ויזנב בך כל הנחשלים אחריך (דברים כה יח).הכה אותם מכת זנב, כי הא דאמר ר' חנינא בר שלקא, מה היו בית עמלק עושים, היו חותכין מילותיהן [של ישראל] וזורקין כלפי למעלה, ואומרים הא לך מה שבחרת, לפי שלא היו יודעין ישראל מה טיבה של זמורה, והנם שולחים את הזמורה אל אפם (יחזקאל ח יז), עד שבא עמלק ולימדה להם, ממי למדה, מעשו זקינו, שנאמר ויאמר הכי קרא שמו יעקב (בראשית כז לו), חיכך בגרונו והוציא את הזמורה.
(Deut. 25:18, cont.:) AND HE CUT OFF (rt.: ZNB) ALL WHO WERE LAGGING BEHIND YOU. He smote them with a blow to the tail (rt.: ZNB),59The word can also denote the penis. See PR 7:3; 12:10, 13; 13:1. for that is what R. Hanina bar Shilqa said.60Tanh., Deut. 6:10; PRK 3:11; PR 7:3; 12:10, 13; 13:1; Numb. R. 13:3. What did the house of Amalek do?61Above, section 10. They cut off the penes [of Israel] and flung them heavenward, as they said: This is what you have chosen for yourself. Because Israel did not know what the <idolatrous> function of the phallus was, (with reference to Ezek. 8:17) HERE THEY WERE PUTTING THE PHALLUS62Zemorah. Biblical translations generally render the word as “branch”; but the fact that Mekhilta deRabbi of Ishmael, Shirata, 6, lists Ezek. 8:17 as one of the verses the scribes had emended, the passage suggests that they found the passage an embarrassment. UP THEIR NOSES, until Amalek came and taught them. From whom did he learn it? From his grandfather Esau, as stated (in Gen. 27:36): AND HE SAID: IS HE NOT (HKY) RIGHTLY NAMED JACOB?63Gen. R. 67:4. He spat (rt.: HKK) from his throat and brought out the phallus.64As an act of contempt for Jacob, since he had been born circumcised. See above, Tanh. (Buber), Gen. 2:6, and the note there.
ויזנב בך כל הנחשלים אחריך (דברים כה יח).הכה אותם מכת זנב, כי הא דאמר ר' חנינא בר שלקא, מה היו בית עמלק עושים, היו חותכין מילותיהן [של ישראל] וזורקין כלפי למעלה, ואומרים הא לך מה שבחרת, לפי שלא היו יודעין ישראל מה טיבה של זמורה, והנם שולחים את הזמורה אל אפם (יחזקאל ח יז), עד שבא עמלק ולימדה להם, ממי למדה, מעשו זקינו, שנאמר ויאמר הכי קרא שמו יעקב (בראשית כז לו), חיכך בגרונו והוציא את הזמורה.
(Deut. 25:18, cont.:) AND HE CUT OFF (rt.: ZNB) ALL WHO WERE LAGGING BEHIND YOU. He smote them with a blow to the tail (rt.: ZNB),59The word can also denote the penis. See PR 7:3; 12:10, 13; 13:1. for that is what R. Hanina bar Shilqa said.60Tanh., Deut. 6:10; PRK 3:11; PR 7:3; 12:10, 13; 13:1; Numb. R. 13:3. What did the house of Amalek do?61Above, section 10. They cut off the penes [of Israel] and flung them heavenward, as they said: This is what you have chosen for yourself. Because Israel did not know what the <idolatrous> function of the phallus was, (with reference to Ezek. 8:17) HERE THEY WERE PUTTING THE PHALLUS62Zemorah. Biblical translations generally render the word as “branch”; but the fact that Mekhilta deRabbi of Ishmael, Shirata, 6, lists Ezek. 8:17 as one of the verses the scribes had emended, the passage suggests that they found the passage an embarrassment. UP THEIR NOSES, until Amalek came and taught them. From whom did he learn it? From his grandfather Esau, as stated (in Gen. 27:36): AND HE SAID: IS HE NOT (HKY) RIGHTLY NAMED JACOB?63Gen. R. 67:4. He spat (rt.: HKK) from his throat and brought out the phallus.64As an act of contempt for Jacob, since he had been born circumcised. See above, Tanh. (Buber), Gen. 2:6, and the note there.