Kommentar zu Bereschit 30:38
וַיַּצֵּ֗ג אֶת־הַמַּקְלוֹת֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר פִּצֵּ֔ל בָּרֳהָטִ֖ים בְּשִֽׁקֲת֣וֹת הַמָּ֑יִם אֲשֶׁר֩ תָּבֹ֨אןָ הַצֹּ֤אן לִשְׁתּוֹת֙ לְנֹ֣כַח הַצֹּ֔אן וַיֵּחַ֖מְנָה בְּבֹאָ֥ן לִשְׁתּֽוֹת׃
Dann stellte er die Stäbe, die er geschält hatte, in die Rinnen, an die Wassertröge, wohin die Tiere zur Tränke kamen, gerade vor die Tiere hin. Und sie wurden brünstig, wenn sie zur Tränke kamen.
Rashi on Genesis
ויצג AND HE SET — In the Targum it is rendered by ודעיץ which signifies in the Aramaic language sticking in and inserting. It occurs many times in the Talmud: (Shabbat 50b) “if he stuck it in (דצה) and pulled it out”; (Chullin 93b) “he stuck (דץ) something into it”, where דצה is the same as דעצה, being really a contracted form of it.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Rashbam on Genesis
ויחמנה, the word has a similar construction as Samuel I 6,12 וישרנה הפרות, “the cows went straight ahead,” where a feminine mode and a masculine mode is combined. [the letter י at the beginning of the word signaling a masculine mode, and the letters נה at the end signaling a feminine mode. Ed.] Similar unusual constructions are found in Daniel 8,22 ארבע מלכיות מגוי יעמדנה, or Ezekiel 37,7 ותקרבו העצמות עצם אל עצמו. In all of these examples the verb is in a partially masculine and partially feminine mode.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Sforno on Genesis
לנכח הצאן, he positioned the staves before the line of vision of the sheep in order to make them look when this work was performed, and this experience would be anchored in their imagination at the time they conceived and were pregnant. Visual impressions formed during such periods are of lasting value and usually produce some effect in the young animals born as a result of that pregnancy.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Radak on Genesis
ויצג את המקלות, he positioned them at the water troughs. This is the meaning of the words
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Rabbeinu Bahya
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Siftei Chakhamim
Where the water was running... [Rashi knows that רהטים means running] because the Targum of [(Bereishis 18:2)] וירץ (he ran) is ורהט.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Rav Hirsch on Torah
ויחמנה eine gleichzeitig männlich und weiblich gebildete Form, vermutlich um die beabsichtigte Wirkung auf beide Geschlechter zu beziehen, ganz so wie Laban nicht nur die weiblichen, sondern auch die männlichen Zuchttiere, die nicht ganz einfarbig gewesen, widerrechtlich entfernt hatte.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Chizkuni
ויחמנה, “they grew heated;” the construction of this word is a combination of two conjugations. It is similar in this respect to Samuel I 6,12: וישרנה הפרות, “the cows went straight, and to ארבע מלכיות מגוי יעמודנה, “four kingdoms will arise out of a nation,” and in Daniel 8,2, and in ותקרבו העצמות עצם אל עצם, “the bones came together,” in Ezekiel 37,7.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Rashi on Genesis
ברהטים IN THE GUTTERS — in the currents (מרוצות) of water running in the trenches made in the ground to water the sheep there (רהט is the Aramaic of רוץ).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Radak on Genesis
אשר תבאן, meaning: “as they would come there.” In Exodus 14,13 the word אשר in the line אשר ראיתם את מצרים היום also means “when, as,” i.e. “as you have seen Egypt to day.” The word אשר in the line תאכל מצות אשר צויתיך in Exodus 34,18 also means “as,” i.e. “you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you.”
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Siftei Chakhamim
In the ducts where the flock came to drink... אשר תבאן הצאן forms one phrase with שקתות המים, so that נוכח הצאן refers back to ויצג המקלות. Rashi is saying that Yaakov stuck the rods into the ducts and watering troughs so the rods would be in front of the flock when it drank, so the animals will become heated.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Rashi on Genesis
אשר תבאנה WHERE THE FLOCKS COME TO DRINK etc. — In the currents whither the sheep come to drink, there did he set the rods in front of the sheep.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Radak on Genesis
לנכח הצאן, he had made them face the sheep.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Siftei Chakhamim
The female animal would see the sticks... Otherwise, [if they were not startled backwards,] why does it say, “They became heated”? Water does not usually cause animals to become heated. And according to R. Hoshaya, “heated” means “pregnant.”
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Rashi on Genesis
ויחמנה AND THEY CONCEIVED — The female animal saw the rods, it was startled at the sight of them and recoiled; its mate then pairing with it, it afterwards gave birth to young marked similar to the rods (Genesis Rabbah 73:10).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Radak on Genesis
ויחמנה, it is in the nature of the sheep to become heated, excited, and to mount the females when they are about to drink from the troughs.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Radak on Genesis
ברהטים, Onkelos translates the word ותרץ in 29,12 as “she ran.” The word here means that this was a place where the water ran into pools which had been dug in the ground in order to facilitate the watering of the sheep. The word ויחמנה contains both masculine and feminine components, perhaps to hint at the mating of the two sexes. A similar construction occurs in Samuel I 6,12.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy