white

חוּר כַּרְפַּס וּתְכֵלֶת (Esther 1:6), white, karpas and blue: חוּר is white, and so Chazal (Megillah 12a) say that he spread for them a couch of white wool; and תְּכֵלֶת וָחוּר (Esther 8:15), blue and white. The verb shows its middle letter in וְלֹא עַתָּה פָּנָיו יֶחֱוָרוּ (Yeshayahu 29:22), and his face shall not now turn white, and the Targum renders לָבָן (Bereishis 30:35), white, as חִוָּר.

Shame is spoken of in the way of whiteness, since a man who feels shame goes white in the face; and so Chazal (Bava Metzia 58b) speak of one who whitens his fellow's face in public.

Rabbi Yonah explains וְאֹרְגִים חוֹרָי (Yeshayahu 19:9), and the weavers of chorai, from whiteness, as white cloth, and סַלֵּי חֹרִי (Bereishis 40:16), baskets of chori, the same way. They could well be white baskets, that is, baskets made of peeled rods, which are white once the bark is off; but Radak holds this a far reading.

From this sense too Rabbi Yonah explains בֶּן־חוֹרִים (Koheles 10:17), a son of nobles, כָּל־חֹרֵי יְהוּדָה וִירוּשָׁלָם (Yirmiyahu 27:20), all the nobles of Yehudah and Yerushalayim, וָאָרִיבָה אֶת־הַחֹרִים (Nechemiah 5:7), and I contended with the nobles, and חֹרֶיהָ וְאֵין־שָׁם מְלוּכָה (Yeshayahu 34:12), her nobles, and no kingship there. Rabbi Yonah says that in the language of Yishmael the princes and the great men are called by a word for whiteness.

The other sense is a hole: וַיִּקֹּב חֹר בְּדַלְתּוֹ (Melachim II 12:10), he bored a hole in its door, וַיְמַלֵּא־טֶרֶף חֹרָיו (Nachum 2:13), he filled his holes with prey, חֹרֵי עָפָר וְכֵפִים (Iyov 30:6), holes of the dust and of the rocks, and מִן־הַחֹרִים אֲשֶׁר הִתְחַבְּאוּ־שָׁם (Shmuel I 14:11), out of the holes where they had hidden. With a shuruk it is עַל־חֻר פָּתֶן (Yeshayahu 11:8), over the hole of an asp, and הָפֵחַ בַּֽחוּרִים כֻּלָּם (Yeshayahu 42:22), all of them snared in holes; the sense is known.

The same two words may be read from the hole instead: וְאֹרְגִים חוֹרָי (Yeshayahu 19:9) would be cloth pierced with holes at the weaving, for ornament, or else the nets, which are holes upon holes, and that suits the passage, as the pasuk before it says וּפֹרְשֵׂי מִכְמֹרֶת עַל־פְּנֵי־מַיִם (Yeshayahu 19:8), and those who spread nets upon the water; and סַלֵּי חֹרִי (Bereishis 40:16) would be pierced baskets, for that is how they are made. It is explained further under the root חרר.

Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Yonah put into this root וְחָרָה נְחֻשְׁתָּהּ (Yechezkel 24:11), and its bottom grows hot, וְעַצְמִי־חָרָה מִנִּי־חֹרֶב (Iyov 30:30), and my bone burns with heat, and חָרוּ יֹשְׁבֵי אֶרֶץ (Yeshayahu 24:6), the dwellers of the earth are scorched. Radak holds the right and straight course is to set them among the doubled verbs.

וּבְלוֹא מְחִיר יַיִן וְחָלָֽב (Yeshayahu 55:1), and without price wine and milk; לֹֽא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּֽחֲלֵב אִמּֽוֹ (Shemos 34:26), you shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk; וְהֵמָּה יִשְׁתּוּ חֲלָבֵֽךְ (Yechezkel 25:4), and they shall drink your milk. The word, he says, is known.

וְחֵלֶב נְבֵלָה וְחֵלֶב טְרֵפָה (Vayikra 7:24), the fat of a carcass and the fat of a torn beast, and in the plural עַל אִשֵּׁי הַֽחֲלָבִים (Vayikra 10:15), upon the fire offerings of the fats. It is right, he says, that וּמֵֽחֶלְבֵהֶן (Bereishis 4:4), and of the fat ones among them, be a describing noun, as the Targum renders it וּמִשַּׁמִּנְהוֹן, and of their fat ones; what is fat is called חֵלֶב, on the pattern of מֶלֶךְ, a king, and עֶבֶד, a servant, which are describing nouns.

By way of borrowing, as the fat is the choicest of the flesh, the choicest of anything came to be called חֵלֶב: כֹּל חֵלֶב יִצְהָר וְכָל־ חֵלֶב תִּירוֹשׁ וְדָגָן (Bamidbar 18:12), all the best of the oil and all the best of the wine and the grain, and וְאִכְלוּ אֶת־ חֵלֶב הָאָֽרֶץ (Bereishis 45:18), and eat the best of the land.

וּשְׁחֵלֶת וְחֶלְבְּנָה (Shemos 30:34), onycha and galbanum: he describes it as a spice whose smell is foul, the resin of a tree found in the cities of Greece, like a black honey, and in Arabic מיעה. And בְּיֵין חֶלְבּוֹן (Yechezkel 27:18), with wine of Chelbon, which Targum Yonasan renders בַּחֲמַר חֵילַת מְבַשֵׁל, with cooked wine of Cheilas.

