praise

בְּרָכָה בְּקֶרֶב הָאָֽרֶץ (Yeshayahu 19:24), a blessing in the midst of the earth; בְרָכוֹת לָעַד (Tehillim 21:7), blessings for ever; בִּרְכֹת שָׁמַיִם מֵעָל בִּרְכֹת תְּהוֹם רֹבֶצֶת תָּחַת (Bereishis 49:25), blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep couching beneath; בֵּרַךְ אֶת־אַבְרָהָם בַּכֹּֽל (Bereishis 24:1), He blessed Avraham in all. וּבֵרֵךְ וְלֹא אֲשִׁיבֶנָּה (Bamidbar 23:20), and He has blessed and I will not turn it back, is a past verb too, for it means that Hashem has blessed them and I will not turn the blessing back from them. The forms בְּרוּכָה and בְּרוּכִים, blessed, and their like are all describing words, he says, since the simple verb was not built from this root. Where created beings bless Hashem it is like praise, as בָּֽרֲכִי נַפְשִׁי אֶת־י"י (Tehillim 103:22), bless Hashem, my soul.

בֵּרַךְ נָבוֹת אֱלֹהִים (Melachim I 21:13), Navos blessed Hashem, and בָּרֵךְ אֱלֹהִים וָמֻֽת (Iyov 2:9), bless Hashem and die, and their like, are a way of speaking around a curse.

קַח־נָא אֶת־ בִּרְכָתִי (Bereishis 33:11), take my berachah, he glosses מנחתי, my gift; likewise קַח־נָא בְרָכָה מֵאֵת עַבְדֶּֽךָ (Melachim II 5:15), take a gift from your servant. It may be that מְבָרֵֽךְ אָוֶן (Yeshayahu 66:3) is of this sort too, the מְבָרֵךְ being one who brings the gift, and אָוֶן iniquity. So too לִשְׁאָל־לוֹ לְשָׁלוֹם וּלְבָֽרֲכוֹ, to ask after his peace and to bring him a gift, as he explains the last word.

וְאָֽרוֹתִי אֶת־ בִּרְכֽוֹתֵיכֶם (Malachi 2:2), and I will curse your blessings, is not of that sort, against what Rabbi Yonah wrote. Radak says it is blessing in the plain sense, and the proof is that the pasuk says וְאָֽרוֹתִי, and I will curse, since the curse is the opposite of the blessing: a blessing adds to the good and a curse takes from it.

עֲשׂוּ־אִתִּי בְרָכָה (Yeshayahu 36:16), make a berachah with me, he glosses פשרה ושלום, a settlement and peace. Like it are וַיְבָרֶךְ יַֽעֲקֹב אֶת־פַּרְעֹֽה (Bereishis 47:7), and Yaakov greeted Pharaoh, and כִּי תִמְצָא־אִישׁ לֹא תְבָֽרֲכֶנּוּ (Melachim II 4:29), if you meet a man do not greet him, which are the asking after another's peace; and all of them, he says, are the sense of blessing.

Another sense is kneeling: וַיִּבְרַךְ עַל־ בִּרְכָּיו (Divrei HaYamim II 6:13), and he knelt upon his knees, and נִבְרְכָה לִפְנֵֽי־י"י עֹשֵֽׂנוּ (Tehillim 95:6), let us kneel before Hashem our Maker. The heavy form is וַיַּבְרֵךְ הַגְּמַלִּים (Bereishis 24:11), he made the camels kneel, and with it he sets וַיִּקְרְאוּ לְפָנָיו אַבְרֵךְ (Bereishis 41:43), and they called before him אַבְרֵךְ: the alef stands in place of the heh of הַבְרֵך, or else it is the alef of one speaking of himself, each one calling אַבְרֵךְ before him. The noun is the knee: תִּכְרַע כָּל־ בֶּרֶךְ (Yeshayahu 45:23), every knee shall bow; כָּֽרְעוּ עַל־ בִּרְכֵיהֶם (Shoftim 7:6), they knelt upon their knees, which the Mesorah marks as one of the two places where the word is left soft.

הַבְּרֵכָה הָֽעֶלְיוֹנָה (Yeshayahu 7:3), the upper pool. Some explain bereichah as a spring; the truth, he says, is that it is water gathered together and not a spring. So too in the words of Chazal (Moed Katan 4a): the pesakos and the berechos that filled with water before yom tov may not be used for watering on chol hamoed. He explains their two words himself: the pesakos are ditches not built up with stones, and the berechos ditches built with stones and plaster, into which rainwater is gathered, or water is gathered, or water is drawn to them from the spring. So בְּרֵכוֹת מָיִם (Koheles 2:6), pools of water. It may be that גַּם־ בְּרָכוֹת יַעְטֶה מוֹרֶֽה (Tehillim 84:7), the early rain covers it with pools too, is like them, and so הָֽבָה־לִּי בְרָכָה כִּי אֶרֶץ הַנֶּגֶב נְתַתָּנִי (Shoftim 1:15), give me a pool, for you have given me the land of the Negev, though the resh there has a kamatz, a kamatz in place of a tzeirei as in many words; or it is blessing proper.

