action
throwing
At a glance
In short
Hashlachah is usually careless, disparaging throwing: throw away, cast off, or even drop (Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim); it does not show whether the thrower means to hit anything, and for Maharal it does not imply force, though Rabbi Pappenheim concedes purposeful uses too. Zerikah is, for Rabbi Pappenheim, purposely causing something to land in a chosen spot, typically matter that spreads as it falls, so throw, and where the object is fine or liquid, sprinkle; in Chazal it is a general term for throwing, which sometimes connotes throwing purposefully and forcefully (Maharal: it implies force). Hazayah is zerikah at a longer distance (Rabbi Pappenheim) or by hand rather than with a vessel (Malbim): sprinkle. Ramah is throwing upward in an arc so that it lands exactly on its target: hurl, shoot. Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman suggests that Rashbam, like Maharal, took hashlachah as dropping without force.
Distinctions
Hashlachah (השלכה)
The story of Yosef has hashlachah three times: as the brothers plan to throw his body into a pit, as Reuven persuades them to throw him in alive, and as they do (Bereishis 37:20, 22, 24). Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau: hashlachah is throwing in a way that does not show whether one means to hit something or merely to be rid of it, and the word carries a disrespectful attitude toward what is thrown. Because it is the casual or callous form, it usually means throwing downward, the easiest direction, and "dropping" or "throwing away" may be the more accurate English. Most of its occurrences, he notes, are disparaging: Hagar casting off Yishmael (Bereishis 21:15), Yosef thrown into the pit, Moshe throwing down the Luchos (Shemos 32:19), Pharaoh's decree against the infants (Shemos 1:22), tereifah meat thrown to the dogs (Shemos 22:30). He admits that some are deliberate, to bring about a result: Aharon throwing his staff (Shemos 7:10) and the gold into the fire (Shemos 32:24). The same could be said of the cedar, hyssop and crimson thread thrown into the burning of the parah adumah (Bamidbar 19:6).
Ramban (to Bereishis 21:15) offers two readings of vatashlech: Hagar abandoned Yishmael, so hashlachah is a form of forsaking; or she sent him away, proved from Devarim 29:27 and Tehillim 51:13, which in effect lets ש-ל-ך mean the same as its near-homonym ש-ל-ח (near, since in the Ashkenazi pronunciation ches and chaf sound alike).
- On the root, most grammarians, such as Menachem Ibn Saruk, Ibn Janach and Radak, take it as the triliteral ש-ל-ך.
- Rabbi Pappenheim instead builds it from two biliterals, ש-ל ("throwing out") and ל-ך ("going").
- Linguists propose a similar theory, cited by Ernest Klein and Avraham Even-Shoshan in their dictionaries: the rare shaphel conjugation, in which an initial shin is not part of the root but denotes creating the situation the root names (compare shiabud from עבד, shichrur from חרות, and Modern Hebrew shichpul and shichtuv). On that theory hashlachah comes from the two-letter root for going, and the shin makes it causing something to go from one place to another by throwing. Rabbi Moshe Shapiro applies the same shaphel pattern to shapir, from tiferes/pe'er. (A folk etymology ties the surname Shapiro to shapir; historians derive it more likely from the German town Speyer.)
In Modern Hebrew hashlachos are consequences, a usage not attested in Tanach or rabbinic writings, perhaps a result as a "throw-off" from its cause.
Zerikah (זריקה)
Rabbi Pappenheim: a portmanteau of ז-ר ("spreading, dispersal") and ר-ק ("emptying"). Zerikah is purposely causing something to land in a specific spot, and it usually involves matter of many small parts (sand, ashes, any liquid) that spreads as it falls; hence the ritual sprinkling of the korbanos' blood is zerikah. (In Modern Hebrew a zerikah is a shot.) Chazal, he explains, use it for any throwing, deliberate or not: the Mishnah (Shabbos 11:1) uses zarak for throwing an object from one reshus to another, where the destination is the point, and the Gemara (Chagigah 15a) uses zarak for Rabbi Meir throwing away the peel of Acher's teaching, where the destination is irrelevant.
