[Mesorah] shaleach vs. sh'loach

Tue Jul 7 09:41:02 PDT 2009

Sorry, that message was sent out prematurely.  Here's what I intended to say:

Even with these explanations, I'm not quite convinced that sh.l.ch. in
  piel implies that the thing being sent wants to or would normally have
 gone on its mission even without being sent.  There are several cases
 where this is obviously not true (e.g., teshalchu el michutz lamachaneh,
 Bemidbar 5:3, shillach chutzah, Shoftim 12:19, ve-shillachti eish be-veit
Chazael, Amos 1:4, Shallach lachmecha, Koheles 11:1, etc.).  It seems
simpler to me to just say that there are occasions where you happen to
send out someone who wants to go free anyway as opposed to learning from
the cases where the person wants to go free and claiming that even in
cases where it's not clear that the person wants to go on the mission, he
(or it) really did.  The meanings of sh.l.ch. in Piel (send upon (like a
plague, as quoted by RSHR), dismiss (also quoted by RSRH), and throw
down/cast (ve-resen mippanai shilleichu, Iyov 30:11, shallach lachmecha),
all fit more neatly into the regular meaning of piel as an emphatic than
to say that in piel, the thing being sent really wanted to be sent
anyway.

Kol tuv

Ben Kandel

>> Short answer to the several questions which have been raised, based on
>> RSRH:  In the Kal, it means to specifically send someone, without that
>> person having a special impulse of his own to get there. In the Piel, it
>> means allowing someone to go in the direction he is already striving to
>> go
>> in. My guess is that the intensity which we expect from a Piel word
>> comes
>> from the fact that the one who is sent is not merely going because the
>> sender wants him to go, but because he himself also wants to go.
>>
>> For this post, I am very indebted to Matityahu Clark's "Etymological
>> Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, based on the commentaries of Samson
>> Raphael
>> Hirsch" (Feldheim), for collecting the many places where RSRH discusses
>> this word. For the benefit of those who do not have this wonderful
>> sefer,
>> I have included his notes on this word as an Appendix at the end of this
>> post. I should also note that my resources allowed me to research only
>> the
>> citations from Chumash and Tehillim, and even then, only in English
>> translation (Isaac Levy's of Chumash and Gertrude Hirschler's of
>> Tehillim).
>>
>> I'll sign my name here, as the remainder of this post is essentially
>> from
>> other people's writings. My apologies for for any quirks or errors in my
>> vowelizing or transliteration style.
>>
>> ---- Akiva Miller
>>
>> On Shemos 8:17 (Va'era, "ki im ayncha m'shalayach es ami" - "For if thou
>> wilt not let My People go"), RSRH writes:
>>
>> <<< Shin Lamed Ches in the Kal means to send something or somebody,
>> somewhere, without the person or thing which is sent having special
>> impulse of its own to get there. In the Piel "shalayach" it has rather
>> the
>> meaning, of allowing to go, to let something or somebody go in the
>> direction it is striving to go. The impulse lies more in what is sent
>> than
>> in the sender. It is remarkable that the Hiphil - which is used here -
>> is
>> only found in connection with plagues, and seems to be a combination of
>> both ideas. It is the intention of the sender, and it coincides with the
>> efforts and will of what is sent. So, specially here with the arov...
>> ...
>> The animals of the wild by themselves have the courage, and would attack
>> human beings, it is only G-d's Will that has implanted in them a certain
>> timidity towards Man, and it is only this timidity and restraint from
>> invading the precincts of Man that allows an ever-increasing space to be
>> won for human development. Now, G-d has only to remove
