פּירוש אויף ויקרא 26:26

“Ten women shall bake” [26:26]. Ten women will bake in one oven and the bread will not be baked. He says ten women because when the verse wants to speak about many women it talks about ten. Similarly, the Torah says seven all the time when it wants to talk about many, as the verse says, “seven times the righteous man falls and gets up” [Proverbs, 24:16]. The righteous one falls seven times, yet God helps him to stand up again. It is also written, “he bowed low to the ground seven times” [Genesis, 33:3].¹⁰Bahya, Leviticus, 26:26.

מטה לחם THE STAFF OF YOUR BREAD: מַטֵּה — This expression denotes [a source of] “support”, similar to “staff (מַטֵּה) of strength” (Jeremiah 48:17).

עשר נשים, meaning “many;” the number “10” is not to be understood literally. It is used in the same sense in Job 19,3 עשר פעמים תכלימני, “time and again you humiliated me.”

בשברי לכם מטה לחם WHEN I BREAK THE STAFF OF YOUR BREAD — This implies: “I will break for you every support of food”. These are the “arrows of famine” alluded to by Ezekiel (5:16), for he continues with exactly the same words: “and I will break your staff of bread” (cf. Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 6 2).