וְהָדַרְתָּ פְּנֵי זָקֵן (Vayikra 19:32), you shall honour the face of an elder, and וְדָל לֹא תֶהְדַּר בְּרִיבוֹ (Shemos 23:3), nor shall you honour a poor man in his cause.

הָדוּר בִּלְבוּשׁוֹ (Yeshayahu 63:1), splendid in his garment; as an adjective, פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר (Vayikra 23:40), the fruit of a splendid tree; and the noun, הוֹד וְהָדָר לְפָנָיו (Tehillim 96:6), glory and splendour are before Him. In the reflexive it is to make oneself fine: אַל תִּתְהַדַּר לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ (Mishlei 25:6), do not make yourself fine before a king, which he glosses as adorning and beautifying oneself and showing a pleasant face.

In וַהֲדוּרִים (Yeshayahu 45:2), and the הֲדוּרִים, which I will make straight, the word means crooked and winding ways. It is like what Chazal said (Chullin 113a), הדרא דכנתא, the bowels, which are crooked and wind round and round.

שֶׁבַע בַּיּוֹם הִלַּלְתִּיךָ (Tehillim 119:164), seven times a day I praise You; with a tav added, the noun תְּהִלָּה לְדָוִד (Tehillim 145:1), a praise of David, and in the plural יוֹשֵׁב תְּהִלּוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל (Tehillim 22:4), He who sits enthroned on the praises of Yisrael. The reflexive is בִּקְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל תִּתְהַלָּֽל (Yeshayahu 41:16), in the Holy One of Yisrael you will glory.

Some explain לְהִתְהַלֵּל עִם־נַֽחֲלָתֶֽךָ (Tehillim 106:5), to glory with Your inheritance, as rejoicing, from קֹדֶשׁ הִלּוּלִים (Vayikra 19:24), a holy thing of rejoicing. Radak says there is no need to take them out of the sense of praise, which is lauding and thanks; rather, rejoicing is close to its sense. So too וּבְתוּלֹתָיו לֹא הוּלָּֽלוּ (Tehillim 78:63), his maidens were not celebrated, that is, they never came to the time of rejoicing and celebration, meaning they did not become men's wives. And in the language of Chazal the wedding chamber is called בי הלולא (Bava Metzia 36a), the house of celebration.

A second sense is madness: אָמַרְתִּי לַֽהוֹלְלִים אַל־ תָּהֹלּוּ (Tehillim 75:5), I said to the raving, do not rave, כִּי הָעֹשֶׁק יְהוֹלֵל חָכָם (Koheles 7:7), oppression drives a wise man mad, and the nouns וְדַעַת הֹֽלֵלוֹת וְשִׂכְלוּת (Koheles 1:17), the knowing of madness and folly; and in another pattern, וּבְמַלְאָכָיו יָשִׂים תָּֽהֳלָֽה (Iyov 4:18), and in His angels He sets madness. Radak says they are all madness, the going out from the mind's understanding and from the way of what is right and straight. Some explain תָּֽהֳלָֽה there from the third sense instead, shining, with the לֹא of the pasuk standing for two: הן בעבדיו לֹא יאמין ולֹא במלאכיו ישים תהלה, behold, in His servants He puts no trust, and in His angels He does not set light.

מְהוֹלָלַי בִּי נִשְׁבָּֽעוּ (Tehillim 102:9), those mad in my eyes swear by me: מְהוֹלָלַי are those who are mad in my eyes. On בִּי נִשְׁבָּֽעוּ, they swear by me, Rabbi Yonah wrote that the speaker stood so low in their eyes that they would say, may Hashem make me like so-and-so if such and such comes about.

יִתְהֽוֹלְלוּ הָרֶכֶב יִשְׁתַּקְשְׁקוּן בָּֽרְחֹבוֹת (Nachum 2:5), the chariots rave and clatter in the open places: Radak says that from the greatness of their running in joy it is as though they were mad with much joy. So too עַל־כֵּן יִתְהֹֽלְלוּ גוֹיִֽם (Yirmiyahu 51:7), therefore the nations rave, at the sight of Bavel's fall.

בְּהִלּוֹ נֵרוֹ עֲלֵי רֹאשִׁי (Iyov 29:3), when his lamp shone over my head; אִם־אֶרְאֶה אוֹר כִּי יָהֵל (Iyov 31:26), if I saw the light when it shone, and לֹא יָהֵלּוּ אוֹרָם (Yeshayahu 13:10), they will not let their light shine: in יהל the shining is set on the light itself, and in יהלו on the stars. From this sense the morning star is called הֵילֵל בֶּן־שָׁחַר (Yeshayahu 14:12), the shining one, son of the dawn; the sense of all of them is brightness and light.