Rashi (to Shemos 9:8): Moshe was to throw the ashes with one hand, since Hashem wanted them thrown with full force and it is easier to throw forcefully with one hand. Maharal explains how Rashi knew that force was meant: the Torah says zerikah, which implies throwing with force, where hashlachah does not. Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman suggests that this distinction underlies Rashbam to Shemos 32:19: Moshe was so enraged at the Golden Calf that he could not gather the strength to throw the Luchos and merely dropped them; Rabbi Hartman infers that Rashbam, like Maharal, took vayashlech as dropping without force.
Hazayah (הזיה)
- Rabbi Pappenheim: the same kind of throwing as zerikah, only over a longer distance.
- Malbim: zerikah is throwing or sprinkling with a vessel, hazayah by hand.
Ramah (רמה)
The root ר-ם means "esteemed" or "high," and in Biblical Hebrew it occasionally means throwing (Shemos 15:1, ramah vayam).
- Rabbi Pappenheim: ramah is throwing or shooting something upward in an arc so that it lands precisely on its target.
- The Targumim render zerikah with the cognate ז-ר-ק but render hashlachah with ר-ם derivatives, so, Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein concludes, in Aramaic the ר-ם root seems to mean what hashlachah means, perhaps the lifting of an object in order to throw it.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein's conclusion: hashlachah and zerikah are the two basic words; hazayah and ramah are like zerikah with a twist, hazayah throwing long distance and/or by hand, ramah throwing upward to land on target.
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ז-ר-ק
To throw, as Moshe throws it heavenward and blood is thrown on the mizbeach; מִזְרָק is the vessel that one throws from.
Throwing
וּזְרָקוֹ מֹשֶׁה הַשָּׁמַיְמָה (Shemos 9:8), and Moshe shall throw it toward the heavens; וַחֲצִי הַדָּם זָרַק עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ (Shemos 24:6), and half the blood he threw on the mizbeach; and וְזָרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים וּטְהַרְתֶּם (Yechezkel 36:25), I will throw pure water upon you and you will be pure.
Grey hair
גַּם־שֵׂיבָה זָרְקָה בּוֹ (Hoshea 7:9), grey hair too was thrown into him. It is either a verb standing alone, that is, the grey was thrown into him, or it means that nature threw the grey into him, since grey hair comes of a man's nature.
Thrown, with no doer named
In the form that names no doer, כִּי מֵי נִדָּה לֹא־זֹרַק עָלָיו (Bamidbar 19:13), for the mei niddah was not thrown upon him.
The basin
The vessel one throws from is a מִזְרָק: וְיָעָיו וּמִזְרְקֹתָיו (Shemos 27:3), its shovels and its basins; כַּמִּזְרָקִים לִפְנֵי הַמִּזְבֵּחַ (Zecharyah 14:20), like the basins before the mizbeach; and מִזְרְקֵי־כֶסֶף (Bamidbar 7:84), basins of silver.
Drinking from basins
הַשֹּׁתִים בְּמִזְרְקֵי יַיִן (Amos 6:6), who drink wine in basins: the word that completes the construct is missing, and it means that they drink wine in basins of silver or of gold; or else it is like מזרקים, basins. So too חַלּוֹנֵי שְׁקֻפִים (Melachim I 6:4), windows that are shekufim, and נִטְעֵי נַעֲמָנִים (Yeshayahu 17:10), pleasant plantings, and those like them.
