here
At a glance
In short
Poh is the ordinary here, and Luzzatto and Wertheimer take it as the more specific one, a particular spot. Halom is directional, hither, a step arrived at rather than a place stood in (Rav Hirsch, as Dr. Lawrence Resnick sums him up), and Chazal postulate that it always connotes something to do with royalty (Zevachim 102a). Heinah is here as a destination reached from elsewhere (Luzzatto), and, unlike poh and halom, it can also mean until now (Bedersi). Luzzatto takes zeh, used of place, as the less specific word, a general area, and koh as thereabouts, near here rather than here itself.
Distinctions
Halom (הלום) and poh (פה)
Halom has eleven appearances against eighty-two for poh: Shemos 3:5; Bereishis 16:13; Shmuel II 7:18; Shoftim 18:3. Targum renders it halcha (Shemos 3:5, Shoftim 18:3), and renders heinah the same way (Bereishis 45:5, Yehoshua 2:2, 3:9); the Talmudic cognate is the heilach of Bava Metzia 4a, where a man concedes part of a claim and pays it on the spot, "and heilach," and the sugya turns on whether that counts as a partial admission.
- Poh is the default, and Luzzatto, drawing a distinction between a general term for a place and a more specific spot within it, has poh name the specific one: Avraham before the Akeidah, "sit poh with the donkey" (Bereishis 22:5); "stand poh with Me" (Devarim 5:27); the covenant binding those poh and those not (Devarim 29:14).
- Wertheimer: it fits a person already standing with the speaker; Targum renders it hacha (Bereishis 19:12, 22:5, Rus 4:1), and heinah too (Yehoshua 2:2).
Heinah (הנה)
Yosef: "bring my father down heinah" (Bereishis 45:13); the Yevusim to David, "you shall not come heinah" (Shmuel II 5:6); Avraham's offspring promised a return after the exile, "in the fourth generation they shall return heinah" (Bereishis 15:16); the waters split heinah v'heinah (Melachim II 2:14); and Yirmiyahu's exiles asking the way heinah, to Tzion (Yirmiyahu 50:5).
- Luzzatto asserts, with prooftexts, that it is used only where something has travelled from elsewhere and arrived, often of somebody coming here, ostensibly from somewhere else (Yehoshua 2:2; Shoftim 16:2; Shmuel II 5:6; Melachim II 8:7; Yechezkel 40:4; Divrei HaYamim I 11:5), while poh and zeh are static and need not imply any contrast with another place.
- Wertheimer: poh is the more specific "here" and heinah the more general, and heinah suits a listener not yet arrived.
- Bedersi (a thirteenth century Spanish scholar), in Chosam Tochnis: poh and halom are strictly spatial, while heinah is often borrowed for time as well. Bereishis 15:16 has both senses in one pasuk, the fourth generation returning heinah because the sin of the Emori is not complete ad heinah, "until now"; so too Yaakov, "I have not seen him ad heinah" (Bereishis 44:28). Bedersi warns against confusing it with its homonym heinah, a feminine form of hein, "they" (Bereishis 6:2, 21:29; Shmuel II 17:28).
Zeh (זה) and koh (כה)
Zeh is "this," occasionally used for place: "stay zeh the night" (Bamidbar 22:19), "go up zeh" (Bamidbar 13:17), "slaughter zeh" (Shmuel I 14:34), on the spot and not elsewhere. Luzzatto takes zeh in this sense as the less specific place, a general area: "there was no kedeishah bazeh" (Bereishis 38:21-22). Koh, typically "so" or "thus," occasionally means here: "set them koh" (Bereishis 31:37), "a day's journey koh" (Bamidbar 11:31), Bilam "stand koh" by his offerings (Bamidbar 23:15; see also Shmuel II 18:30). Luzzatto claims koh is somewhere very close to "here" rather than here itself, seemingly on the strength of the prefix kaf in the sense of "like/as." Targum often renders koh with kah, spelled kaf-aleph. Mishnaic kan is understood to be its cognate, its aleph merely separating it from kein, "yes/likewise" (Rabbi Chaim Yehoshua Kasovsky).
Aramaic ka, haka, is "here." Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh (Eim LaMikra to Bereishis 38:17) relates it to Latin hic, hac and Italian qua.
