Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 32:24

מזי רעב — Onkelos rendered this by “swollen by famine”. I have, however, no convincing proof for this meaning. In the name of R. Moses the Preacher of Toulouse have heard that it is the same as שעירי רעב, “hairy through hunger”, for an emaciated person grows much hair on his flesh.

מזי רעב. This word has different meanings in different contexts. When it appears in the Talmud as in Chulin 45 it means ((נתמזמז being emptied of vital content.

מזי רעב, “bloating of famine;” Ibn Ezra understands the expression as “burned by the pangs of hunger,” as in Daniel 3,19 למזא לאתונה, “to heat up the kiln.”

מזי רעב, “burned by famine.” The expression is used in this sense in Daniel 3,19 where it refers to stoking a furnace i.e. למזא לאתונא. The idea appears to be that on account of the pangs of hunger, one’s natural warmth is burning up healthy tissue seeing it does not have food to burn up. As a result these people will be consumed by raging fever.

He would tousle his hair. This is a term from the Gemara (Megilla 18a). Rashi wishes to bring proof for the explanation of R’ Moshe Hadarshan.

VV. 24 u. 25. מזי רעב וגו׳. Hier folgt die Schilderung der verschiedenen Pfeile der Gottesverhängnisse, die Israel alle zu überdauern hat, (V. 24) durch die gegen sie empörte Natur, (V. 25) durch das gegen sie gerichtete Völkerwüten. — מזי von מזה (wie מְתֵי von מתה), verwandt mit מסה, aufgelöst werden, schwinden, מצה aussaugen, bedeutet das Schwinden der Säfte durch Hunger. — רשף die innere Glut, so von der Eifersucht: רשפיה רשפי אש (Hohel. 8, 6). Hier: die Fieberglut. — קטב, verwandt mit קטף Abrupfen von Ähren (Kap. 23, 26), eine plötzliche Todesart, die den Menschen unvorbereitet wegrafft. זחל .והלי עפר rabbinisch das Hinfließen des Wassers am Boden, מזחילה Dachrinne. Daher auch Bezeichnung des Hinschleichens von Schlangen am Boden. Verwandt damit vielleicht שעל, die Fußsohle, משעול כרמים ein enger, nur ein fußbreiter Pfad, den man nur schrittweise durchgehen kann, שחל ,שועל die pfadschleichenden Füchse und Schakale (siehe zu Bamidbar 22, 24).

מזי רעב, “wasting famine;” compare Daniel 3,19 for use of the word מזי. We read there למזי לאתונה חד שבעה, “to heat the kiln seven times.” The people’s skin would be full of holes and blisters due to excessive pains caused by hunger.

מזי רעב, “the wasting due to famine;” burned by hunger; compare Daniel 3,19, למזי לאתונא, “to heat up the kiln;”

In the Aramaic language the term for hair is מזיא, as e.g. in the phrase (Megillah 18a) “who was busying himself with his hair (במזיא)".

ולחומי רשף, mixture of hail and fire from the sky. The word occurs in this context in Song of Songs 8,6 רשפי אש. If it has the meaning used in the Talmud it describes breaking out of rashes on the skin as in Job 5,7 בני רשף יגביהו עוף, caused by celestial sources such as sparks (in the spiritual sense) and not something that originates on earth. It refers to fiery arrows when used in Psalms 76,5, and in a similar sense in Psalms 91,5 מחץ יעוף יומם, “from arrows flying by day.” Basically, we are dealing here with destructive phenomena which do not have their origin on earth.

ולחומי רשף, “battling flaming demons.” A reference to a species of birds. We find them mentioned in Job 5,7 The correct interpretation (quoting Ibn Ezra) is that the Israelites will be subjected to four different kinds of judgments, penalties, In this verse famine and its impact is described by Moses. The others will follow.רשף, קטף מרירי, חיה רעה and חרב. רשף appears to be sickness caused by microbes in the air.קטב מרירי is a kind of pestilence brought on by polluted air.

וקטב מרירי, “and bitter destruction (death);” according to Ibn Ezra this refers to some kind of poisoned air which kills people. This appears to occur mostly at midday. Examples are: Job 3,5: “may it be struck by the pall of the day.” This is also the meaning of Psalms 91,6 ומקטב ישוד צהרים, “and from the scourge that rages at noon.” A description of the plague, pestilence. Moses speaks of four different judgments, afflictions. which can be summarised as רעב, דבר, חיה, חרב, famine, pestilence, wild beasts, and death by the sword.

There was an incident, etc. Rashi means to explain that the verse should have said, “the teeth of wild animals,” since it is wild animals that are expected to bite, not domesticated ones.

ולחומי רשף, compare Song of Songs 8,6, רשפיה רשפי אש, “its flashes are flashes of fire;” epidemics caused by excessive heat-waves.

ולחמי רשף, “their flesh consumed by the vultures;” compare Proverbs 9,5: לכו לחמו בלחמי, “come and eat my bread;” (compare the commentaries on that phrase there.) Compare also Job 5,7: ובני רשף יגביהו עוף, “as the sparks fly upwards.”

ולחמי רשף This means, the demons fight with them (לחם means “to battle”), — as it states, (Job. 5:7) “As the בני רשף fly upwards”, and they are the demons (Berachot 5a).

וקטב מרירי, stabbed and cut up (mutilated) by robbers who make a point of killing people cruelly. The construction of the word מרירי is similar to the construction of the word פלילי, criminal, from ונתן בפלילים, (Exodus 2,22) describing judges who deal with criminal matters. The judges incriminate the guilty, (transitively), similarly, מרירי is transitive, describes not what the victim suffers, endures, but the force which make the life of the victim intolerable. The word ישוד, from שוד, in Psalms 91,6 מקטב ישוד צהרים, also refers transitively to the forces perpetrating the robbery. “the scourge which is ravaging around noon.” Both Jeremiah 15,8 and Tzefaniah 2,4 use this word in a similar sense.

וקטב מרירי, “and bitter destruction.” The word קטב is found in Hoseah 13,14: אהי קטבך שאול, “your pestilence where? Sheol” (Metaphor for the fires of hell.)

וקטב מרירי means and the destruction caused by a demon whose name is מרירי. The word קטב denotes “cutting off”, “destruction”, as in (Hosea 13:14) “I will be thy destruction (קטבך) O grave”.

The word מרירי meaning: “bitter,” is familiar to all of us, although our author provides examples for where it is used. However, in the Talmud tractate Pessachim folio 111, the word is understood to mean sheydim, “demons,” the Talmud coming to the conclusion that there are two different kinds of ketev m’riri, demons, one is active before it is noon, and one after the sun has reached its highest point on the horizon.

ושן בהמת [I WILL SEND FORTH] THE TEETH OF CATTLE [UPON THEM] (i.e., even the teeth of cattle, not only of wild beasts) — It indeed happened once that lambs bit people and caused their death (Sifrei Devarim 321:8; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 26:22).

חמת זחלי עפר THE FURY OF THOSE CRAWLING IN THE DUST — i.e. the poison of serpents that crawl on their bellies upon the ground as the water trickles (זחל) upon the ground. The root זחל properly denotes the passage of water upon the dust, and it is similarly used as here of the passage of anything that proceeds in a shuffling manner upon the ground.