יְדוּ אֵלֶיהָ (Yirmiyahu 50:14) is explained as השליכו, cast at her. Rabbi Yehudah said that גָּמוּל יָדוֹ הָדָה (Yeshayahu 11:8), the weaned child will cast forth his hand, is from this root, the yud exchanged for a heh. In the heavy form, לְיַדּוֹת אֶת קַרְנוֹת הַגּוֹיִם (Zecharyah 2:4), to cast down the horns of the nations, and וַיַּדּוּ אֶבֶן בִּי (Eichah 3:53), they cast a stone at me, whose proper form is וַיְיַּדּוּ. Radak's father holds that it is of the added heavy form, its proper form being וְיַיְּדּוּ.

The heavy form with the added letter is in another sense, praise and thanksgiving: הוֹדִינוּ לְּךָ (Tehillim 75:2), we give thanks to You; גַּם אֲנִי אוֹדְךָ בִכְלִי נֶבֶל (Tehillim 71:22), I too will thank You with the harp; יוֹדוּ שִׁמְךָ גָּדוֹל וְנוֹרָא (Tehillim 99:3), let them praise Your name, great and awesome; and עַל כֵּן עַמִּים יְהוֹדֻךָ (Tehillim 45:18), therefore peoples will praise You. Another noun form is תּוֹדָה וְקוֹל זִמְרָה (Yeshayahu 51:3), thanksgiving and the sound of song.

The name is taken from it: עַל כֵּן קָרְאָה שְׁמוֹ יְהוּדָה (Bereishis 29:35), therefore she called his name Yehudah. Since the mainstay of Israel's kingship and their strong horn was Yehudah, all Israel were called יהודים, Jews: וְאֶל הַיְּהוּדִים כִּכְתָבָם (Esther 8:9), and to the Jews in their own script, and וְהֶחֱזִיקוּ בִּכְנַף אִישׁ יְהוּדִי (Zecharyah 8:23), they will take hold of the corner of a Jew's garment. The holy tongue was named for it too, וְאַל תְּדַבֵּר אֵלֵינוּ יְהוּדִית (Yeshayahu 36:11), do not speak to us in Yehudis; and a verb was built from it for turning from the nations to the faith of the Jews, וְרַבִּים מֵעַמֵּי הָאָרֶץ מִתְיַהֲדִים (Esther 8:17), and many of the peoples of the land became Jews.

Another sense is confession: וּמוֹדֶה וְעֹזֵב יְרֻחָם (Mishlei 28:13), one who confesses and forsakes will be shown mercy, and וְגַם אֲנִי אוֹדֶךָּ (Iyov 40:14), and I too will acknowledge you, though אודך there may be of the second sense. יוֹדוּךָ אַחֶיךָ (Bereishis 49:8), your brothers will acknowledge you, is: they will acknowledge to you that you are fit to rule over them. The reflexive is וְהִתְוַדָּה אֲשֶׁר חָטָא עָלֶיהָ (Vayikra 5:5), he shall confess that in which he sinned, and וְהִתְוַדּוּ אֶת חַטָּאתָם אֲשֶׁר עָשׂוּ (Bamidbar 5:7), they shall confess their sin that they did. The sense of confession is known.

From this sense is זְבַח לֵאלֹהִים תּוֹדָה (Tehillim 50:14), offer a todah to Hashem: the offering over which a man confesses his sins is called תּוֹדָה. It did not carry the law of a chatas or an asham, only that of shelamim, and the todah was eaten only for a day and a night. Though it came upon sins it was neither chatas nor asham, since those come for one particular sin, while a man brought this offering for all his sins together, when he wished to confess and return to the good way. Some say a man brought it when a nes was done for him, and that it is called תּוֹדָה because he was thanking Hashem for the nes done for him. The Torah's words are אִם עַל תּוֹדָה יַקְרִיבֶנּוּ (Vayikra 7:12), if he offers it for a todah.

שְׁתֵּי תוֹדֹת גְּדוֹלֹת (Nechemiah 12:31), two great todos, are two todah breads of chametz, as it is written, עַל חַלֹּת לֶחֶם חָמֵץ יַקְרִיב קָרְבָּנוֹ (Vayikra 7:13), with loaves of chametz bread he shall bring his offering. They are called great because of the matzah there were three kinds and of the chametz only one, so that the one kind of chametz stands against the three kinds of matzah. Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Yonah put שְׁתֵּי תוֹדֹת גְּדוֹלֹת and וְהַתּוֹדָה הַשֵּׁנִית (Nechemiah 12:38), and the second todah, in another sense, and Rabbi Yonah explained them as a term of assembly, a congregation and congregations. Chazal explained them as Radak has written: the Mishnah in the second perek of Shevuos says that the city and the azaros are added to only with a beis din of seventy-one, with two todos and with song, the beis din walking and the two todos after them, the inner one eaten and the outer burned; and the Gemara there teaches that the two todos spoken of are in their bread and not in their flesh, from the pasuk ואעמידה שתי תודות גדולות, and I set up two great todos.

