Komentarz do Rodzaju 32:16

גמלים מיניקות MILCH CAMELS שלשים THIRTY, ובניהם means AND THEIR COLTS with them — A Midrashic explanation of ובניהם is that it is the same as וּבַנָּאֵיהֶם their builders (those that build them up) i.e., one male for each female. Because, however, it (the camel) is chaste in its ways Scripture does not state this plainly (Genesis Rabbah 76:7) but employs a term from which it may be inferred.

ובניהם, according to the plain meaning the males which the camels were suckling. When there are both females and males, the Torah does not mention the females separately.

גמלים מיניקות, we did not know why Yaakov sent along young camels that were so tender that they still depended on mothers’ milk. (according to the words of the author Yaakov also sent such young male calves and male donkeys with their mother animals.) ובניהם together with their young there were a total of 30 camels. The number of animals in each herd was proportionate to the respective size of Yaakov’s total herds of that category of animal. Seeing that he owned relatively few camels, his gift of camels represented a certain percentage of the total number of camels he owned. The reason why the Torah bothered to give us the details of the gift Yaakov sent to his brother was to show us that he sent a substantial gift, and to teach us that if we ever need to atone for having deeply hurt someone and to hope that he will forgive us, it is appropriate to demonstrate our contriteness not so much with words as with a gift of substantial proportions. Yaakov enhanced the impression his gift made upon Esau by leaving a good amount of space between each of the flocks, making Esau feel repeatedly that he had already seen the whole gift, only to find that more was to follow. Bereshit Rabbah 76,8 also addresses the question of the space between the herds which Yaakov insisted the messengers must allow for. According to the Midrash he wanted Esau to feast his eyes on the size of the gift. When one part of the gift had been received and he thought that he had seen it all, another messenger with another herd would appear and request that Esau accept his herd as a gift from Yaakov.

גמלים מיניקות, “camels with their young.” The males of the species were not mentioned here. Some people claim that the word גמל, camel, is the description for both the male and the female of the species. We would then assume that there were 10 adult males, 10 adult females, and their 10 female young. The male/female ratio of the camels would then correspond to the male/female ratio of the donkeys.

And their young were with them... Rashi is saying that there were also thirty young ones. Otherwise, why would it include them all in the same number, when the verse is coming to describe how large the gift was? The young are not significant when [included] with their mothers! Perforce, the verse should be rearranged to read: גמלים מניקות שלשים ובניהם.

גמלים מיניקות, “female camels;”

ועירים means MALE ASSES.

The Midrashic explanation... one male per female... Accordingly, שלשים is rightly written after בניהם, for it indicates that there were thirty altogether. The numbers of the males and of the females were not stated explicitly because camels are discreet in mating.

ובניהם, and their masculine young. The total number of camels was 30. How is this number arrived at? There were twenty female camels and 10 male camels. [Each mother animal had a female young with her. Ed.] The ratio was similar to that of the male and female donkeys which also totaled 30. After having read the details of the latter, we understand what is meant about the camels. According to Rashi, however, there were 30 male camels plus thirty female camels.

And their young were with them... This [first explanation] is saying that there were also thirty young ones. Question: If so, why does it not say שלשים also for the young, like it does for the nursing camels? Thus Rashi brings the Midrashic explanation, that they were thirty altogether. And so that we will not ask, “If so, why does the verse not state the numbers of the males and of the females?” Therefore Rashi explains, “Since it is discreet in mating...” And in fact there were fifteen males and fifteen females. (Maharshal)