Prime Property

The Hebrew word rechush (“property”) and its variants appear seven times in parashat Lech Lecha, making it the parashah with the highest concentration of such instances. It appears when relating that Abraham took his “property” with him on his journey to the Holy Land (Gen. 12:5); when the abundance of “property” caused Abraham’s herdsmen to have a falling out with Lot’s herdsmen (Gen. 13:6); when the “property” of the Sodomites were captured (Gen. 14:11), along with Lot and his “property” (Gen. 14:12), and were later returned (Gen. 14:16); when Abraham allowed the king of Sodom to take the “property” he won in the war (Gen. 14:21); and when Hashem promised Abraham that after his descendants will be enslaved, they will exit the land of their enslavement with much “property” (Gen. 15:15). But the word rechush is not the only word for “property” in the Bible—the words mikneh and nechasim also refer to “property.” In this essay, we will study the three Hebrew words for “property,” examine their etymologies, and show how they are not simply synonyms.

Going back to the word rechush, it is interesting to point out that although the word appears 33 times in the Bible, all such instances are confined to the books of Genesis, Numbers, Daniel, Ezra, and Chronicles. The word does not appear in any of the other books of the Bible. Moreover, the verb cognate of rechush that means “to accrue property” (rachash, derived from the triliteral root reish-kaf-shin) only appears in the Book of Genesis, and nowhere else in the Bible.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Gen. 12:5)—as well as Solomon Rabinowitz (d. 1943)—argues that rechush (with a final shin) is related to the word reches (with a final sin), which refers to “tying/attaching” (see Rashi to Ex. 28:28). According to this, the term rechush alludes to the pursuit of wealth and riches, whereby one seeks to accrue as much as possible and add them to his repertoire. By doing so, one seeks to “tie” all these assets together to collectively add them to one’s net worth. 

The Hebrew scholar Naftali Torczyner/Tur-Sinai (1886–1973) offers a slightly different approach: He understands rechush as ultimately derived from the word rechesh (a type of “horse”). Because one’s livestock was the crux of one’s possession in the ancient world, rechush later expanded into a general term for all of one’s possession. Ohalei Yehudah understands that rechesh itself relates back to reches, because a harness or stirrup was tied to the horse for riding.

The word mikneh (or miknei in the construct form) is the most common term for “property” in the Bible, appearing over 75 times therein. The lexicographers trace this term to the root kuf-nun-(hey), from which words like miknah and kinyan (“transaction/acquisition”) are derived. Based on this, Nachmanides (to Gen. 14:18, 34:23) and Radak (in Sefer HaShorashim) clarify that mikneh is not a general term for all of one’s property; rather, it refers specifically to one’s “livestock,” as that is a person’s chief acquisition. This was especially true of the ancient world, where the amount of livestock in one’s possession was a measuring stick of how rich one was. In fact, Dr. Gerald Leonard Cohen (from the Missouri University of Science and Technology) notes in his Comments on Etymology that the importance of livestock can be seen in the fact that of the first three letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, two letters refer to domesticated animals (aleph means “ox” and gimmel is related to gamal, “camel”).

Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740–1814) sees the core meaning of kuf-nun as “minimal home/domicile.” The most obvious derivative of this root is the word ken (or kan in the construct form), which refers to a bird’s “nest.” Another derivative is the concept of kinyan, which often causes a shift in domicile as an item moves from one party’s domain to another’s. Based on this, Rabbi Pappenheim argues (like Nachmanides) that mikneh relates to the central role of livestock in commerce, explaining that domesticated animals can be used for a wide variety of purposes (for their shearings, for their milk, for their fur/skin, for their offspring, for eating, for working the field, etc…), as opposed to produce, which can only be eaten. Alternatively, Rabbi Pappenheim sees mikneh in the sense of “livestock” as directly related to the core meaning of kuf-nun, because such beasts are often kept in minimal living accommodations (like a small barn), as opposed to the more respectable sorts of housing typically granted to people.

Radak (to Gen. 12:5) writes that the term rechush includes gold, silver, and other moveable possessions, adding (to Gen. 14:11) that rechush also includes mikneh. According to this, rechush is a hypernym that includes all different types of assets, while mikneh is a hypnoym that denotes a specific type of rechush, i.e., livestock. Indeed, Ibn Ezra (to Gen. 12:5) seems to explain that rechush means the same thing as mikneh, or at least can sometimes mean the same thing as mikneh.

On the other hand, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Gen. 12:5, 13:2, 31:18) does not view the relationship between rechush and mikneh as that of hypernym and hyponym. Instead, he contrasts the meanings of these terms by explaining that rechush refers specifically to “inanimate, moveable belongings,” while miknehrefers specifically to “livestock.” Rabbi Hirsch explains the connection between mikneh and kinyan by asserting that domesticated animals recognize their owners who “acquired” them (Isa. 1:3) and will therefore follow them from place to place of their own volition, while when it comes to inanimate rechush, the owner himself has to physically take them and move them from place to place. Thus, according to Rabbi Hirsch, rechush and miknehhave totally different meanings, and mikneh is not included in rechush.n

This article has been excerpted from its original. Please visit 5TJT.com to read the full article.

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein is an author and freelance researcher based in Beitar Illit. He studied in Yeshiva Gedolah of Los Angeles, the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, and Beth Medrash Govoha of America in Lakewood, and received semichah from leading rabbis. He also holds an MA in Jewish Education from Middlesex University/London School of Jewish Studies. Rabbi Klein authored two popular books that were published by Mosaica Press, as well as countless scholarly articles published in various venues. His articles on Hebrew synonyms are commissioned by Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem and have appeared on their website since 2016.