Comentario sobre Génesis 35:27

ממרא MAMRE — the name of the plain.

Where Avraham and Yitzchok lived. Righteous forebears stand a person in good stead among his neighbors.

ויבא..קרית הארבע, we explained the meaning of this on 23,2. The reason for the definitive article in front of the word ארבע, i.e. הארבע, something strange seeing that it refers to the name of a human being, is justified as the name itself is symbolic, i.e. is in reality an attribute, describing the “foursome,” the father and his three sons, all of whom giants.

The name of the plain. But is it not written in Parshas Lech Lecha (13:18), “And he settled in אלוני ממרא which is in Chevron,” on which Rashi explains that ממרא is the name of a person? The answer is: There it is written באלוני ממרא, and אלון is itself the name of the plain. [Perforce, there it means, “The אלון of the person named ממרא.”] We should not object that perhaps the plain has two names, אלון and ממרא, and there it was called by both its names. Because then it should have said באלוני בממרא, to show that the plain has two names. Since it is not written in this manner, ממרא must be the name of a person. Re’m explains that here, ממרא cannot be the name of a person, because it is written afterwards קרית הארבע, which refers to the place.

קרית הארבע KIRIATH-ARBA— the name of the city.

אשר גר שם אברהם ויצחק, this is mentioned seeing that now Yaakov also sojourned there. It teaches that it is appropriate for a person to be buried in the town where his ancestors had lived as it is a sign of honour for his ancestors who were also buried there. Nechemyah speaks repeatedly of “the city where my fathers have been buried;” he attributed the significance to the fact that several generations of his ancestors had been buried in the same place. (Nechemyah 2,3 and 2,5)

The name of the city. Rashi is saying that the city’s name is Kiryas Arba, and it does not mean, “The kiryah (city) of the person named Arba.” For it is written (23:2) ותמת שרה בקרית ארבע היא חברון, [and not ותמת שרה בחברון קרית ארבע]. This shows that Kiryas Arba is the name of the place. The ה of הארבע in this verse is in place of של (of). Thus it means, “The plain of Kiryas Arba,” as Rashi himself goes on to explain.

ממרא קרית הארבע therefore means “to the plain of Kiriath-arba”. If you say that it should have written ממרא הקרית ארבע (that Kirjath-arba being one name the definite article should be placed in front of it) then I reply that this is the rule in Biblical Hebrew: in every case of a name compounded of two words, such as this, and such as בית לחם and אבי עזר and בית אל, when it is necessary to prefix the definite article (in order to determine the name) it is prefixed to the second element of the name — thus (1 Samuel 16:1)בית הלחמי the Bethlehemite; (Judges 6:24) “in Ophrah (אבי העזרי) of the Abiezrites”; (1 Kings 16:34) “did Hiel the Bethelite (בית האלי) build”.