Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Job 3:3

How is this night different from all other nights: A grammatical note: Rabbi Epstein has a great deal of respect for the Vilna Gaon but is disturbed by a comment in his writings in which he identifies the word “Laila,” “night,” as a feminine noun. There are ample examples in the Bible where we can see that the word “Laila” is masculine even though it also has the feminine plural ending. The “Mah Nishtana” is an example of this. We say “Halaila Hazeh” and the plural is “Laylot.” What’s more there are other words that follow this same pattern. “Avot - fathers,” “Araiyot - lions,” “Levavot - hearts” are all masculine nouns which have feminine plural endings, while we have other words which have a masculine ending but which are in fact feminine such as “Nashim - women,” “Shanim - years,” and “Te’aynim - figs.” While there are general rules for masculine and feminine nouns there are many exceptions. Rabbi Epstein is bothered by the Vilna Gaon’s comments but he holds out the hope that someone will find an explanation for his conclusion. He concludes by saying, “While it is hard for me to imagine that this opinion came from the Vilna Gaon, even so I am prepared to change what I have remarked here if someone can find a basis for his words. I would consider this a comfort to my soul and for his a source of merit and righteousness!”

לכה ארה לי יעקב, “come curse Yaakov on my behalf!” In this verse Bileam mentions both names of Israel, i.e. Yaakov and Israel. This is proof that when one curses one must mention all the names of the person to be cursed in order for the curse to have any effect. Also, one needs to use the two attributes of the name of G’d representing the attribute of night and the attribute of day. This is why Bileam mentioned both the attribute י-ה-ו-ה and the attribute א-ל in verse 8. [Bileam would not have needed to change the name of G’d’s attribute and could have said: מה אקוב לא קבה א-ל ומה אזעם לא זעם א-ל. You will note that in Psalms 7,12 David does combine זעם with the attribute א-ל, i.e. the problem is not with the type of curse but with the attributes of G’d invoked. Ed.].
In fact, Job did something similar when he cursed the day he was born and said (Job 3,8) יקבהו אררי יום. He had already cursed both the day and the night separately in the earlier verses of that chapter. According to our traditional sources the separate mention of day and night in verse 3 of that chapter was heretical, suggesting that separate powers are in charge of day and night respectively. Concerning that statement our sages in Shemot Rabbah 30,8 claim that this was heresy, (although Nachmanides points out that Jeremiah (20,14) appears to have been guilty of the same offense and no one accused him of heresy).
It is also necessary to see the intended victim of one’s curse with one’s own eyes as the curse will then be far more effective. This is why Balak went out of his way to take Bileam to the tops of surrounding hills and mountains. The same principle applies to blessings. In order for blessings to be fully effective the person to be blessed must be within an area that the one bestowing the blessing can see with his eyes. All his names should be mentioned just as Bileam did in 24,5 when he spoke of the goodness of the tents of Yaakov and the dwellings of Israel.
When Balak is quoted as having said to Bileam: “curse Yaakov for me,” the question is why he did not simply say: “curse Yaakov?” Actually Balak had not added the word לי “for me.” Bileam had added it to point to the incongruity of Balak’s request. By adding the word לי, Bileam hinted that Balak’s request to curse the Jewish people was equivalent to Balak asking that he himself be cursed seeing he could not have existed but for the Jewish people. We find support for this in Tanchuma Balak 12 where the Midrash says: “whoever curses these people curses himself seeing G’d had told Avraham that anyone cursing him or his descendants would be himself be cursed by G’d” (Genesis 12,3). Every type of curse Balak mentioned in connection with his attempt to have Israel cursed (22,11; 23,13; 23,27) always is accompanied by the word לי, the Torah’s way of saying that such a curse would boomerang on himself.

הורי is from a root meaning to conceive. The singular denotes “my father”, the one who made my mother conceive me. We find a similar use of the verb in (Job 3:3) “A man is causing a woman to conceive (הוֹרָה).”

עד תאות means UNTO THE ENDS — The word is connected with the verbs in (Numbers 36:10) “And ye shall mark out the ends (והתאויתם) for the east border”, and (Numbers 5:8) “you shall mark out the ends (תתאו) unto the entrance of Hamath”.