Where the authorities disagree
What halom carries.
- Chazal (Zevachim 102a) buttress their reading of the Burning Bush by postulating that halom always connotes something to do with royalty, so that "al tikrav halom" (Shemos 3:5) is a refusal of dynastic leadership to Moshe, on the strength of David's "ki haviosani ad halom" (Shmuel II 7:18). Maharsha adds that the exegesis is also supported by the choice of the rare halom over the common poh; Bereishis Rabbah 45:1 reads Hagar's halom (Bereishis 16:13) the same way. Maharsha (to Zevachim 102a) and HaKtav VeHaKabbalah (to Bereishis 16:13) work through further examples of halom carrying something royal or otherwise important about the place.
- Luzzatto extrapolates from the Gemara's discussion that halom means "here" as an important, special place, against the other words in the cluster, which can carry a banal or prosaic "here."
- In a similar vein, Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 16:13) pairs ה-ל-ם (breaking or beating, as with a hammer) with paam: as a paam is one beat in the continuum of time, halom is one step in the continuum of space, marking a place one may be marching to as finally "here." Dr. Lawrence Resnick sums up Rav Hirsch: halom never means "here," it means "hither," a single spatial step forward, up to here. As Rabbi Eliezer Cohn has pointed out, Rav Hirsch is in fact following his great-uncle Rabbi Yehuda Leib Shapira-Frankfurter (HaRechasim LeVikah to Bereishis 16:13), who had already written that halom always means "to here."
The roots. Poh is spelled peh-hei usually, peh-vav twenty times in Yechezkel 41-42, peh-aleph once (Iyov 38:11), so Ibn Janach and Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Parchon give פ-ו, Radak gives פ-ה, and Menachem Ibn Saruk reduces to פ alone; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim sides with Radak and reads peh, a mouth, "here" being an opening onto elsewhere. For halom, Menachem, Ibn Janach and Radak give ה-ל-ם, while Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim drops the mem and reads ה-ל, "spreading out," giving halah (yonder) against halom, a narrow region spreading from where one stands. Rabbi Yosef Grayever reads ה-ל as "separation," halom a place set apart, which is why it is important.
Also discussed in
- Hammerהלמות / הלום (ה-ל-ם, ה-ל)
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ה-ל-ם
To be broken and crushed, or to strike; the הַלְמוּת is a hammer. A second sense is הֲלֹם, here.
Striking and breaking
אָז הָלְמוּ עִקְּבֵי־סוּס (Shoftim 5:22), then the horses' heels were broken, that is, נשברו ונכתתו, broken and crushed; the verb here takes no object, as though it had said נהלמו, they were struck; and so וְהִנֵּה הֶֽהָמוֹן נָמוֹג וַיֵּלֶךְ וַֽהֲלֹֽם (Shmuel I 14:16), and behold, the multitude melted away and went on and was broken, meaning it went on going and being broken. Transitive are הֲלָמוּנִי בַּל־יָדָעְתִּי (Mishlei 23:35), they struck me and I did not know it, בְּכַשִּׁיל וְכֵֽילַפֹּת יַֽהֲלֹמֽוּן (Tehillim 74:6), with hatchet and hammers they strike, and הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (Yeshayahu 28:1), men struck down by wine. The noun is הוֹלֶם פָּעַם (Yeshayahu 41:7), the one who strikes, and with a mem added, לְמַֽהֲלֻמוֹת (Mishlei 18:6), for blows.
The tool
לְהַלְמוּת עֲמֵלִים (Shoftim 5:26), to the הַלְמוּת of the workmen: the name of a tool, which is the מַקֶּבֶת, the hammer.
Here, in this place
אַל־תִּקְרַב הֲלֹם (Shemos 3:5), do not come near here, and כִּי הֲבִיאֹתַנִי עַד־הֲלֹם (Shmuel II 7:18), that You have brought me this far: their sense is as הנה, here.
Where Rabbi Yonah differs
Radak takes יָשׁוּב עַמּוֹ הֲלֹם (Tehillim 73:10), His people return here, in this second sense: they come back again and again here, to this matter, to weigh and consider why the wicked have their ease, and why the waters of a full cup are drained out to them, that is, that they are sated with every good of this world. Rabbi Yonah puts the pasuk in the first sense, of being broken. Radak takes that to mean that the people come back broken at seeing the ease of the wicked, and that the waters of the full cup are then the tears of their weeping.