>>  this restraint... The whole of Egypt is, after all, only an oasis wrung
>> from the surrounding desert. G-d has only to nod and the Wild invades
>> the
>> land. >>>
>>
>> On Vayikra 16:10 (Acharei, "l'shalach oso la'azazel" - Let it go as
>> "Azazel's"), RSRH writes:
>>
>> <<< In all the numerous places in which Shin Lamed Ches occurs in the
>> Piel-form in the overwhelming majority of cases it does not have the
>> meaning of "sending to" but quite definitely the meaning of "sending
>> away", of "letting go", dismissing. Only of evil things does it usually
>> have also the meaning of "sending to", as "v'shen behemos ashalach bam"
>> (Deut 32,24) et alia. And there, too, the basic meaning is, of letting
>> the
>> evil loose, which otherwise is being held back. There are only a few
>> isolated instances as in Gen. 38,17 where "ashalach" does definitely
>> mean
>> "sending to". We think, therefore, that we are not mistaken if we take
>> the
>> "l'shalach oso" here to have the same meaning as in the parallel case in
>> [Lev.] 14,7: "shilach es hatzipor", viz. simply sending it away. >>>
>>
>> On B'midbar 21:6 (Chukas, "vayshalach Hashem ba'am es hanechashim" -
>> "Then
>> G-d let the poisonous serpents loose"), RSRH writes:
>>
>> <<< Shin Lamed Ches in the Kal means to send to put something in motion
>> towards a goal. But shalayach in Piel predominantly has the meaning of
>> letting something go, to leave it to its natural way, not to hold it
>> back.
>> Thus, "vayshalach es ha'orev... vayshalach es hayonah" (Gen.8, 7&8),
>> "v'shilach lachem es achichem" (Gen 43, 14), "v'shilach es b'iro" (Ex.
>> 22:4), "vayhi b'shalach paro" (Ex. 13:17) and elsewhere very frequently.
>> Here too, not G-d sent serpents, but, let them go, and did not keep them
>> back.... >>>
>>
>> On Tehilim 74:7 ("shilchu va'esh mikdashecha" - "They have consigned Thy
>> Sanctuary to fire"), RSRH writes:
>>
>> <<< There is no dagesh in the Lamed in the word 'shilchu'. It therefore
>> combines both the Kal and Piel forms in its meaning. When Shin Lamed
>> Ches
>> is employed in the Kal, then its object is "the place to which" a person
>> or object is sent. When Shin Lamed Ches is used in the Piel form, it
>> indicates the "removal" of a person or thing "from" his or its present
>> location. >>>
>>
>> APPENDIX:
>>
>> Matityahu Clark's "Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, based on
>> the commentaries of Samson Raphael Hirsch" (Feldheim) offers the
>> following:
>>
>> Shin Lamed Ches -- send; move to goal
>>
>> explanation/commentary:
>>
>> 1: sending; moving something to a goal (Gn 38:23 "hinay shalachti hagedi
>> hazeh" also Gn 24:21, 39:2)
>> 2: stretching forth (Ex 22:7 "shalach yado b'meleches rayayhu")
>> 3: abandoning of people (Gn 11:12 "yayoled es shalach" also Gn 11:10)
>> 4: doing harm (Gn 22:12 "al tishlach yadcha el hanaar")
>> 5: allowing something to move (Nm 21:6 "vayishlach Hashem b'am es
>> hanechashim" also Ex 8:17, Lv 16:10)
>> 6: consigning (Ps 74:7 "shalchu va'esh mikdashecha" also Ps 103:3)
>> 7: mission (Ps 78:49 "mishlachas malachei ra'im")
>> 8: rivulets of water (Shir Hashirim 4:13/DaatMikra "shalchecha pardes
>> rimonim")
>> 9: sword (Iyov 36:12/DaatMikra "v'im lo yishm'oo b'shalach yaavoru")
>> 10: delivered gift (Micha 1:14/DaatMikra "titni shiluchim al moreshes
>> gas")
>> 11: table (Ex 25:23 "v'asisa shulchan atzei shitim")
>>
>> cognate meaning: move in a balanced way
>> phonetic cognates:
>> Samech Lamed Ches - progress
>> Tzadi Lamed Ches - succeed
>> Shin Lamed Heh - assure
>> Tzadi Lamed Heh - darken
>> Samech Lamed Ayin - raise
>> Samech Lamed Heh - weigh
>> Samech Lamed Aleph - weigh
>> Tzadi Lamed Ayin - reel about
>>
>>
>>
>>
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