parshaמפרשי הפרשה

הכתב והקבלה — ארבעים יכנו לא יסיף

The Torah says 'ארבעים יכנו' — 'forty he shall strike him.' But Chazal's halacha is 39 lashes ('ארבעים חסר אחת,' Makkot 22a). How can the peshat literally say 40? Is Chazal contradicting the simple reading?

ונראה לי שאין המובן במלת 'יכנו' כמו אשר יכה איש את רעהו, כי אם הוא לשון חסרון וגרעון המורגל בדברי רבותינו ז"ל 'מנכה לו מן הדמים', ומזה 'אולי אוכל נכה בו', שפירש רש"י 'אולי אוכל לחסר מהם מעט', וכתיב"ע שם 'איכול לאזעוריה'... ושם ארבעים כאן הוא מספר סדורי כמו 'ויהי בארבעים שנה', 'היו נכונים לשלשת ימים' פירוש ליום השלישי... וכן כאן 'ארבעים יכנו' ירצה ההכאה האחרונה שהיא הארבעים יגרע ויחסר ממנו, שלא יהא נלקה כי אם ל"ט.

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הכתב והקבלה

הכתב והקבלה, דברים כ״ה:ג׳

HaKtav VeHaKabalah, Deuteronomy 25:3

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Q — The Torah says 'ארבעים יכנו' — 'forty he shall strike him.' But Chazal's halacha is 39 lashes ('ארבעים חסר אחת,' Makkot 22a). How can the peshat literally say 40? Is Chazal contradicting the simple reading?

A — HaKtav VeHaKabbalah resolves the apparent gap with two lexical observations. (1) The verb 'יכנו' here is NOT from נ-כ-ה (to strike) but from נ-כ-י (to subtract, deduct) — the standard rabbinic usage 'מנכה לו מן הדמים' (Chullin 10:3), and Tanakh's 'אולי אוכל נכה בו' (Bamidbar 22:6), which Rashi renders 'אולי אוכל לחסר מהם מעט.' (2) 'ארבעים' here is *ordinal*, like 'ויהי בארבעים שנה' (= the 40th year) and 'היו נכונים לשלשת ימים' (= the *third* day). So 'ארבעים יכנו' literally means: *the fortieth [strike] he shall reduce/subtract* — he must omit the 40th. The peshat says 39 lashes, exactly matching Chazal. The supposed gap between text and tradition disappears when you read the verbs correctly.

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