The stone
In נֹפֶךְ סַפִּיר וְיָהֲלֹם (Shemos 28:18), a nofech, a sapphire and a yahalom, the yud may be an addition, and the word is a precious stone. Rabbi Avraham ben Ezra writes there that a great Sephardi sage said it is the one called in Arabic אל מא"ס, which breaks every stone and pierces crystal, and that the name comes from הוֹלֶם פָּעַם (Yeshayahu 41:7), the one who strikes.
אָז הָֽלְמוּ עִקְּבֵי־סוּס (שופטים ה, כב), כלומר נשברו ונכתתו והוא בודד כאילו אמר נהלמו וכן וְהִנֵּה הֶֽהָמוֹן נָמוֹג וַיֵּלֶךְ וַֽהֲלֹֽם (שמואל א' יד, טז), רצונו לומר וילך הלוך והשבר. והעובר הֲלָמוּנִי בַּל־יָדָעְתִּי (משלי כג, לה), בְּכַשִּׁיל וְכֵֽילַפֹּת יַֽהֲלֹמֽוּן (תהלים עד, ו), הֲלוּמֵי יָֽיִן (ישעיה כח, א). והשם אֶת־הוֹלֶם פָּעַם (ישעיה מא, ו). ובתוספת מ"ם לְמַֽהֲלֻמוֹת יקרא (משלי יח, ו). ושם הכלי לְהַלְמוּת עֲמֵלִים (שופטים ה, כו), והוא המקבת. וענין אחר ויאמר אַל־תִּקְרַב הֲלֹם (שמות ג, ה), וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ מִֽי־הֱבִיאֲךָ הֲלֹם (שופטים יח, ג), כִּי הֲבִֽיאֹתַנִי עַד־הֲלֹֽם (שמואל ב' ז, יח), לָכֵן יָשׁיּב [יָשׁוּב] עַמּוֹ הֲלֹם (תהלים עג, י), ענינם כמו הנה. ופירוש יָשׁיּב [יָשׁוּב] עַמּוֹ הֲלֹם ישוב עמו פעם אחר פעם הנה בזה הענין לחשוב ולהתבונן בו למה תהיה שלות הרשעים ולמה מֵי כוס מָלֵא יִמָּצוּ לָֽמוֹ כלומר שהם שבעים מכל טוב בעולם הזה. ורבי יונה הכניס לָכֵן יָשׁיּב [יָשׁוּב] עַמּוֹ הֲלֹם בענין הראשון כלומר ישוב עמו נשבר בראותם שלות הרשעים וּמֵי מָלֵא יִמָּצוּ לָֽמוֹ (שם) רצונו לומר דמעת הבכי. נֹפֶךְ סַפִּיר וְיָֽהֲלֹֽם (שמות כח, יח), אפשר שתהיה היו"ד נוספת והיא אבן יקרה. וכתב רבי אברהם בן עזרא (שם) כי חכם גדול ספרדי אמר שהוא הנקרא בערבי אל מא"ס שהוא שובר כל האבנים ונוקב הבדולח והוא מגזרת הוֹלֶם פָּעַם (ישעיה מא, ז).
ה-נ-הhe files it under הן
הֵן and הִנֵּה point to what is ready at hand; הֵן can stand for אִם, if; עַד־ הֵֽנָּה is until now and הֵנָּה here; and הֵן, הֵנָּה are they, of women.
The thing at hand
הֵן ־אֲנִי כְפִיךָ לָאֵל (Iyov 33:6), see, I am as your own mouth before Hashem. With a heh added it is הִנֵּה, as וְהִנֵּה אָֽנֹכִי עִמָּךְ (Bereishis 28:15), and here I am with you; and with the pronouns הִנְנִי and הִנֶּנִּי, here I am, הִנְנוּ and הִנֶּנּוּ, here we are. The sense of them all is the thing that stands ready.
