Commento su Deuteronomio 32:14

חמאת בקר וחלב צאן [AND HE GAVE THEM TO EAT] CLOTTED CREAM OF THE HERD AND MILK OF THE FLOCK — This was in the days of Solomon, as it states (1 Kings 5:2—3): “[And Solomon’s provision for one day was …] ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen (בקר) out of the pasture, and an hundred sheep (צאן)(Sifrei Devarim 317:1).

ודם ענב תשתה חמר, grape juice was fit to drink without investing much toil beforehand. This is an example of people earning their livelihood easily. The reason why G’d had arranged things in such a fashion was so as to leave the people ample time to study Torah, and to enable them to fulfill the various commandments of the Torah which do consume time.

חמאת בקר, according to the plain meaning of the text Moses describes the land in terms of it flowing with milk and honey and providing an abundance of meat for its owners.

ודם ענב תשתה חמר, “and you would drink the blood of its grapes as if it were aged wine.” Moses refers to the juice in the grapes as “blood,” seeing that its red color is similar to the color of blood. Another reason, mystical, if you will, is that grapes were the indirect cause of death in the world according to the view that the fruit of the tree of knowledge were grapes (Bereshit Rabbah 19,8).
The word ענב refers to the seeds inside the grape. The reason Moses speaks about grapes in the singular instead of the customary ענבים, plural, is that he wanted to alert us to the vast amount of wine, blessing for the country, which develops from such tiny beginnings as the seeds in the grapes. When the grapes hang together in a cluster they are called אשכול by the Torah, whereas in Talmudic parlance such a cluster is known as פרכיל. We find the expression פרכיל ענבים in Sukkah 10, i.e. clusters from which grapes are suspended. The trunk from which such clusters of grapes are hanging is called גפן, a grapevine, when the cluster is still attached to it, whereas when the branch to which the clusters are attached has been severed from the trunk it is called זמורה. This is borne out by Numbers 13,23 ויכרתו משם זמורה ואשכול ענבים, “they (the spies) cut from there a branch, full of clusters of grapes.” The verse in Numbers describes the excellence and quantity of the produce of the land of Canaan at that time. The Torah there adds the word אחד, to tell us that each of the spies took a different specimen from the fruit of the land. One took a cluster of grapes, another pomegranates, still another a fig.

Milk of sheep. When it is used adjunctively, etc. Rashi’s question: Why is it vocalized as “cheleiv” with a sheva under the ches and a tzeirei under the lamed? It should have been vocalized as cholov with a kometz in both places.

V. 14. חלב כרים .חמאת וגו׳ wie חלב כליות חטה Ausdruck für das Fetteste und Beste. כרים, die Etymologie von כר ist dunkel. Vielleicht sind כרים von Schafen, was עתודים von Ziegen. עתודים siehe Bamidbar 7, 17. כליות חטה die einzelnen Körner einer Ähre werden an Größe mit den einzelnen Teilen einer Niere verglichen.

עם חלב כרים ואילים, “and curds as well as and rams raised in Bashan.“ Moses lists the highest quality of these species, similar to Genesis 45,18 ואכלו את חלב הארץ, ”and live off the fat of the land!”

עם חלב כליות חטה, “with the kidney fat of wheat.” With the fat from the best grades of wheat, i.e. this kind of wheat is likened to the fat surrounding the kidneys. The kernels of such wheat are described as big as a kidney. These kernels have an indentation and a shape similar to kernels of wheat.

עם חלב כרים WITH FAT OF FATTENED LAMBS — This was in the days of the “Ten Tribes” (the period of the Northern Kingdom). as it is said, (Amos. 6:4) “Who eat lambs (כרים) of the flock” (Sifrei Devarim 317:1).

חלב כרים, rams that had grazed in the desert, having stuffed (fattened) themselves with excellent pasture. The expression is used in this sense both in Isaiah 30,23 and in Psalms 65,14. The author quotes more verses from Scripture on this subject; the message of Moses is clear beyond doubt. he extols the excellent physical properties of the Land of Israel.

According to its plain meaning. It seems that Rashi’s suggestion is as follows: The word כרים means “sheep.” If so, the plain meaning of the word אילים is “rams.” Without this [comment] one might have thought that the word אילים means “sheep” and they are called אילים because they strengthen and enrich their owners. אילים is similar to in the phrase, “The mighty [אילי] of the land he took” (Yechezkeil 17:13) a term that means “strong.” But now that I explained that the word כרים means “sheep” we need not give a difficult explanation that [in this verse] אילים means “strong,” but in fact the word אילים takes its ordinary meaning.

