Best of Ibn Ezra
I don’t know whether anyone has compiled a best-of for the comments of Abraham ibn Ezra, but it would probably have to be divided into “insights” and “insults”. He is often critical of prior commentators, but not always as cutting and hilarious as on Genesis 29:17 where Leah is described as having עיניים רכות (weak eyes).
Ibn Ezra first blasts those who try to make the text not as harsh to the Jewish matriarch, saying they project their own ideas onto God. He then brings the commentary of a Karaite that he was not particularly fond of:
ובן אפרים אמר שהוא חסר אל”ף, וטעמו ארוכות. והוא היה חסר אל”ף.
And Ben Ephraim said that it (”weak”, rakot) is missing an Aleph, and should mean “long [eyes]” (arukot). Yet he was [the one] missing an Aleph!
Ibn Ezra here not only implies that Ben Ephraim had a screw loose, but that if he indeed was missing an Aleph, he would be a בן פרים, a “son of cows”!
Definitely up there in the top-ten.
That’s awesome: I’d never seen this one before. A best bits of Ibn Ezra sounds like an excellent idea; you could use it to see if there are particular insults that he is noticeably fond of. Based on this and the only other one that springs to mind, it would seem that he has a certain fascination with cattle.
Comment by Simon Holloway — 12 November, 2007 @ 6:41 pm