Commentaire de citation sur Samuel 1 17:5

מקולס – its legs, and its innards are hanging outside of it [on its side] when they are roasting it, and they do this in memory of the Passover sacrifice, as it is written concerning it (Exodus 12:9): “[Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted-] head, legs and entrails – over the fire.” [The word] מקולס/an animal roasted in its entrails and legs on the head – is like this hero whose weaponry was with him (a reference to Goliath in I Samuel 17:5 who had a “bronze helmet/כובע נחשת ) and the Aramaic translation of “bronze helmet” is a bronze helmet (see also Rashi to Zebahim 88b). But Maimonides explained the word מקולס as meaning honorable, in the manner of praise.

SNAPIR V’KASKESES’ (FINS AND SCALES). “Snapirim — these are what [the fish] swim with. Kaskeses — these are the scales attached to [the body of the fish].” This is Rashi’s language, and so also it is found in the Gemara of Tractate Chullin.¹⁸⁶Chullin 59 a. But you should not [be led to] understand from their language that these scales are really [inflexibly] fixed to their bodies and attached to the skin of the fish [so that they do not come off at all]. Rather, they are called “fixed” because they do not move to and fro from the fish, nor do they quiver as do the fins. They are the round coverings, the plates of which are like finger-nails, and they can be removed from the skin of the fish by hand or knife. But those [scales] which are fixed and attached to the skin of the fish and cannot be removed from the skin at all, are not kaskeses (scales), and the fish [which has them] is prohibited food. It is for this reason that the Sages in the Gemara¹⁸⁷Ibid., 66 b. See in Exodus, Seder Bo, p. 132, for meaning of the word “Gemara.” said that “Kaskeses is the cover of the fish.” In the words of the Tosephta:¹⁸⁸Tosephta Chullin 3:27. See above, Note 101 for meaning of the term “Tosephta.” “The kaskasim are those [objects] which cover the fish, and the snapirim are those with which the fish moves.” This is also the translation of Onkelos, who rendered the word kaskeses as klippin, [which means literally “shells”], for they are the “shells” of the fish which can be taken off and peeled away like the bark of trees and the peel of fruits. Such is also the meaning of the verse stating, and he [Goliath] was clad with a coat of ‘kaskasim’,¹⁸⁹I Samuel 17:5. for all their [war-] coats were made of rings, and some people made “scales” in them in order to close up the openings of the rings, so that thin arrows should not be able to penetrate them, and it was those “scales” that were called kaskasim. The Sages also mentioned them in the Gemara [Tractate Sanhedrin] in the Chapter Cheilek:¹⁹⁰Literally: “A share” — “All Israel have a share in the World to Come” — Sanhedrin 95 b. The reference there is to Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who brought to his siege of Jerusalem countless thousands of trained soldiers “all dressed in coats of mail etc.” “Dressed in coats of mail made with scales.” Now Jonathan the son of Uziel¹⁹¹See Genesis, Vol. I, p. 127, Note 152. translated [in the above-mentioned verse concerning Goliath that he was clad with] “a coat of galbin,” this being of the expression, the razor of ‘hagalabim,’¹⁹²Ezekiel 5:1. which are “leather workers.” [By so translating, Jonathan thus] intended to say that the covering at the openings of the rings in this coat of mail was like that of the scales on a skin of a fish, as they used to boil hard skin and cover the coats of armor with them, a practice they do to this day. Understand this.
The reason why fins and scales [are signs of permissibility as food] is that those fish which have them always dwell in the upper clear waters, and they are sustained through the air that enters there. Therefore their bodies contain a certain amount of heat which counteracts the abundance of moistness [of the waters], just as wool, hair and nails function in man and beast. Those fish which have no fins and scales always dwell in the lower turbid waters, and due to the great abundance of moistness and gatherings of water there, they cannot repel anything. Hence they are creatures of cold fluid,¹⁹³See in Seder Vayikra, Note 264. which cleaves to them and is therefore more easily able to cause death, and it [the cold fluid] does in fact cause death in some waters, such as stagnant lakes.

V. 9. סנפיר: Flosse, die Ableitung ist dunkel. Sollte man annehmen können, daß das " ר" als Bildungslaut angehängt sei, wie vielleicht auch in עכבר ,טפסר und anderen, so würde sich als Stamm סנף ergeben und dies, lautverwandt mit זנב, erscheint in dem rabbinischen סניף in der Bedeutung: Anhängsel, was der äußeren Gestalt der Flossen nicht fern läge. – קשקשת: Schuppe, so auch שריון קשקשים, Sam. I. 17, 5 worauf auch Chulin 56b zur Erläuterung hingewiesen wird. Die Wurzel קשש findet sich in גזז, und dürfte auf ein durch mechanische Mittel Ablösbares hinweisen, und darin die vom נ׳׳ב מ׳׳ת י׳׳ד כח׳ angezweifelte, übrigens von allen ראשנים und auch 1, 83 י׳׳ד adoptierte Lehre des רמב׳׳ן z. St. eine Bestätigung finden, daß unter קשקשת nur ablösbare Hautbedeckungen verstanden seien, eine Ansicht, die, wie uns scheint, auch noch ihre sachliche Begründung haben dürfte. Chulin 66b wird nämlich der Kanon gegeben: כל שיש לו קשקשת יש לו סנפיר, und damit das Vorhandensein der Schuppen als das für sich allein ausreichende Merkmal erklärt, da es zugleich ausnahmslos auch für das Vorhandensein von Flossen bürgt. Nun sind aber unter den hier besprochenen Wassertieren nach ת׳׳כ ausdrücklich auch Amphibien begriffen הגדלים בים והגדלים ביבשה. Wären nun unter קשקשת auch unablösbare Schilder usw. verstanden, so ständen diesem Kanon wohl die zahlreichen Klassen beschuppter Amphibien entgegen.

קשקשת — These are the scales attached to it (see Chullin 59a) as it is said (I Samuel 17:5) "in a scaly coat of mail (שריון קשקשים) was he clothed".

Between the plates of armor. Some coats of mail are made of layers of scales, in the manner it is stated, “and a coat of mail,”¹⁷I Shmuel 17:5. and the scales fall on the holes of the coat and close them, and they are called “דבקים” [=attached].