וּזְרָקוֹ מֹשֶׁה הַשָּׁמַיְמָה (שמות ט, ח), וַֽחֲצִי הַדָּם זָרַק עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַ (שמות כד, ו) וְזָֽרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים וּטְהַרְתֶּם (יחזקאל לו, כה), גַּם־שֵׂיבָה זָרְקָה בּוֹ (הושע ז, ט) או פעל בודד כלומר נזרקה בו השיבה, או פירושו כי התולדת זרקה בו השיבה כי השיבה תבא מתולדת האדם. ומה שלא נזכר פועלו ממנו [פֻּעַל] כִּי מֵי נִדָּה לֹֽא־זֹרַק עָלָיו (במדבר יט, יג). ושם הכלי שזורקים ממנו מִזְרָק, והקבוץ בלשון נקבות וְיָעָיו וּמִזְרְקֹתָיו (שמות כז, ג), ובקבוץ זכרים כַּמִּזְרָקִים לִפְנֵי הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַ (זכריה יד, כ), ובסמוך מִֽזְרְקֵי־כֶסֶף (במדבר ז, פד). הַשֹּׁתִים בְּמִזְרְקֵי יַיִן (עמוס ו, ו), חסר הנסמך ופירושו במזרקי כסף או זהב שותים יין או הוא כמו מזרקים, וכן חַלּוֹנֵי שְׁקֻפִים (מלכים א' ו, ד), נִטְעֵי נַֽעֲמָנִים (ישעיה יז, י), והדומים להם.
נ-ז-ה
To sprinkle, of blood and of the water of the niddah; a known sense, like dripping. He reads כֵּן יַזֶּה גּוֹיִם רַבִּים as speaking: so shall he address many nations.
Blood spattering
וַאֲשֶׁר יִזֶּה מִדָּמָהּ עַל־הַבֶּגֶד (Vayikra 6:20), whatever of its blood spatters on a garment, and וַיִּז מִדָּמָהּ אֶל־הַקִּיר (Melachim II 9:33), some of her blood spattered on the wall.
Sprinkling
וְהִזָּה אֶל־הַבַּיִת (Vayikra 14:51), and he shall sprinkle toward the house; יַזֶּה שֶׁבַע־פְּעָמִים (Vayikra 16:14), he shall sprinkle seven times; הַזֵּה עֲלֵיהֶם מֵי חַטָּאת (Bamidbar 8:7), sprinkle the waters of the chatas upon them; and וַיַּז מִמֶּנּוּ (Vayikra 8:11), and he sprinkled of it. The sense of הזאה, sprinkling, is known, like the sense of dripping.
The one who carries the water
וּמַזֵּה מֵי־הַנִּדָּה (Bamidbar 19:21), and the sprinkling of the water of the niddah: Chazal (Niddah 9a) say that the one who sprinkles stays tahor and the pasuk speaks rather of one who carries it, who takes a severe tumah that makes tamei the clothes upon him, unlike one who only touches it, who need not launder his clothes; and it is put as מִזֵּה to say that he is not tamei until there is enough of it for a sprinkling. On that reading מזה is a noun on the pattern of מַטֶּה, a staff, and the pasuk means that whoever carries the sprinkling of the water of the niddah shall launder his clothes.
Many nations
כֵּן יַזֶּה גּוֹיִם רַבִּים (Yeshayahu 52:15) he takes in the sense of speaking, a verb that takes an object: so shall he address many nations. The edition sets a vernacular word beside it.
וַֽאֲשֶׁר יִזֶּה מִדָּמָהּ עַל־הַבֶּגֶד אֲשֶׁר יִזֶּה עָלֶיהָ (ויקרא ו, כ), וַיִּז מִדָּמָהּ אֶל־הַקִּיר (מלכים ב' ט, לג). והכבד [הִפְעִיל] וְהִזָּה אֶל־הַבַּיִת (ויקרא יד, נא), כֵּן יַזֶּה גּוֹיִם רַבִּים (ישעיה נב, טו), יַזֶּה שֶֽׁבַע־פְּעָמִים (ויקרא טז, יד), הַזֵּה עֲלֵיהֶם מֵי חַטָּאת (במדבר ח, ז), וּמַזֵּה מֵֽי־הַנִּדָּה (במדבר יט, כא), וַיַּז מִמֶּנּוּ (ויקרא ח, יא). ופירוש וּמַזֵּה מֵֽי־הַנִּדָּה אמרו רבותינו ז"ל (נדה ט, ע"א) כי המזה טהור אלא על הנושא הוא אומר שהוא טמא טומאה חמורה לטמא בגדים שעליו, מה שאין כן בנוגע, שהנוגע אינו טעון כיבוס בגדים, ומה שהוציאו בלשון מִזֵּה לומר שאינו טמא עד שיהא בהם כדי הזיה. ולזה הפירוש יהיה מזה שם כמו מַטֶּה ופירוש הפסוק מי שנושא הַזָּאַת מי הנדה יכבס בגדיו. ענין ההזאה ידוע כענין הטפטוף. ופירוש כֵּן יַזֶּה גּוֹיִם רַבִּים כענין לדבר והוא פעל יוצא. פרא פרלר.
