Bibbia Ebraica
Bibbia Ebraica

Chasidut su Genesi 49:12

חַכְלִילִ֥י עֵינַ֖יִם מִיָּ֑יִן וּלְבֶן־שִׁנַּ֖יִם מֵחָלָֽב׃ (פ)

Ha rubicondi gli occhi per l’abbondanza del vino, e candidi i denti per l’abbondanza del latte.

Torah Ohr

AMONG THE blessings our forefather Jacob bestowed upon his sons before his passing, we find this statement addressed to Judah (Genesis 49:12): “[his] eyes are red with wine, and [his] teeth are white with milk.” This is a reference to the agricultural productivity of the tribe of Judah’s territorial portion in the Land of Israel: there would be enough grapes to redden the eyes from wine, and enough milk to whiten one’s teeth. On a deeper level, these two items were specified because they symbolize certain spiritual qualities; to appreciate the underlying significance of this, let us therefore examine the symbolism of “wine” and “milk.”
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Kedushat Levi

Genesis 49,12. “his eyes are darker red than wine; his ‎teeth are whiter than milk.” [These words clearly ‎are hyperbole, as Yaakov on his deathbed would not indulge in ‎poetry for poetry’s sake. Ed.]
It is an accepted principle that when a human being (Torah ‎observant Jew) is desirous of obtaining the material blessings of ‎this world, he is immediately overcome by the realization that in ‎return for receiving such blessings he must intensify his ‎attachment, ‎דבקות‎, to his Creator Who has provided these ‎blessings for him. Yaakov attempts to put the mind of such ‎people at ease, basing himself on the statement in the Talmud ‎‎Pessachim 112, that even though the calf is very anxious to ‎drink from the milk of its mother, the mother cow is even more ‎anxious to supply the calf with its milk. In this parable the “calf” ‎is the Israelite, and the “mother cow” is the provider of the milk, ‎i.e. G’d. Yaakov describes the overwhelming desire of G’d to ‎bestow His largesse on His people. The satisfaction G’d derives ‎from being able to do this for His “children,” exceeds even the joy ‎of His children when receiving all these blessings.‎
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