Where it asks a question
הֵן הָֽיְתָה כָּזֹֽאת (Yirmiyahu 2:10), has there been such a thing, and הֵן נִזְבַּח (Shemos 8:22), shall we slaughter: though the sense of these two is a question, הֵן keeps its own meaning, since a question can come without the interrogative heh, as אַתָּה זֶה בְּנִי עֵשָׂו (Bereishis 27:24), are you he, my son Esav, and the like. The same two are where it stands in place of אִם, if: וּרְאוּ הֵן הָֽיְתָה כָּזֹֽאת, and see if there has been such a thing, and הֵן נִזְבַּח אֶת־תּֽוֹעֲבַת מִצְרַיִם לְעֵֽינֵיהֶם וְלֹא יִסְקְלֻֽנוּ, if we slaughter the abomination of Mitzrayim before their eyes, will they not stone us?
Until now, and here
עַד־ הֵֽנָּה is of time, until now: כִּי לֹֽא־שָׁלֵם עֲוֹן הָֽאֱמֹרִי עַד־ הֵֽנָּה (Bereishis 15:16), for the sin of the Emori is not complete until now, and וְלֹא רְאִיתִיו עַד־ הֵֽנָּה (Bereishis 44:28), and I have not seen him until now. Some explain אֲשֶׁר־ עֲדֶן לֹא הָיָה (Koheles 4:3), who has not yet been, as properly עד הן, until now, and אֲשֶׁר הֵמָּה חַיִּים עֲדֶֽנָה (Koheles 4:2), who are still alive, as עד הנה, until now. הֵנָּה comes also in a sense close to this one, except that this one points to time, until this time, and the other to place, this place: וְהֽוֹרַדְתֶּם אֶת־אָבִי הֵֽנָּה (Bereishis 45:13), and you shall bring my father down here.
The feminine they
It also serves as the pronoun for women spoken of: וְהַֽעֲבַרְתָּ אֶת־נַֽחֲלַת אֲבִיהֶן לָהֶֽן (Bamidbar 27:7), and you shall pass their father's inheritance to them. With a heh added it is הֵנָּה: אֶת־בְּנוֹת הָֽאָדָם כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה (Bereishis 6:2), the daughters of man, that they were fair, and כָּל־הַיּוֹצֵא מֵהֵנָּה (Yirmiyahu 5:6), whoever goes out from them, that is, from the cities. The form with the nun comes for men too: הֲלָהֵן תְּשַׂבֵּרְנָה (Rus 1:13), would you wait for them?
הֵן־אֲנִי כְפִיךָ לָאֵל (איוב לג, ו), הֵן לוּ יְהִי כִדְבָרֶֽךָ (בראשית ל, לד), הֵן הָֽיְתָה כָּזֹֽאת (ירמיה ב, י), הֵן נִזְבַּח (שמות ח, כב). אף על פי שענין אלו השנים לשאלה מלת הן היא כמשמעה כי יבא ענין השאלה בה"א אם ובלא ה"א השאלה כמו אַתָּה זֶה בְּנִי עֵשָׂו (בראשית כז, כד), והדומים לו. הֵן הֵנָּה הָיוּ לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (במדבר לא, טז), ובתוספות ה"א וְהִנֵּה אָֽנֹכִי עִמָּךְ (בראשית כח, טו), ועם הכנוי בדגש הִנֵּה הִנָּם (ישעיה מא, כז). הִנָּךְ הָרָה (בראשית טו, יא), ובכנוי המדבר הִנְנִי עֲנוּ בִי (שמואל א' יב, ג), בקלות שתי הנוני"ן ובשוא הנו"ן הראשונה. ובדגש הנו"ן הראשונה ובצרי הִנֵּנִי הִנֵּנִי (ישעיה סה, א). ובסגול הנו"ן הראשונה ובדגש שתי הנוני"ן וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֶּנִּי