pile

Distinctions

areimah (ערמה)

Root ע-ר-ם. Eleven times in Tanach in the sense of "pile" beyond Shemos 15:8, including Yirmiyahu 50:26 (the article prints Jer. 3:26), Chaggai 2:16, Rus 3:7 (the article prints 3:17), Nechemiah 3:34 and 13:15, Shir HaShirim 7:3, and a cluster in Divrei HaYamim II 31:6-9; in Mishnaic Hebrew at Terumos 2:1, Maasros 1:5-6 and 5:7, and Beitzah 4:1. The same root also carries "cleverness" (Bereishis 3:1, Iyov 5:12, Mishlei 19:25) and "nakedness." Machberet Menachem lists all three senses without intimating a connection between them. Rav Hirsch (1808-1888, to Bereishis 2:25) ties "pile" to "cleverness": a pile is many items, each worth little alone, that become something important when heaped together, and cleverness is a pile of thoughts a man has considered, no one of which looks like much until they are joined. Having explained those two, he admits that he does not know how "nakedness" fits the picture, and derives that word instead from ע-ו-ר (ohr, skin); elsewhere (to Bereishis 13:13) he does connect the two, the clever man being unencumbered by the worldly considerations that cloud a man's intellect, so that in being "naked" he can think straight, and Rabbi Aharon Marcus (1843-1916, Keses HaSofer to Bereishis 3:1) makes a similar point. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740-1814) traces ע-ר-ם to the biliteral ע-ר, "revealing, unconcealed": nakedness exposes the body; a pile of grain is grain already taken out of its sheaves and so revealed; eir ("awake") is the man whose abilities, hidden while he sleeps, are suddenly revealed, and thence "cleverness," the mind that stays sharp and aware as though always awake. He adds armon (Bereishis 30:37), a tree (possibly the Platanus orientalis) with branches only at the top and none along its length, so that it looks "naked."

chamarim (חמרים)

Root ח-מ-ר. Three times in Tanach for "piles": twice in Shemos 8:10 (the dead frogs gathered chamarim chamarim) and once in Bamidbar 11:32. In the Mishnah at Uktzin 2:5, a heap of onions amassed into one grouping (chamran); Rabbi Sherirah Gaon (906-1006) notes in commenting there that the verb used for amassing the onions cognates with the biblical chamarim chamarim, as does Rambam in his commentary there. Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 1:22-23 and 11:3) reads ח-מ-ר as unification and conglomeration of many components, which is why chomer is "matter," chamarim are piles of like items, and cheimar is the mortar that unifies bricks (Bereishis 11:3, 14:10, Shemos 2:3).

gadish (גדיש) and omer (עמר)

Rambam (to Peah 6:2 and Eduyos 4:4) defines a gadish as an areimah of amarim, that is, a stack made of sheaves; the column reads him as having chosen those two related words on purpose because they are indeed synonymous, citing Rabbi Yaakov Emden's Mishneh Lechem to Peah 5:1. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim takes the other view, contra Rambam, who on the column's reading seems to equate gadish and areimah: a gadish is grain still inside the sheaf, an areimah is grain already threshed out and so revealed. Rav Hirsch groups omer/amar ("bundling" stalks) with chamarim and with amar ("statement," many words gathered on one theme), all through the interchange of aleph, ches and ayin.

The relation between areimah and chamarim

The column proposes, without a source, that the connection "does seem tenable" in two steps: ע-ר-ם relates to ע-מ-ר ("bundling") by metathesis, and ע-מ-ר to ח-מ-ר by the interchange of ayin and ches, so that areimah and chamarim are ultimately related. It states plainly that it has not seen any commentator who explicitly links the two, nor found anyone who offers a way of differentiating their meanings. Treat this as the column's own suggestion, not a received distinction.

Rendering guidance

• ערמה: "pile" or "heap." In an agricultural sugya, "pile of grain."
• חמרים חמרים: keep the doubling; "heaps upon heaps" or "in heap after heap." Do not flatten it to a single "piles."
• גדיש: "stack" (of sheaves), not "pile," so that it stays distinct from areimah on the page.
• עמר: "sheaf" or "bundle."
• Trap: English "pile" will happily absorb areimah, chamarim and gadish at once. Where a passage turns on Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim's threshed against unthreshed, or where gadish and areimah stand in one sentence, force the split with pile / stack.
• Trap: נערמו מים (Shemos 15:8) is contested, and the English must choose. Mechilta (to Shemos 14:16), which says the waters became areimos areimos, Rashbam, who writes that they piled up high like a heap of wheat, Rasag (892-942), and Ibn Ezra in both of his commentaries to Shemos, all read it from areimah. Targum Onkelos renders chakimu mayim, "the waters became smart," and this also seems to be Rashi's preferred reading; Chizkuni clarifies that the waters were intelligent enough to pursue the Egyptians and drown them (the column adds that this has nothing to do with added electrolytes), Rabbi Chaim Paltiel that they could tell Jew from Egyptian, and the Tosafistic Sefer HaGan that they suddenly gained the knowledge to sing Hashem's praise alongside the Jews. Donash Ibn Librat (920-985) objected to Rasag's reading, but there is an omission in the printed text of his work and his own preferred explanation is missing; Ibn Ezra, whose Sefas Yeser defends Rasag against Donash, records only that Donash differs and that his reading should be considered drash rather than pshat, and the column ventures its own guess that Donash may have preferred the Onkelos and Rashi approach. A third reading, in Esther Rabbah 3:15, hears arum ("naked") in the word: one opinion there says Hashem strips the wicked of their outer clothes in Gehinnom, and another adds that He punished the Egyptians likewise while they were naked, as the first word of ne'ermu mayim seems to hint.

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Piles and Piles," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 13 Shvat 5782 (2022-01-15): raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/9534-piles-and-piles.md. Primary loci cited: Shemos 15:8, 8:10, 2:3; Bamidbar 11:32; Bereishis 1:22-23, 2:25, 3:1, 11:3, 13:13, 14:10, 30:37; Chaggai 2:16; Shir HaShirim 7:3; Nechemiah 3:34, 13:15; Divrei HaYamim II 31:6-9; Iyov 5:12; Mishlei 19:25; Terumos 2:1, Maasros 1:5-6 and 5:7, Beitzah 4:1, Uktzin 2:5, Peah 5:1 and 6:2, Eduyos 4:4; Mechilta to Shemos 14:16; Esther Rabbah 3:15; Rav Hirsch to Bereishis 2:25 and 13:13; Rabbi Aharon Marcus, Keses HaSofer to Bereishis 3:1. Two loci in the article appear to be digit transpositions: Rus 3:7 is printed as 3:17, and the areimos of Yirmiyahu 50:26 is printed as Jer. 3:26.