שופטים ו׳:י״א-י״ט

אבי העזרי. מבני אביעזר בן גלעד בן מנשה:

The Aviezrite. One of the sons of Aviezer ben Gilod ben Menasheh.

וגדעון בנו. אביו היה חובטן והוא כוברן, אמר לו: אבא, זקן אתה ואם יבאו המדינים לא תוכל לנוס, לך אתה ואני אחבט:

His son Gidon. His father had been threshing, while he sifted. He told him, "Father, you are elderly. If the enemies come, you will never be able to escape. You leave, and I will thresh."

בגת. בקורות בית הבד:

In the wine press. With beams of an olive press.

ה' עמך גבור החיל. שנתן לך כח כזה:

Adonoy is with you, man of supreme power. Since He infused you with such power.

ויש ה' עמנו. ואם יש ה' עמנו, למה מצאתנו וגו':

If [lit. and] Adonoy is with us.⁶Not “And Adonoy is with us,” as the literal reading would indicate, but “If Adonoy is with us,” as demonstrated by the following phrase cited by Rashi, “why has [all this] occurred, etc.”. If Adonoy is with us, why has [all this] occurred, etc.

אשר ספרו לנו אבותינו. פסח היה, אמר לו: אמש הקרני אבא את ההלל, ושמעתיו שהיה אומר (תהלים קיד א): בצאת ישראל ממצרים, 'ועתה נטשנו', אם צדיקים היו אבותינו, יעשה לנו בזכותם, ואם רשעים היו, כשם שעשה להם נפלאותיו חנם כן יעשה לנו, ואיה כל נפלאותיו:

Which our forefathers recounted to us. It was Pesach, and he told him, "Last night father recited the Hallel for me, and I heard him read, "When Yisroel departed from Egypt"⁷ “…the sea observed and fled, the Yardein turned back, etc.” (Tehilim, 114)—but now He has abandoned us. If our forefathers were saintly, let Him act in our behalf in their merit; and if they were wicked, then, just as He worked His wonders for them gratuitously, so, let Him act in our behalf. Where are all His marvels?"⁸Yalkut, 62.

ויפן אליו. הקדוש ברוך הוא בעצמו:

Turned to him. The Holy One, blessed is He, Himself.⁹Gidon was visited by Adonoy himself in the merit of his advocacy of Yisroel. (Yalkut, ibid)

בכחך זה. בכח הזכות הזה שלמדת סניגוריא על בני, כך דרש רבי תנחומא (מדרש תנחומא שופטים ד):

By this power of yours. By the power of the merit of your advocacy of my children.¹⁰Ibid. This is R' Tanchuma's explanation.

הנה אלפי. האלף שאני נמנה בו להיות תחת שר האלף, הוא האלף הדל בכל אלפי מנשה:

Behold, my unit [lit. thousand]. The thousand member unit of which I am a constituent, under the command of its captain, is the most inadequate unit among all the units in Menasheh.

שאתה. כמו שאתה:

That you. The same as שֶׁאַתׇּה, with the segol vocalization.¹¹ שֶׁאַתׇּה, with the “kamatz” vocalization, which appears in the text, is the same as שֶׁאַתׇּה “that you.”

קמח מצות. למדנו שפסח היה, יום תנופת העומר, לכך נאמר (לקמן ז יג) והנה צליל לחם שעורים מתהפך וגו':

Matzos containing flour. We learn that it was Pesach, the day the Omer offering was waved.¹²On the second day of Pesach. (Vayikra, 23:11) This is why it is said,¹³Below, 7:13. "Behold, a toasted barley bread was careening,¹⁴ “… into the camp of Midyon. It reached the tent and struck it down.” This was in the merit of the Omer offering (Rashi, there, Yalkut, 62), which was made of barley. etc."

והמרק. והרוטב:

Soup. Broth.