Shachar and Shachor

Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.

UNTIL THE BREAKING OF THE DAY. Ad alot ha-shachar (until the breaking of the day) means until the darkness of the night went away. Others say that shachar (dawn) refers to the image of light that appears in the clouds before sunrise. Shacher (light) in wherein there is no light (shacher) (Is. 8:20) is similar.

איש, the same type of איש as in Joshua 5,13, i.e. an angel. This was the angel Gavriel, described as איש par excellence in Daniel 9,21. The reason why these angels are called איש is because they appear to the people with whom they converse in human guise. The types of angels who speak with man are referred to as איש, as they appear either in a vision or while the person to whom they appear is fully awake. G’d had sent this angel to Yaakov to strengthen his courage, not to fear Esau. If Yaakov could prevail over an angel, surely he had no reason to be afraid of an encounter with someone like Esau! The fact that the struggle lasted until daybreak was an allusion to Yaakov that after a period of night, i.e. problems, adversity, there would come a period of light, peace and prosperity coupled with security..

I am dark, but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem— Like the tents of Kedar, Like the pavilions of Solomon.

Now their faces are blacker than soot, They are not recognized in the streets; Their skin has shriveled on their bones, It has become dry as wood.

But if the scall has remained unchanged in color, and black hair has grown in it, the scall is healed; he is clean. The priest shall pronounce him clean.

For the leader; on ayyeleth ha-shaḥar. A psalm of David.

השחר is an expression of dawn, but Menachem (p. 172) interprets it as an expression of seeking, as (in Prov. 11:27): “He who desires (שֹׁחֵר) good etc.” and as (ibid. 7:15) “to look (לשחר) for you.”

For the Chief Musician. Set to "The Hind of the Morning." A Psalm of David. – There are those who say (Rashi, and others beside him) that השׁהר אילת (hind of the morning) is a kind of musical instrument. There are also interpreters (Targumist, Menahem, and others besides) who explain אילת from (אילותי in) My succour (אילותי), haste Thee to help me (infra, 20), meaning that this Psalm was uttered in the strength of the morning's dawn. And some interpret אילת as the name of the morning star. So we have in the words of our Rabbis of blessed memory (Jerushalami, Berakhoth 1:1; Yoma 3:2): "They call the morning star Ayyeleth." They say also (ibid.; Canticles Rabbah 6; Esther Rabbah 10 end; and Shoher Tob, ad loc.) that this Psalm was uttered with reference to Esther and to Israel, who were in exile at that time. Some also interpret it of David while he was still a fugitive before Saul. The correct view is that the title The Hind of the Morning is used of the congregation of Israel while in this (present) exile, and the end of the Psalm proves this. It calls her a hind, just as the comparison is applied to her in the Song of Songs (2:7; 3:5): "among the roes or among the hinds of the field" The meaning also of השחר (the morning) is beauty and brightness, as it says concerning her (ibid. 6:10): "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning ?" And now she is in darkness in this exile, as if forgotten and abandoned; and she cries out from exile:

He who spares the rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him early.

Then shall your light burst through like the dawn And your healing spring up quickly; Your Vindicator shall march before you, The Presence of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

as the dawn Like the ray of dawn that breaks through the clouds.

Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, gradually increasing.

Behold, He who formed the mountains, And created the wind, And has told man what His wish is, Who turns blackness into daybreak, And treads upon the high places of the earth— His name is the LORD, the God of Hosts.

Don’t stare at me because I am swarthy, Because the sun has gazed upon me. My mother’s sons quarreled with me, They made me guard the vineyards; My own vineyard I did not guard.

That I am so black. For my blackness and my ugliness are not from my mother’s womb, but from the sun’s tanning, for that blackness can easily be whitened by staying in the shade.

God, You are my God; I search for You, my soul thirsts for You, my body yearns for You, as a parched and thirsty land that has no water.

I seek You Heb. אשחרך, I seek and search for You, as (Job 7:21): “and You shall seek me (ושחרתני), but I am not here”; (Job 8:5), “If you seek (תשחר) God.”

How are you fallen from heaven, O Shining One, son of Dawn! How are you felled to earth, O vanquisher of nations!

Lucifer, the morning star This is Venus, which gives light as the morning star, הֵילֵל being derived from יהל, to shed light. This is the lamentation over the heavenly prince of Babylon, who will fall from heaven.

הילל Very probably Lucifer, as בן שחר morning star proves. It is seen on certain days a little before dawn, and of all the host of heaven there is no star that shines with such brilliancy as this; its name is therefore הילל (lit., splendour); comp. יחלו They shall cause to shine (13:11).

and banish care from your mind, and pluck sorrow out of your flesh! For youth and black hair are fleeting.

10. And remove anger from your heart that you should not cause evil to your flesh for youth and the days of blackness of hair are transient. (A different version: Remove anger from your heart for anger kills people and also, it brings down many to Gehenna, but as for you, it is appropriate to save yourself from the judgment of Gehenna and know that all of this world is considered tansient and nothing remains to a man from all his works except the good deeds which shield him and also benefit him in the world to come.)

And youth. שַׁחֲרוּת refers to] youth, because [the hair on] a person’s head is black שָׁחוֹר in his youth.

And I will return to My abode— Till they realize their guilt. In their distress, they will seek Me And beg for My favor.

A day of darkness and gloom, A day of densest cloud Spread like soot over the hills. A vast, enormous horde— Nothing like it has ever happened, And it shall never happen again Through the years and ages.

like the dawn, spread over the mountains—The increasing locusts and the shearing locusts are spread over the mountains as the dawn is spread over the entire world.

Your people come forward willingly on your day of battle. In majestic holiness, from the womb, from the dawn, yours was the dew of youth.

Those who love me I love, And those who seek me will find me.

Evil is coming upon you Which you will not know how to charm away; Disaster is falling upon you Which you will not be able to appease; Coming upon you suddenly Is ruin of which you know nothing.

you shall not know how to remove it by prayer Heb. לֹֹא תֵדְעִי שַׁחְרָהּ. You shall not know to pray about it (Jonathan). Whom will you beseech to extricate you therefrom?

לא תדעי שחרה Thou shalt not know its light. It will be like a night, which is not relieved by daylight; שחר means light.