Comentario sobre Levítico 1:16

מראתו [AND HE SHALL REMOVE] ITS CROP — The word is connected in meaning with the word רעי in Rabbinical Hebrew (or the Biblical ראי; cf. Nahum 3:6); it thus denotes the place of the רעי, the digested food, i. e. the crop (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 7 9).

AND HE SHALL REMOVE ‘ETH MURATHO B’NOTZATHAH.’ “Muratho refers to the place of the digested food, namely ‘its crop.’ B’notzathah means ‘together with its entrails.’ The word notzah is a term for anything which is loathsome. Similarly: for ‘natzu’ (they are become loathsome) and are wandered away.¹⁷⁵Lamentations 4:15. That is what Onkelos intended in translating ‘b’notzathah’ as b’uchleih (with its digested food). This is also the interpretation of Aba Yosei ben Chanan who said¹⁷²Zebachim 65a. that he removes the stomach together with it [i.e., the crop]. But our Rabbis have said:¹⁷⁶Zebachim 65b. he cuts out with a knife an opening around the crop like a flap, and removes it together with the feathers [on the skin].” This is Rashi’s language.
But it is not correct. For the word notzah in all places only means actual feathers. Similarly, for ‘natzu’ and are wandered away¹⁷⁵Lamentations 4:15. means that they have acquired feathers [wings] to fly away from their places and go into exile, and there too they will [constantly] wander, not finding a resting-place. Similarly: for ‘natzoh’ (she must fly away) and get away.¹⁷⁷Jeremiah 48:9. Here too, the word natzoh is derived from the original root meaning “feathers” — hence: “she must fly away.” The Jerusalem Targum rendered [the above-mentioned verse: for ‘natzu’ and are wandered away]:¹⁷⁵Lamentations 4:15. “for they are ‘quarrelsome’ and have also wandered away.” The Targum thus derived the word natzu from the expression, when men ‘yinatzu’ (strive) together,¹⁷⁸Deuteronomy 25:11. and the verse is thus stating that “they strive with all the nations and wander away from them, and do not continue to live among them.” This is a correct interpretation. But the word notzah in the sense of “loathsome” as the Rabbi [Rashi] has it, is not found. The interpretation of Aba Yosei which made it incumbent upon the priest to take also the stomach with the crop, is [not because he considers the word b’notzathah to mean “the place of its entrails,” as Rashi understood him, but rather] because the crop and the gullet together with the stomach, comprising the organs for the digestion of food [in the bird], are all included in the term muratho, because in the stomach the food turns into r’ie (dung). Aba Yosei thus does not differ at all with the First Sage who says that he should take it with the “feathers,” for we have been taught in a Mishnah of the sixth chapter of Tractate Zebachim¹⁷⁹Zebachim 64b. [with reference to the order of the burnt-offering of the bird]: “He [i.e. the priest] came then to the body, and removed the crop and the feathers and the entrails that came forth with the crop, and cast them on the place of ashes.” This Mishnah is in accordance with the teaching of Aba Yosei¹⁸⁰For according to the Sages he removes only the crop but not the entrails. and yet it mentions “the feathers!”¹⁸¹This proves that Aba Yosei also interprets the word b’notzathah to mean with “its feathers,” and not, as Rashi explained it. that Aba Yosei interprets it to mean “the place of its digested food, namely the crop.”
Onkelos’ opinion [in translating b’notzathah as b’uchleih, is not because he considered this to be the Aramaic rendition of the word b’notzathah, so that you might think that he is of the opinion that the Hebrew word means “the place of its digested food,” as Rashi thought, but rather Onkelos’ opinion] is like that of the Sages, that he removed only the crop and its feathers together with the food therein which is the mur’ah [but he did not remove its entrails]. Since the priest takes hold of the crop and removes the food therein with it, therefore Onkelos rendered it: “and he shall remove yath zfokeih b’uchleih,” the expression being as if it had said: “and he shall remove uchleih bizfokeih,”¹⁸²Ramban is thus saying that Onkelos in translating the Hebrew phrase muratho b’notzathah as yath zfokeih b’uchleih, did not put it in the order of the wording of the Hebrew; instead, it is as if he had inverted it and rendered it yath uchleih bizfokeih, as the Aramaic uchleih is the equivalent of the Hebrew muratho, and the Aramaic bizfokeih is the equivalent of the Hebrew b’notzathah, as explained in the text. The reason for this change is, as explained by Ramban, because the food (muratho) is only removable by means of taking away the crop (zfokeih). Ramban then brings a number of proofs to illustrate that it is Onkelos’ habit to change the order of the Hebrew wording when it appears better to him to do so. for uchleih [according to Onkelos] is the Aramaic for the Hebrew muratho [as muratho is associated with the word r’ie — “dung,” and “food” turns into dung], whereas zfokeih is the translation for the Hebrew b’notzathah [as will be explained]. The verse [according to Onkelos] thus means as follows: he should remove the mur’ah, which is the food, with the plumage upon it, meaning that he takes the crop with its skin and the feathers upon it. In a similar way Onkelos translated [the Hebrew ‘ki sh’mi b’kirbo’ — for My Name is in him¹⁸³Exodus 23:21.]: arei bishmi meimreih (“for in My Name is his word”),¹⁸⁴I.e., he speaks in My Name. which, according to the Hebrew, he should have rendered into Aramaic as follows: arei sh’mi b’meimreih (for My Name is in his word). But Onkelos changed the order of the wording because of a certain reason known to him.¹⁸⁵See Ramban ibid., Verse 20 (towards the end — Vol. II, p. 413) where he explains Onkelos’ intent in that translation. So also he translated the verse: And the two ends of the two wreathen chains¹⁸⁶Ibid., 28:25. — “and the two wreathen chains of the two ends.” There are many other such cases.

מוראתו, the expression occurs both in Nachum 3,6 and in Tzefaniah 3,1, and in both of these instances it refers to a despicable spectacle. Here too, it refers primarily to the feces.