Commentaire de citation sur Le Deutéronome 34:2

לפאת קדמה מזרחה ON THE EAST SIDE EASTWARDS — The last two words are the same as פני המזרח. The word הדם is synonymous with פנים, the face (the front side of any thing), and אחור is the same term as אֲחוֹרַיִם, the buttocks, the back-side. The East is therefore called קדם because it is the front part of the world; correspondingly, the West is called אחור, the back part of the world just as you speak of (Deuteronomy 11:24) הים האחרון the Hinder Sea, which the Targum renders by “the Western Sea.”

KEIDMAH MIZRACHAH’ (ON THE EAST SIDE EASTWARD).²¹¹Further, 27:13. — At this point Ramban begins to explain the significance of the Hebrew terms for “east, west etc.,” which are mentioned in connection with the arrangement of the boards. The word kedem (east) is not found in connection with the boards, as the Tabernacle on that side had only a curtain. Hence Ramban chose a verse from the following chapter which mentions kedem, and then he will revert to the theme of the boards, and explain the terms negbah, teimanah (the south side, southward) mentioned here in the following Verse 18. The reason for this expression is that the Sacred Language calls the east kedem, just as it is said, And ye shall measure without the city for the side of ‘keidmah’ (east) two thousand cubits,²¹²Numbers 35:5. and calls the west achor (back), just as it is said, Behold, I go ‘kedem’ (forward), but He is not there, v’achor (and backward), but I cannot perceive Him.²¹³Job 23:8. Similarly: As far as ‘ha’achron’ (the hinder) sea,²¹⁴Deuteronomy 34:2. which means the western sea. Both [kedem and achor] are borrowed terms, as the Sacred Language adopts these substitute forms from the standpoint of a person who turns to the light of the sun [thus calling the east panim, “face,” because his face is turned eastward to the rising sun, and the west achor, “back,” because his back is then to the west]. Similarly it says, and they went l’achor (backward) and not ‘l’panim’ (forward).²¹⁵Jeremiah 7:24. According to Ramban the sense of the verse is: they went away from the light [the word of G-d] and did not go towards it. And the south is called negev (dry, parched) because the land is dried up on account of the heat. At times Scripture mentions the borrowed term and then explains it by name. Thus it says keidmah, a term which is borrowed, and explains it by saying mizrachah (eastward),²¹¹Further, 27:13. — At this point Ramban begins to explain the significance of the Hebrew terms for “east, west etc.,” which are mentioned in connection with the arrangement of the boards. The word kedem (east) is not found in connection with the boards, as the Tabernacle on that side had only a curtain. Hence Ramban chose a verse from the following chapter which mentions kedem, and then he will revert to the theme of the boards, and explain the terms negbah, teimanah (the south side, southward) mentioned here in the following Verse 18. which is the name itself. Similarly, it says negbah, which is the borrowed name, and explains it by its proper name — teimanah (southward).²¹⁶Verse 18 (here in Chapter 26 before us). See above Note 211. And the west is called by the substitute name yam [which also means “sea”] because the language adopted it from the standpoint of the people living in the Land of Israel to whom the Great Sea is on the west. The north on the other hand has no by-name, and is so called tzaphon [which means “hidden”] because the sun never appears on that side. The south is called darom, just as it is said, The wind goeth toward ‘darom’ (the south), and turneth about into the north.²¹⁷Ecclesiastes 1:6. It is really a double word [dor rum — “it abides in the height,” a reference to the sun that always reaches its greatest height on that side], with one letter reish missing because of the combination of two similar letters: dor rum, which means that the sun [always] moves at its highest point on that side. The south is also called yamin [which means “right”] and the north is called smol [meaning “left”] with reference to a man who turns eastward [to face the light of the rising sun, in which case his right hand is to the south, and his left to the north], as I have mentioned.
The secret of these names is known from the mystic speculations on the Chariot on high [i.e. the vision of Ezekiel of the Divine Chariot]. Likewise, [the secret of] the name for the west which is yam (sea) is known from that which the Rabbis have said:²¹⁸Baba Bathra 25a. “The Divine Glory is in the west,” for the yam alludes to “the wisdom of Solomon,” just as the Rabbis have said in the Midrash:²¹⁹The exact source is unknown to me. See, however, in my Hebrew commentary p. 468, Note 52 for a similar thought in Yerushalmi Shekalim VI, 1. “Yam always signifies Torah, as it is said, and broader than ‘yam’ (the sea).”²²⁰Job 11:9. I intend to mention this in the section of V’zoth Habrachah²²¹Deuteronomy 33:1. on the verse, possess thou ‘yam’ (the sea) and the south,²²²Ibid., Verse 23. if my Creator will bless me to reach there.

Although the Torah does not spell out either in the command or in the report of the crossing that the sea which the Israelites crossed was the Sea of Reeds, it is clear from Moses’ song of thanksgiving (15,,4) that if the Egyptians drowned in that sea this must have been the sea that the Israelites crossed. Furthermore, we read immediately afterwards that Moses made the Israelites journey from the “Sea of Reeds” (15,22). This sea is called ים האחרון by G’d when He showed Moses the territory of the land of Israel in Deut. 34,2. The reason it is so called [i.e. the word סוף which also means “end”, i.e. אחרון= “last, final” Ed.] is that it is the furthest boundary of the land of Israel. David also refers to it by the name ים סוף in Psalms 106,9: “He sent His blast against ים סוף, it became dry.” However, there is also an attribute of G’d which is known as ים, as David mentions elsewhere in verse 7 of that Psalm. It appears that he meant that this attribute called ים was invoked by G’d in order to make the Israelites able to cross the ים. When we understand the word ים as having two meanings, then we can also understand Psalms 106 7 וימרו על-ים בים-סוף, as “they rebelled against the attribute of G’d called ים at the Sea of Reeds.” [According to the Zohar, the word סוף ים is a name for the “highest, the most distant sea,” a spiritual concept.] (The author does not mention the word Zohar, as it was not at his disposal. Ed.)