What follows speaks of reaching: כלם ענין ההדבקה וההגעה, all of them the sense of cleaving to a thing and reaching it. The noun is in כִּֽי־שִׂיחַ וְכִי־ שִׂיג לוֹ (Melachim I 18:27), for he is in talk, or in pursuit, that is, he has some matter with another, or is overtaking his enemies in war. שִׂיג is a noun with its nun missing, as שִׂיא is in אִם־יַֽעֲלֶה לַשָּׁמַיִם שִׂיאוֹ (Iyov 20:6), though his loftiness mount to the heavens. Like them, though written with a samech, is וְתַסֵּג וְלֹא תַפְלִיט (Michah 6:14), and you will reach but not bring out safely: that is, you reach pregnancy and do not bring it out, but miscarry it.

עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם (Tehillim 68:19), You went up on high; וְעָלָה הַגְּבוּל (Yehoshua 15:8), and the border goes up; וּבָשָׂר עָלָה (Yechezkel 37:8), and flesh came up over the sinews and the bones; כִּי עָלָה הַשָּׁחַר (Bereishis 32:27), for the dawn has come up, that is, the brightness of the day. מִֽלְמַֽעֲלֵה הֶחָֽרֶס (Shoftim 8:13) he reads as from the going up of the sun's brightness and its shining. Targum Yonasan has עַד לָא מֵעַל שִׁמְשָׁא, before the sun set, and in Yonasan's view the word means that the sun was still up, seen in the sky and not yet gone in under the earth. Radak reads מִטֶּרֶף בְּנִי עָלִיתָ (Bereishis 49:9), from the prey, my son, you went up, as: from the prey of the enemies you rose to a great height; or else as: when you went up from the prey you crouched and lay down like a lion, with none to make you afraid. He reads וַתַּעַל אֶחָד מִגֻּרֶיהָ כְּפִיר הָיָה (Yechezkel 19:3), she brought up one of her cubs, it became a young lion, as: she reared one of her cubs until it went up the steps of its days and was a young lion. The adjective is עֶלְיוֹן: אֶדַּמֶּה לְעֶלְיֽוֹן (Yeshayahu 14:14), I will be like the Most High, and הַבְּרֵכָה הָֽעֶלְיוֹנָה (Yeshayahu 7:3), the upper pool.

עֹלָה הוּא אִשֵּׁה רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ (Vayikra 1:13), it is an olah, a fire offering of pleasing savour. The korban is called so because it went up whole, all of it, upon the mizbeach. שֹׂנֵא גָזֵל בְּעוֹלָה (Yeshayahu 61:8), hating robbery in an olah, he explains: if a man brings before Me an olah that was stolen, I hate it, as it says וַֽהֲבֵאתֶם גָּזוּל (Malachi 1:13), and you have brought what was stolen.

וְעָלָה שָׁמִיר וָשָׁיִת (Yeshayahu 5:6), and thorn and briar shall come up. וְעָֽלְתָה אַרְמְנֹתֶיהָ סִירִים (Yeshayahu 34:13) he explains: the ground where her palaces stood shall bring up thorns. Of עַל אַדְמַת עַמִּי קוֹץ שָׁמִיר תַּֽעֲלֶה (Yeshayahu 32:13) he says the verb looks as though it takes an object, and it does not; rather, so much thorn and briar will grow and come up there that it is as though the ground goes up in thorn and briar. Its עַל goes back to what is said above it (Yeshayahu 32:12), mourners over the pleasant field, over the fruitful vine, and over the ground of my people that brought up thorn and briar. Bringing up: אַֽעֲלֶה אֲכַסֶּה־אֶרֶץ (Yirmiyahu 46:8), I will bring up, I will cover the land, where he explains אַֽעֲלֶה as I will bring up my armies. הֹֽעֲלָתָה (Nachum 2:8), she was brought up, he explains as brought up onto the chariot to be led away into captivity; his father writes that the word is of the sense of being cut off, taken up in the next part.

יְצוּעִי עָלָֽה (Bereishis 49:4), from the day you profaned it my couch was cut off; שֻׁדַּד מוֹאָב וְעָרֶיהָ עָלָה (Yirmiyahu 48:15), Moav is plundered and her cities cut off; וַתַּעַל שִׁכְבַת הַטָּל (Shemos 16:14), and the layer of dew ceased; אַֽל־ תַּֽעֲלֵנִי בַּֽחֲצִי יָמָי (Tehillim 102:25), do not cut me off in the midst of my days; and וְאָֽנֹכִי אַֽעַלְךָ גַם־עָלֹה (Bereishis 46:4), and I will also surely cut you off: all of these, he says, are the sense of cutting off and ceasing. Some read וְעָֽלְתָה יָדוֹ עַל־יַד רֵעֵֽהוּ (Zecharyah 14:13) in this sense, his hand shall be cut off and cease against his fellow's hand, and so Targum Yonasan renders וְתִתְּלַשׁ יְדֵיהּ, and his hand shall be torn away. On that reading, when a man takes hold of his fellow's hand his own hand will be cut off, as it says הָמֵק בְּשָׂרוֹ (Zecharyah 14:12), his flesh shall rot away. Some read וְהַבַּיִת הַזֶּה יִֽהְיֶה עֶלְיוֹן (Melachim I 9:8), and this house shall be high, as cutting off and ruin too; Radak holds there is no need to take it out of the first sense, and reads it: this house, which is now high, when they sin, every passer by will be appalled and hiss.

