעַבְדֻתֵנוּ לֹא עֲזָבָנוּ אֱלֹהֵינוּ (עזרא ט, ט). ובענין עבודת האדמה וְעָבַדְתָּ לּוֹ אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה (שמואל ב' ט, י), עֹבֵד אֲדָמָֽה (בראשית ד, ב). הלשון הזה פעל הקל בו על העובד ועל הנעבד, אלא שיש הבדל ביניהם כי הנעבד קשור עם בי"ת כמו לֹא־תַֽעֲבֹד בּוֹ (ויקרא כה, לט), אם כן תאמר על העבד עובד אותו ותאמר על האדון עובד בו. ודעת אנקלוס בוַֽעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם שהוא כמו ועבדו בם לפיכך תרגם וְיִפְלְחוּן בְּהוֹן. ויש לפרשו כמשמעו, ויהיה ועבדום על ישראל ויהיה וענו אותם על מצרים. והנפעל אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יֵֽעָבֵד בּוֹ וְלֹא יִזָּרֵעַ (דברים כא, ד). מֶלֶךְ לְשָׂדֶה נֶעֱבָֽד (קהלת ה, ח), מהתמדת עבודת האדם בו יקרא נעבד ואם הוא עובד. וכן וְנֶעֱבַדְתֶּם וְנִזְרַעְתֶּֽם (יחזקאל לו, ט), או פירוש למ"ד לְשָֹדֶה בעבור ופירושו אפילו המלך איננו נעבד אלא בעבור השדה שממנו יצא לו מה שיתן ויאכיל לחיילותיו וזה הפירוש הוא הנכון. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] וְהַֽעֲבַדְתִּיךָ אֶת־אֹיְבֶיךָ (ירמיה יז, ד), וַיַּֽעֲבִדוּ מִצְרַיִם אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (שמות א, יג). לֹא הֶעֱבַדְתִּיךָ בְּמִנְחָה (ישעיה מג, כג), לא הכרחתיך לעבור לפני במנחה. ושלא נזכר פעלו מן הדגוש [פֻּעַל] וּמִן־הָֽעֲבֹדָה הַקָּשָׁה אֲשֶׁר עֻבַּד־בָּֽךְ (ישעיה יד, ג), אֲשֶׁר לֹֽא־עֻבַּד בָּהּ (דברים כא, ג). ענין הכל השמוש לבני אדם ועבודת אלהות ועבודת האדמה. ולרוב צורך אדם אל האדמה ושצריך שיהיה מתעסק תמיד בה הוא אליה כעבד לפני אדניו. ונקראו תוצאות האדמה על שם עבודה שעובדין אותה עבודה וַֽעֲבֻדָּה רַבָּה מְאֹד (איוב א, ג). לָכֵן יַכִּיר מַעְבָּֽדֵיהֶם (איוב לד, כה), פירושו מעשיהם כתרגום מעשֹה עוּבְדָא. וכן בלא מ"ם הנוספת וַֽעֲבָדֵיהֶם בְּיַד הָאֱלֹהִים (קהלת ט, א), מעשיהם. וכן וְעָֽבְדוּ זֶבַח וּמִנְחָה (ישעיה יט, כא). וכן וּבֹשׁוּ עֹֽבְדֵי פִשְׁתִּים שְׂרִיקוֹת (ישעיה יט, ט). וכן וְלַֽעֲבֹד עֲבֹדָתוֹ נָכְרִיָּה עֲבֹדָתֽוֹ (ישעיה כח, כא). וכן וַֽעֲבֹדַת הַצְּדָקָה (שם לב, יז).
ש-פ-חhis headword שׁפח
The שִׁפְחָה, a maidservant, a word with no masculine; and in another sense the מִשְׁפָּחָה, a family, a name given also to a tribe and to a nation.
The maidservant
כְּעֵינֵי שִׁפְחָה אֶל־יַד גְּבִרְתָּהּ (Tehillim 123:2), as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress; עֲבָדִים וּשְׁפָחוֹת (Koheles 2:7), menservants and maidservants; אֵין לְשִׁפְחָֽתְךָ כֹל (Melachim II 4:2), your maidservant has nothing. No masculine noun is formed from it: for the male one says עֶבֶד, a servant, and for the female אָמָה or שפחה, a maid.