בְנִי (בראשית כב, ז), הִנֶּנִּי מי אתה בני (בראשית כז, כח), והם במסרה ב' דגשין. ובכנוי המדברים ועתה הִנְנוּ בידך (יהושע ט, כה), הִנְנוּ עצמך ובשרך אנחנו (שמואל ב' ה, א) הִנְנוּ אָתָנוּ לָךְ (ירמיה ג, כב), בקלות שתי הנוני"ן ובשוא הראשונה. ובדגש שתי הנוני"ן ובסגול הראשונה הִנֶּנּוּ ועלינו (במדבר יד, מ), הִנֶּנּוּ עֲבָדִים לַֽאדֹנִי (בראשית מד, טז), הִנֶּנּוּ לְךָ לַֽעֲבָדִֽים (בראשית נ, יח). והם במסרה ג' דגושין, ענינם על הדבר המזומן. ויבא במקום אִם, וּרְאוּ הֵן הָֽיְתָה כָּזֹֽאת (ירמיה ב, י), הֵן נִזְבַּח אֶת־תּֽוֹעֲבַת מִצְרַיִם לְעֵֽינֵיהֶם וְלֹא יִסְקְלֻֽנוּ (שמות ח, כב). וענין אחר כִּי לֹֽא־שָׁלֵם עֲוֹן הָֽאֱמֹרִי עַד־הֵֽנָּה (בראשית טו, טז), וְלֹא רְאִיתִיו עַד־הֵֽנָּה (בראשית מד, כח), ענינם עד עתה. ויש מפרשים אֲשֶׁר־עֲדֶן לֹא הָיָה (קהלת ד, ג), משפטו עד הן, אֲשֶׁר הֵמָּה חַיִּים עֲדֶֽנָה (קהלת ד, ב), עד הנה. ובא הֵנָּה בענין אחר קרוב לזה הענין אלא שזה הענין מורה על הזמן עד הנה כלומר עד הזמן הזה וזה הענין האחר מורה על המקום כלומר המקום הזה. וְהֽוֹרַדְתֶּם אֶת־אָבִי הֵֽנָּה (בראשית מה, יג), לֹֽא־תָבוֹא הֵנָּה (שמואל ב' ה, ו), לֹֽא־אַתֶּם שְׁלַחְתֶּם אֹתִי הֵנָּה (בראשית מה, ח), וַיַּכֶּה אֶת־הַמַּיִם וַיֵּֽחָצוּ הֵנָּה וָהֵנָּה (מלכים ב' ב, יד), וְדוֹר רְבִיעִי יָשׁוּבוּ הֵנָּה (בראשית טו, טז), דֶּרֶךְ הֵנָּה פְנֵיהֶם (ירמיה נ, ה). וענין אחר שיבא לכנוי הנקבות הנסתרות וְהַֽעֲבַרְתָּ אֶת־נַֽחֲלַת אֲבִיהֶן לָהֶֽן (במדבר כז, ז). ובתוספת ה"א אֶת־בְּנוֹת הָֽאָדָם כִּי טֹבֹת הֵנָּה (בראשית ו, ב), כי חיות הֵנָּה (שמות א, יט), וְלָהֵנָּה כְנָפַיִם (זכריה ה, ט), כָּל־הַיּוֹצֵא מֵהֵנָּה (ירמיה ה, ו), רצונו ילומר מן הערים. ובא בנו"ן לזכרים הֲלָהֵן תְּשַׂבֵּרְנָה (רות א, יג), וְהֵנָּה בָּאוּ עַד־תּוֹךְ הַבַּיִת לֹֽקְחֵי חִטִּים (שמואל ב' ד, ה).
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Shemot: Here We Go," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 18 January 2025.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Here we go," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 6:2, 15:16, 16:13, 19:12, 21:29, 22:5, 31:37, 38:21-22, 44:28, 45:5, 45:13; Shemos 3:5; Bamidbar 11:31, 13:17, 22:8, 22:19, 23:15; Devarim 5:27, 29:14; Yehoshua 2:2, 3:9; Shoftim 16:2, 18:3; Shmuel I 14:34; Shmuel II 5:6, 7:18, 17:28, 18:30; Melachim II 2:14, 8:7; Yirmiyahu 50:5; Yechezkel 40:4, 41-42; Iyov 38:11; Rus 4:1; Divrei HaYamim I 11:5; Zevachim 102a with Maharsha; Bava Metzia 4a; Bereishis Rabbah 45:1; HaKsav VeHaKabbalah, HaRechasim LeVikah and Rav Hirsch to Bereishis 16:13; Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzatto, as Malbim cites him in Yair Ohr; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Cheshek Shlomo; Bedersi, Chosam Tochnis; Benamozegh, Eim LaMikra to Bereishis 38:17.