פירוש על במדבר 11:12

כי תאמר אלי means, [HAVE I CONCEIVED ALL THIS PEOPLE] THAT THOU SHOULDST always SAY UNTO ME, “Carry them in thy bosom!?” And where did He speak thus to him? When He said to him, (Exodus 32:34) “Go, lead the people”; and it further states, (Exodus 6:13) “[And the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron] and gave them a charge concerning the children of Israel” saying unto them: “Take charge of them even under the risk (lit., under the condition) that they may stone you or at least insult you” (Sifrei Bamidbar 91; cf. Rashi on that verse).

DID I ‘HARITHI’ ALL THIS PEOPLE? In the opinion of Onkelos [who rendered it: “Am I ‘the father’ of all this people?” the word harithi] is like [the expression] beyond the blessing of ‘horai’ (my progenitors),¹⁷⁰Genesis 49:26. for a father is called horeh [of the root haroh, “to conceive” or “become pregnant”] because it is he who causes conception and brings about the pregnancy [of the mother]. Thus Moses is saying: “Am I their father [who has caused their conception], or am I their mother who has given birth to them?”¹⁷¹The double question in the verse — Did I ‘harithi’ all this people? … Have I born them? — is thus explained as referring to the separate functions of father and mother. But the masters of the plain meaning of Scripture¹⁷²Ibn Ezra here. See also in Sefer Hashorashim of the R’dak, under the root haroh. interpreted the verse in the opposite manner: “Am I their mother who was pregnant with them and gave birth to them?” Similarly, ‘Vatahar’ eth Miriam v’eth Shammai¹⁷³I Chronicles 4:17. means “she was pregnant with them and gave birth to them.” “Or am I their father who begot them?” [the word y’lidetihu being] like: ‘vayoled Noach’ (and Noah begot);¹⁷⁴Genesis 6:10. thy father that ‘y’ladecha’ (begot thee),¹⁷⁵Proverbs 23:22. and other similar expressions. And Moses said, as ‘ha’omein’ carrieth the sucking child, [the word ha’omein] being a reference to the [nursing-] father or mother. In my opinion the whole verse is a figurative reference to the mother, and the meaning thereof is as follows: “Have I conceived all this people and have I given birth to them?”¹⁷⁶Ramban thus interprets the two questions (see above Note 171) as one, both referring to the mother. Moses mentioned it in this way [speaking as the mother] because it is the woman who suffers the pain of raising children, remembering what she suffered for them from birth, pregnancy, and conception.¹⁷⁷See Hosea 9:11. But Moses said omein [in the masculine] since he is speaking of himself as a nursing-father, since he is not an omeneth (a nursing-mother).

האנוכי הריתי, true, a natural father knows how to guide his children even if they have differences of opinions among them. The reason such a father can be successful is that all his children know that he loves them all and has their best interests at heart. But these people do not put their trust in me at all; they suspect me and constantly provoke me to see what I would do for them.