Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
רֶגַע שֶׁל עִבְרִית A Moment of Hebrew
…וְהִגִּישׁוֹ אֶל הַדֶּלֶת אוֹ אֶל הַמְּזוּזָה וְרָצַע אֲדֹנָיו אֶת אׇזְנוֹ בַּמַּרְצֵעַ…
…the master shall bring the eved (servant) to the door or the doorpost, and the master shall pierce the eved’s ear with an awl...
לִרְצֹעַ (lirtzo’a) (שֹׁרֶשׁ ר.צ.ע)
To pierce (make a hole using a sharp instrument)
מַרְצֵעַ (martzei'a) = Awl
רְצוּעָה (retzu’a) =
יָצָא הַמַּרְצֵעַ מִן הַשַּׂק (yatza ha-martzei’a min ha-sak) =
A secret was revealed (literally means: the awl came out of the sack)
Find the Word!
In Hebrew, the tool used for piercing and the action of piercing have the same שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh, root). This is true for many tools in Tanakh! Can you find these tools in these pesukim: pliers (Yeshayahu 6:6), plow (Shmuel Alef 13:20), a kind of hammer (Shoftim 4:21). Can you figure out the shoresh for each of these tools?
The שֹׁרֶשׁ (shoresh, root) ר.צ.ע appears only in one other place in the Tanakh, also about the rules for an eved! Can you find it in Parashat Ki Teitzei? (Hint: Look at Devarim 15:17.)
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