The family
מִשְׁפָּחָה וּמִשְׁפָּחָה (Esther 9:28), every single family, and לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיהֶם יָֽצְאוּ מִן־הַתֵּבָֽה (Bereishis 8:19), they went out of the ark by their families; the tribe that Hashem takes יִקְרַב לַמִּשְׁפָּחוֹת (Yehoshua 7:14), shall come near by families. The tribe itself is also called מִשְׁפָּחָה: וַיַּקְרֵב אֶת־ מִשְׁפַּחַת יְהוּדָה (Yehoshua 7:17), he brought near the family of Yehudah.
A nation
A nation is called מִשְׁפָּחָה: וְאִם־ מִשְׁפַּחַת מִצְרַיִם (Zecharyah 14:18), and if the family of Mitzrayim; עַל כָּל־ הַמִּשְׁפָּחָה אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלֵיתִי מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם (Amos 3:1), against the whole family I brought up from the land of Mitzrayim; מִכֹּל מִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָֽאֲדָמָה (Amos 3:2), of all the families of the earth. And by way of borrowing, וּפָֽקַדְתִּי עֲלֵיהֶם אַרְבַּע מִשְׁפָּחוֹת (Yirmiyahu 15:3), I will appoint over them four families.
Radak’s root שׁפח
כְּעֵינֵי שִׁפְחָה אֶל־יַד גְּבִרְתָּהּ (תהלים קכג, ב), עֲבָדִים וּשְׁפָחוֹת (קהלת ב, ז), וּלְשִׁפְחָֽתְךָ שְׁנֵי בָנִים (שמואל ב' יד, ו), אֵין לְשִׁפְחָֽתְךָ כֹל (מלכים ב' ד, ב), הוא שם לאמה ולא יבא ממנו שם לזכר אלא יאמר עֶבֶד לזכר ואָמָה או שפחה לנקבה. וכבר כתבנו הדומים לו בחלק הדקדוק שהוא חלק הראשון מזה הספר. וענין אחר מִשְׁפָּחָה וּמִשְׁפָּחָה (אסתר ט, כח), לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתֵיהֶם יָֽצְאוּ מִן־הַתֵּבָֽה (בראשית ח, יט) והיה הַשֵּׁבֶט אֲשֶׁר־יִלְכְּדֶנּוּ י"י יִקְרַב לַמִּשְׁפָּחוֹת (יהושע ז, יד), ונקרא גם כן השבט משפחה וַיַּקְרֵב אֶת־מִשְׁפַּחַת יְהוּדָה (יהושע ז, יז). ונקרא הגוי משפחה וְאִם־מִשְׁפַּחַת מִצְרַיִם (זכריה יד, יח), עַל כָּל־הַמִּשְׁפָּחָה אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלֵיתִי מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם (עמוס ג, א), מִכֹּל מִשְׁפְּחוֹת הָֽאֲדָמָה (עמוס ג, ב), וְעַל מִשְׁפָּחוֹת אֲשֶׁר בְּשִׁמְךָ לֹא קָרָאוּ (ירמיה י, כה). ועל דרך ההשאלה וּפָֽקַדְתִּי עֲלֵיהֶם אַרְבַּע מִשְׁפָּחוֹת (ירמיה טו, ג).
He gives no sense here. The entry is one pasuk of Yeshayahu, with a note that the word is treated at the letter samech.
The whole entry
The one pasuk is Yeshayahu 3:17, on קָדְקֹד בְּנוֹת צִיּוֹן, the crown of the daughters of Tzion. Of the word itself he says nothing here, only that he has already treated it at the letter samech.
Radak’s root שׂפח
וְשִׂפַּח י"י קָדְקֹד בְּנוֹת צִיּוֹן (ישעיה ג, יז), כבר זכרנוהו באות הסמ"ך.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Handmaid's Deal," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 2 February 2019.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Family Matters," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 20 November 2021.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Handmaid’s Deal," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 16, 20:17, 21, 25:12, 32:23, 33:2, 33:6; Shemos 21:4, 21:8-9; Vayikra 13:2, 25:44; Shmuel I 25; Kesubos 59b; Moshav Zekeinim to Shemos 21:4; Rabbi Avraham Bedersi HaPenini; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Cheshek Shlomo; Rabbi Eliezer Reines, Maftechos HaDamesek (Warsaw 1898); HaKsav VeHaKabbalah to Shemos 21:26.