ר-מ-ה
To cast or throw; in another sense, to deceive, with רְמִיָּה and מִרְמָה, deceit.
Casting
רָמָה בַיָּם (Shemos 15:1), He cast into the sea; פָּרָשׁ וְרֹמֵה קֶשֶׁת (Yirmiyahu 4:29), horseman and one who shoots the bow; נוֹשְׁקֵי רוֹמֵי־קָשֶׁת (Tehillim 78:9), armed men shooting with the bow; and רָמַת לֶחִי (Shoftim 15:17), the casting of the jawbone. The sense of casting is well known. The noun from it is in הָיוּ כְּקֶשֶׁת רְמִיָּה (Hoshea 7:16), they were like a casting bow.
Rabbi Yonah on רָמוּתֶךָ
Rabbi Yonah takes וּמִלֵּאתִי הַגֵּאָיוֹת רָמוּתֶךָ (Yechezkel 32:5), and I will fill the valleys with those of you cast down, from this sense; that is, the slain who will fall from your multitude.
Deceit
Another sense: כֵּן־אִישׁ רִמָּה אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ (Mishlei 26:19), so is a man who deceived his fellow; לָמָּה רִמִּיתָנִי (Shmuel I 28:12), why did you deceive me; הֵמָּה רִמּוּנִי (Eichah 1:19), they deceived me; and וְאִם־לְרַמּוֹתַנִי לְצָרַי (Divrei HaYamim I 12:18), and if it is to deceive me for my foes.
The nouns and adjective of deceit
The noun: וְלוֹ תְּדַבְּרוּ רְמִיָּה (Iyov 13:7), will you speak deceit for Him, on the pattern of בִּצְדִיָּה (Bamidbar 35:20), by lying in wait. The adjective: לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּה (Tehillim 120:3), a deceitful tongue. Another form of the noun: הֶחֱזִיקוּ בַּתַּרְמִית (Yirmiyahu 8:5), they held fast to deceit; another, בְּתָרְמָה לֵאמֹר (Shoftim 9:31), with deceit, saying; and another, מֹאזְנֵי מִרְמָה (Mishlei 11:1), scales of deceit.
Where his father reads a place
His father explains בְּתָרְמָה לֵאמֹר (Shoftim 9:31) as the name of a place, in Tormah, saying, since that pattern is not found with an added tav.
The bow again
כְּקֶשֶׁת רְמִיָּה (Hoshea 7:16) may instead belong to the sense of deceit: a bow that shoots with deceit, so that no one is aware of it. So too כְּתַעַר מְלֻטָּשׁ עֹשֵׂה רְמִיָּה (Tehillim 52:4), like a sharpened razor working deceit.