Radak adds that וְאָֽנֹכִי אַֽעַלְךָ גַם־עָלֹה may be read as going up in earnest, whether as a hint at burial in the land of Canaan or as a hint that the sons would go up from Mitzrayim. יְצוּעִי עָלָֽה may be read so too, with עָלָה then joined to פחז כמים, a surge like water: that surge, like water, went up and prevailed over you. Like it is הִנֵּה־מַיִם עֹלִים (Yirmiyahu 47:2), behold, waters going up, that is, growing strong; and so וַתַּֽעֲלֶה הַמִּלְחָמָה (Melachim I 22:35), and the battle went up, that is, it went on growing stronger. Something like this sense is what Chazal said (Berachos 31a), מקצר ועולה, which Radak explains as going on and completing his tefillah with all his strength.

וַיָּסַר אֶל־ הָֽעֲלִיָּה (Melachim II 4:11), and he turned in to the upper room, and עֲלִיַּת ־קִיר (Melachim II 4:10), a walled upper room, are from the sense of going up: the upper room is so called because it is over the house and a man goes up to it. So too וְלֹא־תַֽעֲלֶה בְמַֽעֲלֹת (Shemos 20:23), and you shall not go up by steps, steps being so called because a man goes up on them. צֵל הַֽמַּֽעֲלוֹת (Yeshayahu 38:8), the shadow of the steps, Targum Yonasan renders טוּל אֶבֶן שְׁעַיָא, the shadow of the stone of hours, which is what the Mishnah (Keilim 12:4) calls אבן השעות, the stone of hours. That is a stone marked so as to know the hours of the day.

וּמַֽעֲלוֹת רֽוּֽחֲכֶם (Yechezkel 11:5) he explains as the thoughts that come up on your spirit. דֶּרֶךְ מַֽעֲלֵה בֵֽית־חוֹרֹן (Yehoshua 10:10), the way of the ascent of Beis Choron, is a noun of this root too; and בְּֽמַֽעֲלֵה קִבְרֵי בְנֵֽי־דָוִיד (Divrei HaYamim II 32:33), in the ascent of the graves of the sons of David, he explains as with the good among the kings.

וַיַּֽעֲלוּ אֹתָם עֵמֶק עָכֽוֹר (Yehoshua 7:24), and they brought them up to the valley of Achor: the going up is not said with regard to the valley, for then it would have said וַיּוֹרִידוּ, and they brought down. It seems rather that between Yericho and the valley of Achor there was a mountain or a hill, and going up is said with regard to it, since the way from Yericho was an ascent although they were going to the valley. So too וְיָרַדְתִּי עַל־הֶֽהָרִים (Shoftim 11:37), and I will go down upon the mountains: since the Mitzpah stood high above the mountains, going down is said, although going upon the mountains is an ascent. And so וַיֵּרֶד הַסֶּלַע (Shmuel I 23:25), and he went down to the rock.

Another sense is the תְּעָלָה: וְאֶת־הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר־ בַּתְּעָלָה לִחֵֽכָה (Melachim I 18:38), and it licked up the water that was in the channel; וַֽאֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה אֶת־הַבְּרֵכָה וְאֶת־ הַתְּעָלָה (Melachim II 20:20), and that he made the pool and the channel; אֶל־קְצֵה תְּעָלַת הַבְּרֵכָה (Yeshayahu 7:3), to the end of the channel of the pool; and in the plural, וְאֶת־ תְּעָֽלֹתֶיהָ שִׁלְחָה (Yechezkel 31:4), and it sent out its channels. It is the אמת המים, the watercourse.

Another sense, which he says is close to the first: תְּעָלָה אֵין לָֽךְ (Yirmiyahu 46:11), you have no healing; הִֽנְנִי מַֽעֲלֶה ־לָּהּ אֲרֻכָה (Yirmiyahu 33:6), behold, I bring up healing for it; and מַדּוּעַ לֹא עָֽלְתָה אֲרֻכַת בַּת־עַמִּֽי (Yirmiyahu 8:22), why has the healing of the daughter of my people not come up.

