A Thought on Parshas Korach

"...v'k'malay'a min ha'yakev..." "...and as the fullness of the wine vat..." 18:27) This week we shall observe the Bechor Shor's unique understanding of how the Torah's use of atypical words can shed light on their fuller meanings. The uncommon word in our verse is malay'a which seems to come from the word malae, which means full or filled. It appears to be a synonym here, in context, for wine (and oil). The verse is discussing the tithes which are given to the Levites, who in turn must separate a portion for the Kohanim. The Levite's acquisitions are treated like any other tithe-able food, and thus must have another tithe removed from them. As the verse instructs, they are like any other "grain from the granary and (wine)(oil) from the vat." Other commentaries understand malay'a to be another word for wine, or high quality wine, or oil. What is not clear, however, is how a word for "fullness" came to imply wine/oil. Vat is going on? The Bechor Shor describes this for us: Solids, such as grains or flour are rather easy to tithe. One can go to a full basket or jar or box of those foods and scoop off the top layer. Picture the mincha offering, where the Kohen takes a handful of grain or flour. He places that amount in his palm or clutches it in a few of his fingers, then the remainder is smoothed off and the container looks full again. The basket may have been overflowing with grain, and now that the tithe is removed, the basket remains full, but not overflowing. Not so liquid. There is no way to over-fill a cup with wine. To do so would be, as Dovid HaMelech sings in Tehillim 23:5, to have a cup running over. Rather, a cup can be filled to the brim, and that is as much as you can fill it. If you then tithe that container of wine, you are taking off that portion which makes it full. Once tithed, the container of wine is no longer full. Hence, the Torah captures this reality by referring to the tithe as "that which gave the vat it's fullness." It is not that wine is called malay'a, but rather, when oil and wine and whatever other liquids are tithed, it is the fullness of the vat which becomes the tithe portion. That leaves the vat partially empty, or partially full, depending on your perspective. May our lives be filled with fullness. Good Shabbos. Chodesh Tov. D Fox