רָמָה בַיָּֽם (שמות טו, א), פָּרָשׁ וְרֹמֵה קֶשֶׁת (ירמיה ד, כט), נוֹשְׁקֵי רוֹמֵי־קָשֶׁת (תהלים עח, ט), רָמַת לֶֽחִי (שופטים טו, יז), ענין ההשלכה ידוע. והשם מזה הָיוּ כְּקֶשֶׁת רְמִיָּה (הושע ז, טז). ורבי יונה פירש מזה וּמִלֵּאתִי הַגֵּֽאָיוֹת רָמוּתֶֽךָ (יחזקאל לב, ה), כלומר אשר יפלו חללים מהמונך. וענין אחר כֵּֽן־אִישׁ רִמָּה אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ (משלי כו, יט), לָמָּה רִמִּיתָנִי (שמואל א' כח, יב), הֵמָּה רִמּוּנִי (איכה א, יט). וְאִם־לְרַמּוֹתַנִי לְצָרַי (דברי הימים א' יב, יז), בפתח מקום צרי. והשם וְלוֹ תְּֽדַבְּרוּ רְמִיָּֽה (איוב יג, ז), בפלס בִּצְדִיָּה (במדבר לה, כ). והתאר לָשׁוֹן רְמִיָּֽה (תהלים קכ, ג), בפלס עֲנִיָּה סֹֽעֲרָה (ישעיה נד, יא), שְׁבִיָּה בת ציון (ישעיה נב, ב). ומשקל אחר השם הֶחֱזִיקוּ בַּתַּרְמִית (ירמיה ח, ה), וְתַרְמִות [וְתַרְמִית] לִבָּם (ירמיה יד, יד). ומשקל אחר בְּתָרְמָה לֵאמֹר (שופטים ט, לא). ואדוני אבי ז"ל פירשו שם מקום לפי שלא נמצא משקלו בתוספת תי"ו. ומשקל אחר מֹֽאזְנֵי מִרְמָה (משלי יא, א), וּמִרְמוֹת וָתֹךְ (תהלים י, ז). ויתכן להיות מזה הענין כקשות רמיה, כלומר יורה ברמיה עד שלא ירגיש אדם בו. וכן כְּתַעַר מְלֻטָּשׁ עֹשֵׂה רְמִיָּֽה (תהלים נב, ד).
ש-ל-ך
To throw and cast down, the sense of all its verbs; used of casting people out of their dwellings, and of casting a lot.
Casting
הִשְׁלִיךְ מִשָּׁמַיִם אֶרֶץ (Eichah 2:1), He cast down from heaven to earth; וַתַּשְׁלֵךְ אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד (Bereishis 21:15), she cast the child down; הַשְׁלִיכוּ אֹתוֹ אֶל־הַבּוֹר (Bereishis 37:22), throw him into the pit; and מַשְׁלִיךְ קַרְחוֹ כְפִתִּים (Tehillim 147:17), casting His ice like crumbs. All of it is the sense of throwing and casting down.
Cast out of a place
כִּי הִשְׁלִיכוּ מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֵינוּ (Yirmiyahu 9:18) he reads as they cast us out of our dwellings, in the way of וְלֹא־תָקִיא אֶתְכֶם הָאָרֶץ (Vayikra 20:22), and the land shall not vomit you out.
Casting a lot
וּפֹה אַשְׁלִיךְ לָכֶם גּוֹרָל (Yehoshua 18:8), and here I will cast a lot for you.
Of the thing thrown
וְהֻשְׁלַךְ מְכוֹן מִקְדָּשׁוֹ (Daniel 8:11), the place of His Mikdash was cast down; עָלֶיךָ הָשְׁלַכְתִּי מֵרָחֶם (Tehillim 22:11), upon You I was cast from the womb; and וַתֻּשְׁלְכִי אֶל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (Yechezkel 16:5), you were cast out on the open field.
By extension, of haste
וַיַּשְׁלִכוּ הָרָצִים וְהַשָּׁלִשִׁים וַיֵּלְכוּ (Melachim II 10:25), and the runners and the officers cast and went, is said by way of extension, from their great haste and speed when they were sent to the city of Beis HaBaal to break down the pillars.
The bird, and the gate
וְאֶת־הַשָּׁלָךְ (Vayikra 11:17), and the שָׁלָךְ, our Rabbis explained (Chullin 63a) as the one that draws fish out of the sea, and Onkelos renders it so, וְשָׁלֵינוּנָא. אֲשֶׁר בְּשַׁלֶּכֶת (Yeshayahu 6:13), which at Shalleches, Radak takes as the name of a gate that was in the Beis HaMikdash, the one named in Divrei HaYamim, עִם שַׁעַר שַׁלֶּכֶת (Divrei HaYamim I 26:16), with the gate of Shalleches; Targum Yonasan rendered it as a word of casting.