דם ענב .ודם ענב תשתה חמר ist der junge eben der Traube entnommene Most, חמר der schon gegorene geistige Wein. חמר gären, יהמו יחמרו מימיו (Ps. 46, 4). So auch ויין המר מלא מסך (Ps. 75, 9). Der Wein ist gegoren und reich gemischt.

עם חלב כליות חיטה, “with the kidney fat of wheat.” The word “kidneys” here is not a metaphor but is to be understood literally. This is because the shape of wheat with its groove is similar to that of the shape of a kidney. (Ibn Ezra)

חלב כליות חטה [WITH] THE FAT OF KIDNEYS OF WHEAT — This again was in the days of Solomon, as it is said, (1 Kings 5:2) “And Solomon's provision for one day was [thirty measures of fine flour etc.]” (Sifrei Devarim 317:1).

ואילים בני בשן, ordinary animals that had grazed in Bashan (the land conquered from Og) were known to be excellent specimen; כרים, both in Bashan and special ones elsewhere, had a tendency to grow fat, something which was in high demand. The rams of Bashan were therefore the very finest anywhere.

Like the fat of the kidney. Otherwise, why is it compared to the fat of kidneys and not any other fat?

ודם ענב תשתה חמר, “and of the blood of the grape you will drink foaming wine.” The wine will be red as blood, an indication of its value, similar to what Solomon described in Proverbs 23,31: אל תרא יין כי יתאדם, “do not look at wine when it is red;” [sign that the wine is strong in alcohol content. Ed.]

ודם ענב תשתה חמר AND THOU SHALT DRINK THE FOAMING BLOOD OF THE GRAPE — this again was in the days of the “Ten Tribes” as it is said, (Amos 6:6) “That drink wine in bowls” (Sifrei Devarim 317:1).

עם חלב כליות חטה, the choicest fat of the wheat kernels. [The word כליות can obviously not refer to kidneys, seeing that wheat does not have kidneys. The author therefore searches for other pertinent meanings which can be applied to Moses’ hyperbole here. Ed.] In Samuel II 13,39 we find the line ותכל דוד המלך לצאת אל אבשלום, which the author understands as “King David now pined, had an overpowering desire for Avshalom,” since he had by now gotten over the death of his son Amnon (whom Avshalom had murdered). In Psalms 84,3 we read כלתה נפשי, “my soul yearns for….” In other words, the root כלה, from which the wordכליות is derived can mean “to have a craving.” People can develop a craving for this kind of wheat once they have tasted its excellence. In Psalms 73,26 כלה שארי, the word may also describe a craving of one’s body. As to the letter י in the word כליות in our verse, which appears to contradict the claim that the root is כלה, consider the relationship between שבה and שביה, shivyah, where we also suddenly discover a letter י that appears unaccounted for. Another such example occurs with the root בנה and הבניה in Ezekiel 41,13, where the י in הבניה appears unaccounted for. The fact is, that when roots ending with the letter ה such as בנה and שבה experience the semi-vowel sheva abbreviating the syllable, the letter י is substituted for the original letter ה.

You shall drink, etc. I.e., the meaning of the verse is, the blood of the grapes he would drink, etc.

חמאת בקר is the cream that is gathered from the surface of the milk.

וחלב צאן means, and milk of sheep (i.e. the first word is in the construct state); whenever it is connected with the following word it is vowelled חֲלַב, as in (Deuteronomy 14:21) “in the milk of (בַּחֲלֵב) its mother”.

כרים are SHEEP.

ואילים has its ordinary meaning: RAMS.

בני בשן RAMS OF THE BREED OF BASHAN — These were very fat.

כליות חטה KIDNEYS OF WHEAT — wheat that is fat as is the fat of kidneys and the kernels of which are as large as kidneys.

ודם ענב AND THE BLOOD OF THE GRAPE [THOU SHALT DRINK חמר] — This means: Thou shalt drink good wine, and taste wine of a fine and good quality.

חמר — This word means wine in general in the Aramaic language, but this (the word חמר in our verse) is not a noun but it means excellent in taste, vinos in old French, (English = vinous). — One may also expound these two verses according to the Targum of Onkelos which has: אשרינון על תקפי ארעא וגו׳, He made them dwell upon the strong places of the earth etc.