Vayigash: Say it Clear (Part 2/2)
In Part 1 of this essay, we looked at the words pitaron and pesher as ways of “explaining/interpreting” an enigmatic text or statement. We left off last week’s essay with the possibility that the word pesher is actually a metathesized form of the term peirush (often mispronounced as pirush), meaning if you rearrange the consonants in pesher you get peirush (which also means “interpretation/explanation/commentary”). In this essay, we will further explore the word peirush to better understand its etymology and how its usage parallels that of pesher. We will also address two apparent synonyms to peirush, namely beiur (often mispronounced biur) and hesber.
The word peirush has many close relatives that also derived from the triliteral root PEH-REISH-SHIN. These words include parashah (“topic/matter”), prisha (“separation”), parush (“ascetic,” who separates himself from the rest by abstaining from worldly pleasures), parash (“horse-rider”), and peresh (“excrement”). The way some of these words connect to peirush are fairly intuitive, but some of them require more explication. Interestingly, the term perushim (“Pharisees”) in the Mishnah (Yadayim 4:6-8, as in other works like Josephus and the Christian Bible) refers to orthodox Jews, as opposed to the antinomian Tzadokim (“Sadducees”). Nowadays, the term perushim refers to a community of non-Hassidic ultra-Orthodox Jerusalemites associated with the Old Yishuv. [My friend Mitchell First, an attorney and scholar of Jewish history, once penned an entire article dedicated to exploring the different reasons as to why the Pharisees were called such, but that is beyond the scope of our discussion here.]
Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzatto (1800–1865), also known as Shadal, explains that peirush refers to the means of making known that which had been previously unknown. He sees the triliteral root of peirush, PEH-REISH-SHIN, as actually related to the triliteral root PEH-REISH-SIN (via the interchangeability of SHIN and SIN), which means “spreading,” because when one presents new information, one figuratively “spreads” out the previously-enigmatic topic in a way that it is now accessible.
Case in point: After committing their respective sins, the blasphemer (Lev. 24:12) and the Shabbat desecrator (Num. 15:34) were held in detention until their final judgement could be decided. In both cases, the Bible stresses that their final sentence was yet-unknown because Hashem had not “rendered/explained” (porash) what their verdict ought to be. The word porash is a Biblical Hebrew verb inflection of the word peirush. According to Shadal, this verse means that Hashem had hitherto not yet made known what these sinners’ fate should be, so He can be said to have not provided a peirush.
Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim (1740–1814) explains it somewhat differently. He defines the root PEH-REISH-SHIN as referring to “separating.” As a result, in the case of the two sinners who were eventually put to death, the Biblical passages in question refer to waiting for their final verdict to be “separated” out from all the various possible outcomes.
In line with this, Rabbi Pappenheim also explains how the word meforash (“explicitly/expressly”) relates back to the triliteral root in question: when a statement is vague and ambiguous, it can support all sorts of various ways of interpreting it, some of which are true and some of which are not. Accordingly, when a person says something "explicitly," he unambiguously separates out the "true" explanations of the otherwise vague statement from all the other possible interpretations.
Additionally, Rabbi Pappenheim writes that parash refers to “cavalry,” because such mounted troops are typically considered separate from the rest of the military apparatus that largely consists of foot-soldiers/infantry. He also notes that peresh (“excrement” or “dung”) refers to those bodily wastes which were separated from one’s person [For more about words for “excrement,” see my earlier essay “Output Understood” (Aug. 2021).]
Now that we understand the word peirush, can discuss the word beiur, which derives from the triliteral root BET-ALEPH-REISH. The classical lexicographers like Ibn Saruk, Ibn Janach, and Radak see that Biblical Hebrew root as bearing two distinct meanings: “wellspring” (be’er) and “elucidation” (ba’er). It is the second of these two meanings which gives way to the word beiur in the sense of “explanation.”
Nevertheless, unlike those classical lexicographers, Rabbi Pappenheim sees the ALEPH of this triliteral root as non-essential, thus reducing it to its core biliteral string, BET-REISH. He defines the basic meaning of that two-letter root as “separated/choicest/clarity,” listing a whole slew of words as deriving from that meaning: barah (“clear,” by which all other options have been conclusively “excluded”), bari (“certain,” a sort of confidence which has already rejected other possibilities and “excluded” them), bahr (“food/grain/meal,” refers to grains that have been separated from their chaff), bar (“son” in Aramaic, because a boy “separates” from his mother’s womb via childbirth), bor/borit (“soap,” a cleaning agent used to “separate” and “exclude” filth), birah (“capital citadel,” the choicest place in a given polity), bahir (“clear/pure,” after all the impurities and dross have been separated out), and more.