Targum Yonasan on the pasuk
Targum Yonasan renders the whole pasuk: like the terebinth and the oak, whose leaves fall and look dry while they are still moist, to keep seed from them, so the exile of Yisrael will be gathered in and return to their land, for the holy seed is their planting.
[הִפְעִיל] הִשְׁלִיךְ מִשָּׁמַיִם אֶרֶץ (איכה ב, א), וַתַּשְׁלֵךְ אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד (בראשית כא, טו), וְנַשְׁלִכֵהוּ בְּאַחַד הַבֹּרוֹת (בראשית לז, כ), מֻשְׁלֶכֶת בַּדֶּרֶךְ (מלכים א' יג, כה), מַשְׁלִיךְ קַֽרְחוֹ כְפִתִּים (תהלים קמז, יז), הַשְׁלִיכוּ אֹתוֹ אֶל־הַבּוֹר (בראשית לז, כב). כִּי הִשְׁלִיכוּ מִשְׁכְּנוֹתֵֽינוּ (ירמיה ט, יח), כלומר השליכו אותנו משכנותינו, על דרך וְלֹֽא־תָקִיא אֶתְכֶם הָאָרֶץ (ויקרא כ, כב). וּפֹה אַשְׁלִיךְ לָכֶם גּוֹרָל (יהושע יח, ח). ושלא נזכר פעלו ממנו [הָפְעַל] וְהֻשְׁלַךְ מְכוֹן מִקְדָּשֽׁוֹ (דניאל ח, יא), בשרק. עָלֶיךָ הָשְׁלַכְתִּי מֵרָחֶם (תהלים כב, יא), בקמץ חטף. וַתֻּשְׁלְכִי אֶל־פְּנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (יחזקאל טז, ה), כולם ענין רמיה והפלה. ואמר על דרך הרחבה וַיַּשְׁלִכוּ הָֽרָצִים וְהַשָּׁלִשִׁים וַיֵּֽלְכוּ עַד־עִיר בֵּית־הַבָּֽעַל (מלכים ב' י, כה), מרוב חפזם ומהירותם להם לשלחם לעיר בית הבעל לנתוץ המצבות. וְאֶת־הַשָּׁלָךְ (ויקרא יא, יז), פירשוהו רבותינו ז"ל (חולין סג, ע"א) זה השולה דגים מן הים. וכן תרגם אנקלוס וְשָׁלֵינוּנָא. אֲשֶׁר בְּשַׁלֶּכֶת (ישעיה ו, יג), שם שער שהיה בבית המקדש הנזכר בדברי הימים עִם שַׁעַר שַׁלֶּכֶת (דברי הימים א' כו, טז). ויונתן תרגם לשון השלכה. וכן תרגם הפסוק כְּבוּטְמָא וְכִבְלוֹטָא דִבְמִתַר טַרְפּוֹהִי דָמִין לְיַבְשִׁין וְעַד כְּעַן אִינוּן רַטִיבָן לְקַיָמָא מִנְהוֹן זַרְעָא כֵּן גָלוּתָא דְיִשְרָאֵל יִתְכַּנְשׁוּן וִיתוּבוּן לְאַרְעֲהוֹן אֲרֵי זַרְעָא דְקוּדְשָׁא נִצְבַתְהוֹן.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "A Real Toss Up," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 21 December 2019.
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 21:15, 37:20, 37:22, 37:24; Shemos 1:22, 7:10, 9:8, 15:1, 22:30, 32:19, 32:24; Bamidbar 19:6; Devarim 29:27; Tehillim 51:13; Mishnah Shabbos 11:1; Chagigah 15a; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Yerios Shlomo (חוברת ג יריעה י"ג); Ramban to Bereishis 21:15; Rashi and Maharal to Shemos 9:8; Rashbam to Shemos 32:19; Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman; Malbim, Sefer HaCarmel s.v. זריקה הזיה; Menachem Ibn Saruk; Ibn Janach; Radak; the dictionaries of Ernest Klein and Avraham Even-Shoshan; Rabbi Moshe Shapiro; the Targumim.