QUESTION: Q: According to my understanding שְׁרוּיָה means “abides, dwells“ as in שְׁכִינָה שְׁרוּיָה בֵינֵיהֶם (shekhinah abides in their midst). But I am thinking of “כּוֹסִי רְוָיָה (my cup overflows)“ (Psalms 23:6). What is the difference between the two? Jəssə Barksdale
A: Right, שרויה is the Aramaic translation of “encampment,” as in (Gen. 25:18, Num. 21:11), or “camp” (Num. 2:3, Deut. 23:15), and also “rest” (Num. 10:33). It also means “releasing,” “untying” (Gen. 24:11), because this frees up the animal to rest (see Radak ibid.). And in Talmudic parlance שרי means “allowing.” The word שרוי in the sense of “soaking” is because the item is “freed” from one’s grip and then naturally rests in the body of water into which it is released. Yehoshua (Jeremy) Steinberg
FOLLOWUP: The root שרה is Hebrew and its Aramaic equivalent is תרא / תרי. So משרת ענבים is translated as מתרות ענבין (Num 6, 3). Apparently, it is not related to the Aramaic שרי. Rather, it seems to be related to the Hebrew root שור meaning “to look”. Hence Rashi’s explanation of משרת: The word משרת denotes “steeping” in water or any other liquid. In the Mishnaic language there are many examples of this, e.g., (Shabbat 17b): “One must not soak (שורין) ink-materials and dyes in water on the eve of Sabbath”; (Nazir 34b): “A Nazarite who steeped (שרה) his bread in wine”. That is to say, steeping adds color and makes visible. Eliyahu