Following this paradigm, Rabbi Pappenheim explains the words bor (“pit”) and be’er (“well”) together, as both are the products of digging away at the earth to “separate” the dirt from the underground water. Finally, he explains the term beiur in the sense of “elucidation” as the act of “separating” out a more correct explanation from other, mistaken ones.
Either way, the words peirush and beiur seem to have very similar meanings and even their respective etymological bases are quite reminiscent of one another. Yet, the assumption is that they are not quite synonymous, and various ways of differentiating between these two words have been proposed.
Shadal explains that beiur differs from peirush in that beiur refers to a "clear" manner of writing. Like Rabbi Pappenheim, he explains that beiur relates to BET-REISH-(REISH), but more specifically, he ties beiur to the use of verbosity to expand on and elaborate on an idea using the written word. This usage of the root BET-ALEPH-REISH only occurs three time in the Bible: Hashem commands that when the Jews enter the Holy Land, they should write the Torah on large boulders ba’er heitiv (Deut. 27:8), this means that the writing should be written in a “clear and understandable” way. Similarly, when Moses was said to have “elucidated” the Torah before he died (Deut. 1:5), the verb used is ba’er. Finally, the prophet Habakuk was commanded to transcribe his prophetic vision onto a scroll, and to also elucidate (ba’er) his prophecy on tablets (Hab. 2:2). All of these cases involved the use of writing to clarify one’s teachings and visions, and Shadal argues that this is why cognates of beiur are more appropriate. [Shadal’s explanations of poter, beiur and peirush is cited by Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg in HaKtav VeHaKabbalah.]
Rabbi Moshe Tedeschi-Ashkenazi (1821–1898) has a different way of looking at this, explaining that the core root of the word beiur is ALEPH-(VAV)-REISH, "light" (ohr). He clarifies that when one elucidates a written or verbal statement, one metaphorically "sheds light" on it by allowing others to understand it. He sees the BET of beiur as non-essential to the core root. Interestingly, this etymology of beiur actually parallels that of the English word elucidate itself, which derives from the Latin words lux/lucidus (“bright,” light”), and ultimately from the proto-Indo-European root leuk. Related English words include lucid, translucent, pellucid, and more. Personal names derived from this Latin word include Lucile, Lucian, Luke, Lucifer, and Lucy.
On the other hand, Rabbi Tedeschi explains that peirush refers to clarifying something in an unambiguous way. Like Shadal, he too compares peirush to PEH-REISH-SIN, which refers to “spreading out” unambiguous evidence (Deut. 22:17) that can be used to make a final decide. In the cases mentioned above, the Jews had a vague inkling of what punishments should be meted out to the blasphemer and the Shabbat desecrator, but they did not have clarity on the final decision, so they sought a peirush from Above.
The Malbim (1809–1879) offers yet another approach to distinguishing these apparent synonyms. He explains that peirush conveys the revelation of exoteric, superficial information, akin to the Jews’ awaiting a revealed clarification as to the fate of the blasphemer and the Shabbat desecrator. This usage aligns with a comprehension of its external facets, particularly in the context of understanding its legal or normative implications. As already mentioned above, peirush parallels the term pores (“spreading”), as it denotes a state of being spread out and revealed, something which everybody can see on the surface.
Conversely, Malbim explains that beiur pertains to the clarification or elucidation of the esoteric aspects of a given matter. This mode probes deeper into the material being studied, emphasizing the clarification of its core elements that lie beneath the surface. In other words, the semantic nuance inherent in beiur underscores an in-depth investigation into the internal facets of the subject matter, as opposed to a peirush which is more concerned with the matter’s external trappings. We may add that beiur relates to be’er (in the sense of a “well-spring”) because the waters of a wellspring are hidden deep under the ground, and a be’er is the mechanism by which those embedded waters are brought up to the surface. In the same way, according to the Malbim, a beiur takes the hidden esoteric ideas embedded within a text or statement and brings them to the light of day by making them more explicit and accessible to all.