From the first sense too is the עֱלִי: בְּתוֹךְ הָֽרִיפוֹת בַּֽעֱלִי (Mishlei 27:22), among the groats with a pestle. It is the pestle of the mortar, called in the language of Chazal בוכנא (Beitzah 14a), and it is named so because it is lifted when they pound with it. Chazal said (Beitzah 1:5), אין נוטלין את העלי לקצב עליו בשר, one may not take up the pestle to chop meat on it, and Radak explains that they meant the large pestle with which the groats are pounded, and the like, things whose work is heavy; therefore it is not fit to be moved on Yom Tov. Some take וְהַֽעֲלוֹת וְכַפּוֹת (Divrei HaYamim II 24:14), and the עלות and the spoons, from this; in Radak's view it is a small vessel with which wine is drawn, like עלת נקפת בכד in the words of Chazal (Eruvin 53b), an עלת striking against a jug. Chazal also said (Bava Basra 133b) בתליסר עילתא דדינרי, with thirteen עילתא of dinars, and it is explained as a small vessel with which wine is drawn.

עַל is a word of this root, from the first sense, and much used: עֲלֵֽי ־עָשׂוֹר וַֽעֲלֵי ־נָבֶל (Tehillim 92:4), upon the asor and upon the nevel, and without the yud of the plural, עַל ־פְּנֵי הַמָּֽיִם (Bereishis 1:2), upon the face of the waters. It comes in the sense of with: וַיָּבֹאוּ הָֽאֲנָשִׁים עַל ־הַנָּשִׁים (Shemos 35:22), the men came with the women. In the sense of beside: וְזָֽבַחְתָּ עָלָיו אֶת־עֹֽלֹתֶיךָ (Shemos 20:21), and you shall slaughter your olos beside it, since the slaughtering was not done on the mizbeach, and חֹנִים עַל ־הַיָּם (Shemos 14:9), encamped beside the sea. It stands for אל, to: וַיֵּלֶךְ אֶלְקָנָה הָֽרָמָתָה עַל ־בֵּיתוֹ (Shmuel I 2:11), and Elkanah went to Ramah, to his house. And it stands for the prefixed beis: הִמָּלֵט עַל ־נַפְשֶׁךָ (Bereishis 19:17) is like בנפשך, escape with your life. יָשׁוּבוּ לֹא עָל (Hoshea 7:16) is short a word, and he reads it: they return not for any need and not for any matter. Some take עָל there as an adjective, since it has a kamatz, like וּנְאֻם הַגֶּבֶר הֻקַם עָל (Shmuel II 23:1), and the word of the man who was raised on high, that is, most high; and וְאֶל־ עַל יִקְרָאֻהוּ (Hoshea 11:7), and they call him to the one on high, is taken as the adjective too, though it has a patach. אֶת־הַשּׁוֹק וְהֶֽעָלֶיהָ (Shmuel I 9:24), the shank and what was upon it, Radak explains as the thigh, which is above the shank, and so Yonasan renders וְיַרְכֵיהּ, and its thigh.

וְהִנֵּה עֲלֵה ־זַיִת טָרָף בְּפִיהָ (Bereishis 8:11), and behold, a plucked olive leaf in her mouth, and וַֽיִּתְפְּרוּ עֲלֵה תְאֵנָה (Bereishis 3:7), and they sewed fig leaves, are the leaf, a word well known. Of וְהָבִיאוּ עֲלֵי ־זַיִת (Nechemiah 8:15), and bring olive leaves, he says the branches together with the leaves are meant. His father read הִצִּית אֵשׁ עָלֶיהָ (Yirmiyahu 11:16) as kindling fire on its leaves, and Dunash read פֶּן יִפְקֹד עָלֶיהָ (Yeshayahu 27:3) from this: lest even the leaf be lacking, still less the fruit.

הֲיִתְפָּאֵר הַגַּרְזֶן עַל הַחֹצֵב בּוֹ (Yeshayahu 10:15), shall the axe take glory over the one hewing with it, and אֲשֶׁר־בְּךָ אֶתְפָּאָֽר (Yeshayahu 49:3), in whom I will be glorified. On הִתְפָּאֵר עָלַי (Shemos 8:5) Radak says it is: take the glory and the praise to yourself over me, that you should say when I am to entreat for you, and so I will do.

וְאֶת־ פַּֽאֲרֵי הַמִּגְבָּעֹת (Shemos 39:28), and the adornments, the caps; פַּֽאֲרֵי פִשְׁתִּים יִֽהְיוּ עַל־רֹאשָׁם (Yechezkel 44:18), linen headdresses will be on their head; and הַפְּאֵרִים וְהַצְּעָדוֹת (Yeshayahu 3:20), the headdresses and the ankle chains. These are the caps, which are a glory to a man while they are on his head, and Radak says the sense of all of them is praise and beauty. Radak has written under the root אָפַר that וַיִּתְחַפֵּשׂ בָּֽאֲפֵר (Melachim I 20:38), and he disguised himself with the aper, is פארי המגבעות, the adornments of the caps, with the letters turned about.

On כָּל־פָּנִים קִבְּצוּ פָארֽוּר (Yoel 2:6), all faces gather a פארור, Menachem explains that they gathered in their glory so that none was left them, in the way of וְכֽוֹכָבִים אָסְפוּ נָגְהָֽם (Yoel 2:10), the stars gathered in their brightness. Dunash explains it from וּבִשְּׁלוּ בַּפָּרוּר (Bamidbar 11:8), and they cooked it in the pot, the alef added, so that they gathered all the blackness of the pot.