וַתְּהִי לָהֶם הַלְּבֵנָה לְאָבֶן (Bereishis 11:3), and the brick served them for stone, with the verb נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים (Bereishis 11:3), let us make bricks, and לִלְבֹּן הַלְּבֵנִים (Shemos 5:7), to make the bricks. The kiln in which the bricks are burnt is called מַלְבֵּן, as בַּמַּלְבֵּן (Shmuel II 12:31), in the kiln, which he reads as: he burnt them in the brick kiln. Yonasan renders it וּגְרַר יַתְהוֹן בְּשׁוּקַיָא, and he dragged them through the streets, which Radak explains: he was dragging them through the streets to put them to a hard and contemptible death. As for rendering במלבן as בשוקיא, in the streets, perhaps Yonasan holds that a street is called מלבן because it is lined with colonnades set in order on this side and that, from Chazal's מלבנות התבואה (Peah 3:1), which are beds of grain, so called because they are set in order; so too they said מלבנות הפתחים (Bava Basra 69a), the doorposts on either side of the doorway. בַּמֶּלֶט בַּמַּלְבֵּן (Yirmiyahu 43:9), in the mortar, in the brickworks, is the place where bricks are made, and הַֽחֲזִיקִי מַלְבֵּֽן (Nachum 3:14), make the kiln strong, means build the brick kiln.

He says the bricks may be from the sense of whiteness, since everything burnt in fire whitens, and so יִתְבָּֽרְרוּ וְיִתְלַבְּנוּ וְיִצָּֽרְפוּ (Daniel 12:10), they shall be purified and made white and refined; and so Chazal said of this matter מלבנן באור והן טהורים (Avodah Zarah 75b), one whitens them in fire and they are tahor.

כְּזֶרַע גַּד לָבָן (Shemos 16:31), like coriander seed, white: the mon was white and its grains were like coriander seed. מַחְשׂף הַלָּבָן (Bereishis 30:37), laying bare the white; וּֽלְבֶן ־שִׁנַּיִם מֵֽחָלָֽב (Bereishis 49:12), white of teeth from milk; and כֵּהוֹת לְבָנֹת (Vayikra 13:39), dull white spots. Standing of itself, כַּשֶּׁלֶג יַלְבִּינוּ (Yeshayahu 1:18), they shall be white as snow, and הִלְבִּינוּ שָֽׂרִיגֶֽיהָ (Yoel 1:7), her branches have whitened, that is, they dried and turned white. Taking an object, וּלְבָרֵר וְלַלְבֵּן עַד־עֵת קֵץ (Daniel 11:35), to purify and to whiten until the time of the end, where the form should have been וּלְהַלְבֵּן, to whiten, and with the heh gone its vowel was thrown onto the prefixed lamed.

Rabbi Yonah explained לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר (Shemos 24:10) as a noun, that is, the whiteness of the sapphire, and so the Gaon said, that the sapphire is white. Ibn Ezra wrote in his commentary that the sapphire is red, his proof being אָֽדְמוּ עצם מפנינים סַפִּיר גִּזְרָתָֽם (Eichah 4:7), they were ruddier of bone than pearls, their form was sapphire, where the sense is doubled, as in זַכּוּ נְזִירֶיהָ מִשֶּׁלֶג צַחוּ מֵחָלָב, her nezirim were purer than snow, whiter than milk; and further, why does the pasuk say כמעשה, like the work of, when it should have said כמראה, like the appearance of, the whiteness of the sapphire? Rather, Ibn Ezra concludes, the correct view is that it is from לְבָנָה, a brick, as חֶֽשְׁכַת ־מַיִם (Tehillim 18:12), darkness of waters, is from חֲשֵׁכָה, darkness, and so לבנת הספיר, a brick of sapphire, is like the sapphire stone that Yechezkel saw. The derash is given as going the same way: that they saw the likeness of a brick under the feet of the Kisei HaKavod, to see and remember that Yisrael were enslaved under the hand of Mitzrayim at the work of bricks.

וְחָֽפְרָה הַלְּבָנָה (Yeshayahu 24:23), and the moon shall be abashed: it is the moon, called so because it appears white. תַּחַת אַלּוֹן וְלִבְנֶה (Hoshea 4:13), under oak and livneh, and מַקַּל לִבְנֶה (Bereishis 30:37), a rod of livneh, are a tree whose name comes from לבן, white, and Rabbi Yonah wrote that it is the one called לובני in Arabic. לְבֹנָה זַכָּה (Vayikra 24:7), pure levonah, is well known, and עִם כָּל־עֲצֵי לְבוֹנָה (Shir HaShirim 4:14), with all trees of levonah, are the trees the levonah comes from, for levonah is the resin of a tree.

עַל מוּת לַבֵּן (Tehillim 9:1), upon the death of Labben, or upon the death, for Ben: some take לבן as the name of one of David's enemies, at whose death the mizmor was made; some take it as נָבָל with its letters reversed. His father wrote that the lamed is a prefix and that בֵּן is the name of a singer, set out in Divrei HaYamim among the second rank, זְכַרְיָהוּ בֵּן וְיַֽעֲזִיאֵל וּשְׁמִֽירָמוֹת (Divrei HaYamim I 15:18), Zecharyahu, Ben, and Yaaziel and Shemiramos; David said the mizmor on the death of Golyas and the victory over the Pelishtim, and Ben the singer played it. To the question why it is not לְבֵן with a sheva, as לְאָסָף, since the article does not come on a man's name or a city's, the answer given on this reading is that though it is not the way of the language it comes at times for the sake of definiteness, as it does on a city's name: אֲשֶׁר בַּשֶּׂכוּ (Shmuel I 19:22), which is at Sechu, and וַֽיִּפְקְדֵם בַּטְּלָאִים (Shmuel I 15:4), and he counted them at Telaim; and here the article was used so the name should not be confused with the ordinary word for a son.