Finally, we turn to the word hesber — which also means “explanation/interpretation/elucidation.” This word is clearly related to the Aramaic verb svar (“thinking,” “intending”), which is used once in the Bible (Dan. 7:25). In Talmudic Aramaic, one who is sover something “maintains an intellectual position,” and something described as mistaber means that it is “intellectually-sound” and makes sense. Likewise, the “logic” that undergirds a particular ideological or intellectual position is known as its svara. In fact, the rabbinic sages who lived after Ravina and Rav Ashi, and were instrumental in editing the Talmud in the format that we have it are known as Rabbanan Savoraim (“Saboraic sages”), on account of them adding a layer of logical structure to the Talmudic discussions. In everyday life, there is a long-standing Jewish custom for one reciting Kiddush in front of others to first exclaim savri (“think!”), which is an imperative used to make sure that the listeners’ focus on their intentions on hearing the blessings said in Kiddush.
Many volumes of the Talmudic commentary Chiddushei Batra by Rabbi Chaim Dov Altusky (1927-2012) contain a section of novella from an anonymous Torah Scholar known simply as the Masbir (literally, “the elucidator”). Yeshivish lore has it that this is a crypto-reference to Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903–1993), as the letters comprising the acronym of his Hebrew title and name Moreinu Rav Yosef Ber Solovtichik make up the word masbir. In Modern Hebrew, the term hasbarah continues to mean “elucidation,” but it often refers specifically to pro-Israel advocacy, which is a Zionist endeavor that attempts to “elucidate” the State of Israel’s actions and explain the rationale behind them to a broader audience.
Although the clearest etymology of hesber lies in the aforementioned Aramaic word, there are very similar Hebrew words that might also account for its origins. The Hebrew triliteral root SIN-BET-REISH appears ten times in the Bible, usually in the sense of “waiting/anticipating/hoping,” although sometimes it might refer to “planning/thinking.” Examples of the first sense of this root include when the Psalmist says about Hashem, “the eyes of all hope [yisaberu] for You, and You give them their food in their time” (Ps. 145:15), “I await [sibarti] for Your salvation, O Hashem” (Ps. 119:166); and so forth (e.g., Ps. 104:27, 146:5). In the second sense, the climax of the Scroll of Esther says about the day that the Jews' enemies “planned” (sibru) to dominate them, that the opposite occurred, as the Jews instead dominated their enemies (Est. 9:1).
A derivative of SIN-BET-REISH appears once in the Mishnah, when Shammai famously implored people to "greet all people with a positive facial countenance [sever panim yafot]" (Avot 1:15). In that instance, the word sever is actually spelled with an initial SAMECH, as it often happens that a SIN in Biblical Hebrew turns into a SAMECH in Rabbinic Hebrew. Meiri explains that the word sever here means that one should greet people cheerfully in such a way that others will "think" that one is happy to see them.
Despite the fact that Ibn Janach and Radak present these as two discrete meanings derived from a singular root (and Ibn Saruk only lists the first meaning), we may bridge the gap by noting that the act of “waiting/hoping” is something primarily done in one’s thoughts, it does not necessarily have to be physically manifest in any way. Accordingly, all these verbs derived from SIN-BET-REISH refer to abstract actions that occur in one’s mind.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Ps. 145:15) brings to light another interesting point that connects these two meanings. He explains that the verb sover is a mental process that computes separate pieces of information and joins them together to form a complete, logical thought. In the same sense, a person who puts his “hopes” in Hashem comes to the intellectual conclusion that He is the holistic One, who powers all parts of creation. By invoking the interchangeability of BET and PEH, Rabbi Hirsch connects sover to the verb sofer ("counting") because that act is likewise a mental process that takes separate numbers and calculates their relationship. Further drawing on the interchangeability of SIN/SAMECH and TZADI, Rabbi Hirsch connects sover and sofer to tzover ("gathering," the verb form of tzibbur), which similarly denotes taking individual units and joining them together.
Rabbi Reuven Subar — whose surname may or may not be related to the word hesber — proposes a novel way of differentiating between hesber and beiur. He argues that while both terms denote a means of alleviating perplexity, beiur answers what is being said, while hesber explains why. In other words, the purpose of a hesber is to answer possible questions and explain the underlying svara (“logic” or “reasoning”) behind the matter. This is why ba'eir heitev is associated with translation (see Rashi to Deut. 27:8), as it denotes simply rendering what was written in a more understandable linguistic register. On the other hand, sover is used in Aramaic to mean "bear" or “lift up” (see Targum to Gen. 13:6, Num. 11:12, Isa. 40:11, 63:9), thus relating to the concept of supportive explanatory discussion and argumentation (masa u’matan). Such deliberations metaphorically “lift up” the ideas in question by highlighting their rationalistic basis and providing intellectual support. [The “carrying/lifting” meaning of savar may also be related to the Hebrew word sovel (“bears/tolerates [a burden]”) via the interchangeability of the letters REISH and LAMMED.]
