Commento su Genesi 49:6

בסדם אל תבא נפשי O MY SOUL, COME NOT THOU INTO THEIR SECRET DELIBERATION (סוד may have the sense of plot) — this has reference to the story of Zimri, (Numbers 25:6-15) when the tribe of Simeon assembled and brought the Midianitish woman before Moses, saying, “Is this woman forbidden or permitted to be taken as a wife? If you say she is forbidden, who made the daughter of Jethro permissible to you in marriage” (See Sanhedrin 82b) — let not my name be mentioned in connection with that event! Indeed, it is said (Numbers 25:14) “Zimri, the son of Zalu, a prince of a father’s house among the Simeonites” — but Scripture does not state “a son of Jacob”.

FOR IN THEIR ANGER THEY SLEW A MAN AND IN THEIR SELF-WILL THEY DISABLED AN OX (‘SHOR’). The meaning of this is that they committed violence in their wrath in that they were angry at Shechem, and it was to satisfy their own desire and not because of the guilt or sins of the slain.
Now Onkelos says that the word shor (ox) should be understood as shur (wall) with a shuruk,¹¹¹The phonetic equivalent oo. Thus the word should be understood as shur (wall) rather than shor (ox). The Torah-script has no vowel signs, and for the sake of interpretation, a difficult word may sometimes be interpreted as if it were vowelled differently than the traditional reading. as in the verse, Daughters treaded on the wall (‘shur’).¹¹²Verse 22 here. Thus Onkelos translated the word shor in the present verse as “the wall of the enemy,” similar in expression to the verse: Mine eye also hath gazed on them that lie in wait for me (‘b’shuroi’).¹¹³Psalms 92:12. Ramban is thus suggesting that the enemy lies in wait for me behind his fortified walls. The meaning of the verse is thus: “and they uprooted a city surrounded with a wall, slaying their children and women after having killed the men of the city.” The word ikru (disabled) would then be similar in use to the verse, Ekron shall be rooted up (‘tei’akeir’).¹¹⁴Zephaniah 2:4.
Others¹¹⁵Mentioned in the commentary of R’dak in the name of Rabbi Yaakov the son of Rabbi Elazar. have explained that the ox, which is the largest of cattle, is an allusion to Hamor and his son Shechem, the prince of the country,¹¹⁶Above, 34:2. just as in the verses: His firstling bull, majesty is his;¹¹⁷Deuteronomy 33:17. Ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria.¹¹⁸Amos 4:1. Similarly do the verses surname the great princes “rams”¹¹⁹Exodus 15:15. Eilei Moab is generally translated, “the mighty men of Moab,” but literally it means “the rams of Moab.” and “he-goats.”¹²⁰Isaiah 14:9. Atudei eretz is generally translated, “the chief ones of the earth,” but literally it means “the he-goats of the earth.”
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that the verse is to be understood in its usual sense as stating that in their anger they killed each man of whom they were wrathful; and in their self-will, after their anger had been calmed by the slaying of the men, they uprooted all oxen, this being an allusion to their cattle and their possessions, including everything that was in the home and everything in the field. Now Jacob mentioned this in order to state that he had no part in all these secret deliberations of theirs, even in the removal of the cattle and possessions, or any aspect of the spoiling and plundering of the people of the city of Shechem. The word ikru [in the expression, ikru shor], has the same meaning as in the verse: Thou shalt hemstring (‘te’akeir’) their horses.¹²¹Joshua 11:6. But the expression and purport is all one.

בסודם אל תבא נפשי, may it be G’d’s will that I will not feature in their plots. Every time we encounter the expression אל, al, in the Torah, it is a curse, a request, or a command. It would therefore be wrong to translate this word here as meaning “I have not been part of their devious plot.”