His father holds that Menachem cannot be right, since there is a difference between אסיפה, taking in, and קיבוץ, gathering: gathering is said only of scattered things brought to one place, so one cannot say that all faces gathered their glory, which is not seen, while taking in can be said so, as וַיֶּֽאֱסֹף רַגְלָיו (Bereishis 49:33), he drew in his feet, and אֱסֹף יָדֶֽךָ (Shmuel I 14:19), draw back your hand; and one does not say קְבוֹץ ידיך, gather your hands, or ויקבוץ רגליו, he gathered his feet.

It may be from this root that a branch is called so: מְסָעֵף פֻּארָה (Yeshayahu 10:33), lopping off a bough, with a shuruk, and וַתֶּאֱרַכְנָה פֹארֹתָו (Yechezkel 31:5), its boughs grew long, with a cholam, like סעיף, a branch, and סעפותיו, its branches. Radak says the great high branch may be called פארה because it is the glory and the beauty of the tree.

The verb from it is לֹא תְפַאֵר אַֽחֲרֶיךָ (Devarim 24:20), you shall not go over the boughs after you, pointed with a patach to set the sense apart; it means that you shall not take what is left in the boughs. The Chachamim explained it (Chullin 131a) from the word פאר, glory: that you shall not take its glory from it.

The root of פֻּארָה and פֹֽארֹתָיו may be פרה, as Rabbi Yehudah wrote, the alef before the resh standing like a lengthening vav, and פֻּארָה a noun of a root ending in heh, on the pattern of תּוֹעָה, error; its shuruk is no bar, since shuruk and cholam weigh the same. The alef before the resh is no proof that they are of the root פאר, for it comes first in only a few of them: וַתְּשַׁלַּח פֹּארֽוֹת (Yechezkel 17:6), and it sent out boughs, puts the resh first, and so do most of the פֹֽארֹתָיו, the Mesorah noting two written with the alef first and the rest with the resh first.

לַעַג וָקֶלֶס (Tehillim 44:14), derision and scorn, לְחֶרְפָּה וּלְקֶלֶס כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם (Yirmiyahu 20:8), a reproach and a mocking all the day, and in another form וְקַלָּסָה לְכָל־הָֽאֲרָצֽוֹת (Yechezkel 22:4), a mockery to all the lands. Radak says the sense is mocking and contempt.

The reflexive falls on the one doing the mocking and is bound with a bet: יִתְקַלְּסוּ ־בָךְ (Yechezkel 22:5), they will mock at you, and וַיִּתְקַלְּסוּ ־בוֹ וַיֹּאמְרוּ לוֹ עֲלֵה קֵרֵחַ (Melachim II 2:23), they mocked at him and said to him, go up, baldhead. Radak says that since the mocking is kept up against them, the form shows the mocker taken up with it.

Sometimes this word falls on praise: כַּזּוֹנָה לְקַלֵּס אֶתְנָֽן (Yechezkel 16:31), like a harlot praising the hire she takes. Radak allows that וְהוּא בַּמְּלָכִים יִתְקַלָּס (Chavakuk 1:10) may be of this sense, that he glories in kings, though from what follows it, וְרֹזְנִים מִשְׂחָק לוֹ, and rulers are a laughing matter to him, it looks more like the first sense; and so Targum Yonasan renders it, וְהוּא עַל מַלְכַיָא מִתְלַעַב, and he mocks at kings.

In the sense of praise, Radak says, they said in Kaddish ויתעלה ויתקלס, may He be exalted and praised; but Rav Amram Gaon wrote in the siddur of prayers that he composed that it is not fitting to say ויתקלס.

Radak also allows explaining לְקַלֵּס אֶתְנָֽן from mocking and contempt, so that every use of the word is mockery and contempt: the harlot mocks at the hire once she has taken it, and mocks at the man who comes after her and despises him in her heart for letting himself be enticed by her words and led astray by the sweetness of her lips. Or she mocks at the hire itself before him, and despises it, so that he will raise it for her. And you, not only were you not like the harlot in this, but you gave your own gifts.

יָדֵנוּ רָמָה (Devarim 32:27), our hand is high, and with the middle root letter showing as an alef, וְרָאֲמָה וְיָשְׁבָה תַחְתֶּיהָ (Zecharyah 14:10), it shall be lifted up and dwell in its place; רוּמָה עַל־הַשָּׁמַיִם (Tehillim 57:6), be exalted above the heavens. כְּרֻם זֻלֻּת לִבְנֵי אָדָֽם he explains as: when the wicked are raised, it is vileness to the sons of men. The adjectives are עַל כָּל־גֵּאֶה וָרָם (Yeshayahu 2:12), on all that is proud and high, הֶהָרִים הָרָמִים (Devarim 12:2), the high mountains, and עֵינַיִם רָמוֹת (Mishlei 6:17), haughty eyes; with an alef, רָאמוֹת לֶאֱוִיל חָכְמוֹת (Mishlei 24:7), wisdom is high for a fool. A height is עָלִיתָ לַמָּרוֹם (Tehillim 68:19), You went up on high, and מְרֹמֵי קָרֶת (Mishlei 9:3), the heights of the city; and וַתַּעֲשִׂי־לָךְ רָמָה (Yechezkel 16:24) is, and you made yourself a raised place.

