02_eichler_nuovoImpaginato+eliminata_nota24)_DEF_copiaaaaa_26_38 28/04/15 11:32 Pagina 36 36 RAANAN EICHLER VII. Composite Creature in General A final possibility, first proposed by the tenth-century Jewish gram- marian Menahem ibn Saruq, is that bwrk simply means “figure” 39. Abraham ibn Ezra (1089-1164) later elaborated on this idea, stressing that in different contexts the word can refer to different types of crea- tures. Thus he described the cherubim east of Eden alternately as “the well-known angels” or “figures that scare those who see them”, while also maintaining that the cherub of Ezek 10,14 refers to the figure of an ox, and that the ark cherubim of the tabernacle resembled “two boys” as in the Talmudic view 40. Ibn Saruq and ibn Ezra may be seen as following an older tradition expressed by Tg. Neofiti and Saadia b. Joseph Gaon, both of whom rendered the word ~ybrk in the descriptions of the tabernacle tapestries as “figures” 41. An entirely different view etymologically, but one which leads to a similar, generalized identification of the cherub, was expressed by the thirteenth-century tosafist Isaac b. Judah Halevi in his work Panah Raza. He adduced the occurrence of the Aramaic root brk in b. B. Bat. 12a, already discussed by Bekhor Shor et al., but understood it as carrying the meaning “mix”. Thus he characterized the cherubim of Eden in Genesis as “angels in the form of demons” and argued that their name is a reflection of the fact that they contain a mixture of two species 42. This identification seems essentially the same as what today would be called a composite or hybrid creature (German: Mischwesen). Like the previously cited views, the understanding of bwrk as referring to composite creatures generally, or to a class thereof, has been revived in modern times. Contemporary scholars advocating 39 H. FILIPOWSKI (ed.), Hebraicae et Chaldaicae Lexicon (London – Edinburgh 1854) [Hebrew] 110. The crucial phrase is absent in some manuscripts of ibn Saruq’s book, for which see the critical edition: A. SÁENZ- BADILLOS (ed.), Mĕnaḥem ben Saruq. Maḥberet (Granada 1986) 223*. 40 Commentary and Shita Aheret on Gen 3,24, in COHEN, Genesis, 56; long commentary on Exod 25,18, in COHEN, Exodus, 73 (cf. short commentary in ibid., 72). Also cited by David Kimhi in his Book of Roots: H.R. BIESENTHAL – F. LE- BRECHT (eds.), Rabbi Davidis Kimchi. Radicum Liber (Berlin 1847) [Hebrew] 170. 41 Saadia in N. ALLONY (ed.), Ha’Egron. Kitāb ’uṣūl al-shi‘r al-‘ibrānī by Rav Sĕ‘adya Ga’on (Jerusalem 1969) [Arabic/Hebrew] 250. Joined also by Rashi (on Exod 26,31), in COHEN, Exodus, 88. Judah ibn Bal‘am translates the word “cherub” in Ezek 28,14 in this way: see M. PEREZ (ed.) R. Judah ibn Bal‘am’s Commentary on Ezekiel (Ramat Gan 2000) [Arabic/Hebrew] 109. 42 GELLIS, Tosafot, I, 148-149 par. 8.