אִֽם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵ֥ךְ יְֽרוּשָׁלִָ֗ם תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח יְמִינִֽי׃
Jika aku melupakan engkau, hai Yerusalem, biarlah tangan kananku lupa akan kecakapannya.
Kli Yakar
This resolves what they interpreted (Vayikra Rabbah 13:5) “the camel [gamal] — this is Babylon,” as it says (Psalms 137:8) Daughter of Babylon, the despoiled one, who repays you the recompense that you dealt [gamalta] to us. “And the hyrax — this is Media,” because it chews its cud — it raises righteous people, as it says (Esther 2:21) And Mordechai sat at the king’s gate. “The hare — this is Greece,” because it chews its cud. Alexander, when he saw Shimon HaTzaddik, stood on his feet and blessed him, etc. (see Yoma 69a). “The pig — this is Edom,” which has a split hoof — shows itself as kosher, but does not chew its cud — it does not raise righteous people but rather kills them, etc.
One must wonder about this midrash — what reason did it have to remove all these verses from their literal meaning? Rather, certainly its intention was to explain the four instances of the word because [ki] that the Torah mentions, where it makes the sign of purity into a reason for impurity. Undoubtedly, the verse’s intention is to allude to the nature of hypocrites, whose sign of purity adds to their impurity. This interpretation cannot be applied to animals at all, but only to humans. Therefore, the meaning is that whoever eats from these animals absorbs their nature, as the consumed food transforms into the nature of the consumer.
It brings evidence from the well-known fact that all four of these kingdoms, which eat from these four species, all absorbed their natures — they present themselves as kosher, as if their intention is to benefit Israel, but their inner nature is evil and bitter, as all their thoughts are only evil all day long. And Israel was not cautious around them, seeing that they raised some righteous people, but in truth they did so only for their own benefit, while inwardly they were enemies of Israel.
One must wonder about this midrash — what reason did it have to remove all these verses from their literal meaning? Rather, certainly its intention was to explain the four instances of the word because [ki] that the Torah mentions, where it makes the sign of purity into a reason for impurity. Undoubtedly, the verse’s intention is to allude to the nature of hypocrites, whose sign of purity adds to their impurity. This interpretation cannot be applied to animals at all, but only to humans. Therefore, the meaning is that whoever eats from these animals absorbs their nature, as the consumed food transforms into the nature of the consumer.
It brings evidence from the well-known fact that all four of these kingdoms, which eat from these four species, all absorbed their natures — they present themselves as kosher, as if their intention is to benefit Israel, but their inner nature is evil and bitter, as all their thoughts are only evil all day long. And Israel was not cautious around them, seeing that they raised some righteous people, but in truth they did so only for their own benefit, while inwardly they were enemies of Israel.
Kli Yakar
And what it said, “the camel” refers to Babylon, his intention is not to interpret the verse and remove it from its simple meaning but to tell you that the characteristic of the camel is found in the kingdom of Babylon. For just as the camel [gamal] chews its cud and from this perspective appears kosher, so too the kingdom of Babylon showed themselves as bestowing [gomlei] kindness upon Israel, and the Scripture says Happy shall he be, that repays you your deed which you bestowed [gemulkha shegamalta] to us (Psalms 137:8), indicating that this deed was counterfeit. Similarly, Media and Greece drew close the righteous ones like Mordecai and Simon the Righteous, all in a false manner. And likewise Edom acts like the pig, which shows its split hooves as if kosher, suggesting they do not extend their hands in robbery to take Israel’s money by force, yet they kill them. There is no need to elaborate further on this. And poetically, he made a connection from the camel to Babylon, the hyrax to Media, etc., but nevertheless, his intention is never to interpret the verses outside of their simple meaning.