הֲרִמֹתִי יָדִי (Bereishis 14:22), I have lifted my hand, תָּרִימוּ תְרוּמָה (Bamidbar 15:20), you shall set apart a terumah, and וּכְסִילִים מֵרִים קָלוֹן (Mishlei 3:35), fools raise up shame. וַיָּרֶם יָד בַּמֶּלֶךְ (Melachim I 11:26), he raised a hand against the king, means that he rebelled against him, and that is what raising a hand against him is. אֲשֶׁר הוּנַף וַאֲשֶׁר הוּרָם (Shemos 29:27) is what was waved and what was lifted off; what separates terumah from waving is set out under the root נוּף.

וְהֵרִים אֶת־הַדֶּשֶׁן (Vayikra 6:3), and he shall lift up the ash: Chazal explained that he lifted a panful of the ash every day and set it east of the ramp. On this explanation, the carrying out of the ash, of which it says וְהוֹצִיא אֶת־הַדֶּשֶׁן (Vayikra 6:4), and he shall carry out the ash, was not every day, only when there was much ash on the mizbeach and no room for the arrangement; and though they brought the heap down each day and took it out, the mitzvah was the daily lifting alone and not the clearing of the mizbeach, for on the regalim they did not clear it and left the heap as it stood, since it is an adornment to the mizbeach.

וְלֹא מִמִּדְבַּר הָרִֽים (Tehillim 75:6 in his edition), and not from the wilderness is raising: raising and enlarging come to a man neither from the rising of the sun nor from its setting nor from the wilderness; they do not come from all his striving and his going here and there, but only from Hashem, as it says כִּי־אֱלֹהִים שֹׁפֵט זֶה יַשְׁפִּיל וְזֶה יָרִים (Tehillim 75:8), for Elokim is the judge, He lowers one and lifts another. Some sefarim read ממדבר with a patach, from the wilderness of, and then הָרִים would be from הַר, mountains; even so the first is correct, and a patach outside a construct has cases like it, מִשְׁפַּט אֶחָד יִהְיֶה לָכֶם (Vayikra 24:22), one law shall there be for you, and וּמִקְסַם חָלָק (Yechezkel 12:24), and smooth divination. In the midrash (Rabbah, end of parshas Matos) Rabbi Abba says every הָרִים in Tanach means mountains but this one, which means exaltations, since a man is not exalted by these ways; and what does Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? He takes property from one and gives it to another.

גִּדַּלְתִּי וְרוֹמַמְתִּי (Yeshayahu 1:2), I reared and exalted, אֲרוֹמִמְךָ אֱלוֹהַי הַמֶּלֶךְ (Tehillim 145:1), I will exalt You, my Elokim the King, and רוֹמְמוֹת אֵל בִּגְרוֹנָם (Tehillim 149:6), the exaltations of Hashem in their throat. All of this sense is raising up. Rabbi Yonah divided between them; Radak holds there is no need, for separating one thing from another is itself a raising. So too וּכְסִילִים מֵרִים קָלוֹן, and fools raise up shame: a fool raises shame and brings it upon himself.

וְאַרְמוֹן עַל־מִשְׁפָּטוֹ יֵשֵׁב (Yirmiyahu 30:18), and a palace shall stand on its own place, may be derived from this sense, called so since it is a high building; he has already given it as a root of its own, אָרַם. רָאמוֹת (Iyov 28:18) is one of the precious stones, and some explain it as אַלְמוֹנִים, which is what is called coral in the vernacular.

יְשַׁבַּח מַֽעֲשֶׂיךָ (Tehillim 145:4), shall praise Your works, and שְׂפָתַי יְשַׁבְּחֽוּנְךָ (Tehillim 63:4), my lips will praise You; with the reflexive, לְהִשְׁתַּבֵּחַ בִּתְהִלָּתֶֽךָ (Tehillim 106:47), to glory in Your praise. The sense, he says, is known.

בְּשׂוֹא גַלָּיו אַתָּה תְשַׁבְּחֵֽם (Tehillim 89:10), when its waves rise You still them, וְחָכָם בְּאָחוֹר יְשַׁבְּחֶֽנָּה (Mishlei 29:11), a wise man holds it back and quiets it, and מַשְׁבִּיחַ שְׁאוֹן יַמִּים (Tehillim 65:8), who stills the roaring of the seas. Radak says the sense of all of these is ההשקט וההנחה, quieting and setting at rest.