Comentario sobre Exodo 28:28

וירכסו — This is an expression for joining. Similar in meaning is, (Psalms 31:21) “[Thou hidest them] from the רֻכְסַי of men”, i. e. from the union of companies of wicked people. Similar is, (Isaiah 40:4) “And the רכסים shall become a plain” — i. e. the mountains which are close (almost joined) to one another so that it is not possible to descend into the valley between them except with great difficulty, since, in consequence of their closeness to each other, the valley is precipitous and deep — these רכסים, connected mountains, shall become a level plain and easy to travel upon.

AND THE BREASTPLATE SHALL NOT BE ‘YIZACH’ (LOOSENED) FROM THE EPHOD. “Yizach is an expression of ‘breaking away’. It is an Arabic expression, as Dunash ben Labrat explained.”⁵⁹A pupil of Saadia Gaon, he was grammarian, exegete and poet. He wrote a criticism of Menachem ben Saruk’s Machbereth (see Vol. I, p. 156, Note 347), whose contemporary he was. He was born in Baghdad and ultimately settled in Cordova where, like Menachem, he was a protege of Hasdai ibn Shaprut. He flourished in the middle of the tenth century. This is Rashi’s language.
It appears likely to me, however, that yizach is like yisach (break away), which is associated with the expressions: The Eternal ‘yisach’ (will pluck up) the house of the proud;⁶⁰Proverbs 15:25. and the faithless ‘yis’chu’ (shall be plucked up) out of it⁶¹Ibid., 2:22. — referring to breaking and plucking, and the letter samech (in yisach), is interchanged with the letter zayin (of yizach), just as in the verses: let the saints ‘ya’alzu’ (exult) in glory;⁶²Psalms 149:5. — Here ya’alzu is with a zayin. ‘nithalsa’ (let us solace ourselves) with loves;⁶³Proverbs 7:18. — Here the same root appears with a samech. ‘v’nitatztem’ (and ye shall break down) their altars;⁶⁴Deuteronomy 12:3. ‘nathsu’ (they break up) my path.⁶⁵Job 30:13. In this case the tzade interchanges with the samech of the above verse. See in this connection Vol. I, p. 485. Similarly, and they shall keep the watch of the house ‘masach’⁶⁶II Kings 11:6. — from being torn away; he. [Jehoiada the priest] thus warned the guard that not one of them should leave his position and thus cause the watch to be broken. Perhaps the following verse can also be explained on this basis: ‘ulmeizach’ wherewith he is girded continually,⁶⁷Psalms 109:19. which means “for separation and breaking,” the verse stating that the wicked shall always be girded with the curse until they will be destroyed and broken up by it, just as others gird themselves with a girdle. There is no ‘meizach’ any more⁶⁸Isaiah 23:10. — there is no more separation, the prophet [Isaiah] telling the people of Tyre: “overflow with the people of your land as the Nile to the land of Tarshish your trafficker; there will be no more separation and scattering for you — for not one will be separated from you there [in the hope of returning to his city], since he will not return to Tyre, because it will have been destroyed completely.” The term horeis applies to one who separates himself from the station of his colleagues, just as in the expression, let them not ‘yehersu’ (break through) towards the Eternal to see,⁶⁹Above, 19:21. The beginning of the quote here comes from Verse 24 there. and it is written, and from thy station ‘yehersecha’ (shalt thou be pulled down).⁷⁰Isaiah 22:19. Similarly: He looseth ‘meziach aphikim’⁷¹Job 12:21. — He abates the destruction of the aphikim, which are flooding rivers that inundate mountains and valleys. The term meizach⁶⁸Isaiah 23:10. is in the same form as meitzach (forehead), both of them having the letter nun missing,⁷²As Ramban will explain, meitzach (forehead) is of the root nitzuach (victory), since the strength of the head is in the forehead. Likewise the word meizah is of the root nosach or nozach which means pull or tear away. as [meitzach] is of the root nitzuach (enduring, victory), for the strength of the head is in the forehead.

וירכסו, same as ויחגרו, “they will girdle.”

וירכסו את החשן מטבעותיו, “They shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with the thread of blue wool so that it will be above the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and so that the breastplate will be prevented from moving around on top of the ephod.” Rashi has explained this in detail in his commentary of Kedoshim (Leviticus 19,16.).

להיות על חשב האפוד THAT IT MAY BE UPON THE GIRDLE OF THE EPHOD — that the breast-plate (not the ring) may be attached to the girdle of the ephod.

ולא יזח SO THAT [THE BREAST-PLATE] BE NOT LOOSENED — יזח is an expression for “breaking away”. It is an Arabic expression according to the opinion of Dunash ben Labrat.