Commentary for II Kings 2:23
וַיַּ֥עַל מִשָּׁ֖ם בֵּֽית־אֵ֑ל וְה֣וּא ׀ עֹלֶ֣ה בַדֶּ֗רֶךְ וּנְעָרִ֤ים קְטַנִּים֙ יָצְא֣וּ מִן־הָעִ֔יר וַיִּתְקַלְּסוּ־בוֹ֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּ ל֔וֹ עֲלֵ֥ה קֵרֵ֖חַ עֲלֵ֥ה קֵרֵֽחַ׃
And he went up from thence unto Beth-el; and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him: ‘Go up, thou baldhead; go up, thou baldhead.’
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Rashi on II Kings
Little boys. Void of mitzvos.21The literal meaning of נְעָרִים קְטַנִּים is “small children,” but obviously this is not the true meaning, because Elisha would never have cursed small children. The word נְעָרִים can also be interpreted as נְעוּרִים [=shaken out or empty] from good deeds. The word קטנים [=little] alludes to how small their faith was. Nonetheless, Elisha was punished for treating them so harshly. See Maseches Sotah 47a. Radak Alternatively, the boys came from a town called נַעֲרָן, which is mentioned in I Divrei Hayomim 7:28 and in Yehoshua 16:7. See below, 5:2.
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Rashi on II Kings
“Go away, baldy!” “Go away from here, for you have made the place bald for us, [i.e.,] for until now we would be hired to bring sweet water from a distance, and we would earn our livelihood thereby.” But when [the water] became sweet, they lost their livelihood. Thus it is explained in [Maseches] Sotah.2246b, and see Rashi there.
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