why

The word asks what a thing is or how it is: מַה־תָּאֳרוֹ, what is his appearance, and מַה־זֶּה מִהַרְתָּ לִמְצֹא בְּנִי (Bereishis 27:20), what is this, that you found it so quickly, my son. It does not ask after a living, speaking being; מִי, who, is the word for that. Where it says וַיֹּאמְרוּ לָהֶם אֲחֵיהֶם מָה אַתֶּם (Shoftim 18:8), and their brothers said to them, what are you, the sense is what tidings are in your mouth, that is, what do you say.

It sometimes stands for מָתַי, when, as עַד־מָה (Tehillim 79:5), until when. With a lamed it asks the reason: לָמָּה זֶּה שְׁלַחְתָּנִי (Shemos 5:22), which he glosses for what did you send me in this way. A shin may join the lamed, שַׁלָּמָה (Shir HaShirim 1:7), for what reason; and the lamed may drop away with the sense of 'for what' still standing, as וּמֶה לֹֽא־תִשָּׂא פִשְׁעִי (Iyov 7:21), and why do you not bear my transgression.

Rabbi Yonah read לָמָה אֶשְׁכַּל גַּם־שְׁנֵיכֶם (Bereishis 27:45), why should I be bereaved of you both, and its like as 'lest'. Radak finds no ground for that reading: they mean what their fellows mean, for what reason, and לָמָה אֶשְׁכַּל is why would you want me to be bereaved; and so all of them.

The word magnifies a thing, מָה רַב טוּבְךָ (Tehillim 31:20), how great is Your goodness, and equally belittles it, מָה־אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי־תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ (Tehillim 8:5), what is man that You remember him. In וְאַֽהֲרֹן מַה־הוּא (Bamidbar 16:11), and Aharon, what is he, the sense is that their complaints are against one greater than he, against Hashem; but Aharon, what is he, that you complain against him?

וִיהִי מָה אָרֻצָה (Shmuel II 18:22), let be what will be, I will run, leaves the thing unsaid: whatever will be, I do not care, I will run and tell. So too וְיַעֲבֹר עָלַי מָה (Iyov 13:13), let come upon me what may, and I do not care. In some places it is a cry of grief, מָה אֲמֻלָה לִבָּתֵךְ (Yechezkel 16:30), how faint is your heart.

Some read וּמָה אֶתְבּוֹנֵן עַל־בְּתוּלָה (Iyov 31:1) in the sense of how, how could I gaze upon a maiden, and מַה־נעבוד (Shemos 10:26) the same way, how we are to serve. Radak says there is no need, and both mean what they plainly say: מַה־נעבוד is that we do not know with which of the kinds of livestock we are to serve Him, and וּמָה אֶתְבּוֹנֵן עַל־בְּתוּלָה is, and what would my portion be if I gazed upon a maiden, as it says, וּמֶה חֵלֶק אֱלוֹהַּ מִמָּעַל (Iyov 31:2), and what is the portion of God from above?

With a kaf it asks quantity, כַּמָּה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֶּיךָ (Bereishis 47:8), how many are the days of the years of your life; it also magnifies, זֶה כַּמֶּה שָׁנִים (Zecharyah 7:3), meaning many years, and belittles, כַּמָּה לִי עֲוֹנוֹת וְחַטָּאוֹת (Iyov 13:23), how many iniquities and sins have I. אֵיךְ, how, asks after the manner of a thing, and כַּמָּה after the thing itself. In כַּמָּה נֵר רְשָׁעִים יִדְעָךְ (Iyov 21:17) it means עד כמה, to what extent: to what extent is the lamp of the wicked put out.

וּמַדּוּעַ תִּתְנַשְּׂאוּ עַל־קְהַל י"י (Bamidbar 16:3), and why do you raise yourselves over the congregation of Hashem: the word's sense is like למה, why. Some say it is two words, מַה דַּוּעַ, from יָדַע, to know. Radak spells their reading out: what knowledge is in this thing, what is its matter.

All of these are knowing, and among them are recognizing and feeling a thing in oneself: לֹא יָדַעְתִּי נַפְשִׁי שָׂמַתְנִי (Shir HaShirim 6:12), I did not know, my soul set me, is that I did not feel it in myself until my soul set me there, and הַמַּעְתִּיק הָרִים וְלֹא יָדָעוּ (Iyov 9:5), who moves mountains and they did not know, is that the mountains did not feel it until He moved them.

וְהָאָדָם יָדַע אֶת־חַוָּה (Bereishis 4:1), and Adam knew Chava, and אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדְעוּ אִישׁ (Bereishis 19:8), who have not known a man: these are knowing too, and all of it is a sense that follows on the sense of knowing.

דֵּעָה and דַּעַת are the knowledge itself. מַדָּע is thought: וּמְבִינֵי מַדָּע (Daniel 1:4), those who understand thought, are those who understood what was in a man's heart from a slight hint, and בְּמַדָּעֲךָ (Koheles 10:20) is in your thought. Its root may be נָדַע, on the evidence of the Aramaic מִנְדַּע תִּנְדַּע, to know you shall know, forms of knowing written with a nun, or else יָדַע.

Because a man's near relative, one of his own family, knows him and recognizes him, the member of the family is called מוֹדָע. In הֲלֹא בֹעַז מֹדַעְתָּנוּ (Rus 3:2), is not Boaz of our family, a mem of connection is missing: it stands for ממודעתנו, of our family.

Rabbi Yehudah put וַיֹּדַע בָּהֶם אֵת אַנְשֵׁי סֻכּוֹת (Shoftim 8:16) under another sense, and Rabbi Yonah likewise, who put וּבְקֶרֶב כְּסִילִים תִּוָּדֵֽעַ (Mishlei 14:33) there with it. The sense they explain them by is breaking and destroying, and so they read וִידוּעַ חֹלִי (Yeshayahu 53:3) as broken by sickness; so too וַיֵּדַע אַלְמְנוֹתָיו וְעָֽרֵיהֶם הֶחֱרִיב (Yechezkel 19:7), and he laid waste their cities, where Targum Yonasan renders the first words וְאַצְדֵי בִּרְנְיָתֵיהּ, and he laid waste its palaces; and so וּמְעַקֵּשׁ דְּרָכָיו יִוָּדֵֽעַ (Mishlei 10:9), and one who twists his ways, on their reading, will be broken. Radak answers that there is no need to take these words out of their sense. וַיֹּדַע בָּהֶם, and with them he made the men of Sukkos know, is that he made their sin and their guilt known to them, and on the name of Sukkos, the city there that they trusted in as fortified, he chastised them with thorns whose name is סכות, as הַֽתְמַלֵּא בְשֻׂכּוֹת עוֹרוֹ (Iyov 40:31), can you fill his skin with thorns. וּבְקֶרֶב כְּסִילִים תִּוָּדֵֽעַ, and in the midst of fools it is made known, is the reverse of the pasuk's first half: the wisdom in the heart of a man of understanding rests in him, and he does not make himself known as wise or bring it out wherever he is, only at need; but a word of wisdom among fools they make known to every man, that they know such and such. It is like Chazal's saying (Bava Metzia 85b), אסתירא בלגינא קיש קיש קריא, a single coin in a jar cries out kish, kish. וִידוּעַ חֹלִי is one known and marked to all as a man of sicknesses.

Chazal (Sanhedrin 65b) explained יִדְּעֹנִי as one who puts the bone of a yadua in his mouth and it speaks of itself. Radak glosses their word: ידוע is a beast whose name is ידוע.

הוֹדִיעוּ בָעַמִּים (Tehillim 105:1), make it known among the peoples, and הוֹדַע אֶת יְרוּשָׁלַם (Yechezkel 16:2), make known to Yerushalayim. וּמוֹדִיעִים לְהַלֵּל (Divrei HaYamim II 23:13), and those making known to praise, are those who knew how to sing and to praise well and made it known to the rest of their brothers the Leviim. אַלּוּפִי וּמְיֻדָּֽעִי (Tehillim 55:14), my companion and my confidant: the confidant is one to whom I have made known my secret and my hidden thoughts; likewise וּמְיֻדָּעָיו וְכֹֽהֲנָיו (Melachim II 10:11), and his confidants and his priests.

לֹא נוֹדַע מִי הִכָּהוּ (Devarim 21:1), it was not known who struck him, and כִּי נוֹדַע דָּוִד (Shmuel I 22:6), that David had become known, which is that word got out and spread of where they were. On וּמְעַקֵּשׁ דְּרָכָיו יִוָּדֵעַ (Mishlei 10:9), and one who twists his ways will become known, he sets the halves of the pasuk against each other: whoever walks in innocence walks secure and fears no man, while one who twists his ways becomes known to men, cannot keep his evil deeds hidden from them and cannot be secure. וְאַחֲרֵי הִוָּדְעִי סָפַקְתִּי עַל יָרֵךְ (Yirmiyahu 31:19), and after I came to know I struck upon my thigh, is after I recognized it in myself and recognized the evil deeds I had done, I regretted them and struck upon my thigh.

מָה אָדָם וַתֵּדָעֵהוּ (Tehillim 144:3), what is man that You should know him, he glosses as Your watching over him and turning to his sin.

On יִוָּדַע כְּמֵבִיא לְמָעְלָה (Tehillim 74:5), he would be known as one bringing up on high, his father has the building of the House in view, built for glory and splendour: whoever brought an axe into the thicket of the cedars of Levanon to hew them and bring them for the building was known as though he were bringing them up before the Throne of Glory, and now the enemies hammer the gold carvings on its walls with hatchet and axes and profane the dwelling of Your Name, in the heat of Your anger against Your people. Radak later says the pasuk is to be read as explained here. His father explains וְגָבֹהַּ מִמֶּרְחָק יְיֵדָע (Tehillim 138:6), and exalted, from afar He knows, together with the words before it, for Hashem is high and sees the low, and the sense is spelled out: He is high in heaven and sees the low upon earth, and exalted, from heaven He knows hidden things and makes them known to whom He wishes. On וַיֵּדַע אַלְמְנוֹתָיו וְעָרֵיהֶם הֶחֱרִיב (Yechezkel 19:7) his father writes וַיֵּדַע אָדָם עוֹד אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ (Bereishis 4:25), and Adam knew his wife again, and Radak spells out what that means: he would kill the men and lie with their widows, and this is what and he laid waste their cities means, not that he pulled their cities down with his hands, but that what he did was the ruin of the world. So too Divrei HaYamim says of him וְתֹעֲבֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂה (Divrei HaYamim II 36:8), and his abominations that he did.

Rabbi Yonah reads לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע (Tehillim 90:12), to count our days so make known, from that sense of breaking; that is, chasten us according to the days of our life, said as a request: my God, do not multiply our chastening, for the days of our life are few, but chasten us according to them. Radak keeps the words in knowing: according to the number of our days, which are short and have shrunk from a thousand years to seventy, as it is written יְמֵי שְׁנוֹתֵינוּ בָּהֶם שִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה (Tehillim 90:10), the days of our years in them are seventy years, help us in the learning of wisdom and make its ways known to us, and then we shall acquire a heart of wisdom with Your help, as it says דְּרָכֶיךָ י"י הוֹדִיעֵנִי (Tehillim 25:4), make Your ways known to me, Hashem.