Malaria & Starvation in Parashat Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:24)
Parashat Ha’azinu contains dense, poetic, and often obscure language. Looking closely at Deuteronomy 32:24 reveals two remarkable connections between the Torah’s text, classical commentaries, and modern medical observations regarding malaria and severe famine.
1. The Torah’s Hint to Malaria
Medical Context
When traveling to a malaria-endemic area, any sudden, severe, or unusual illness must be considered malaria until proven otherwise—even if symptoms mimic something localized, like a bladder infection. Left untreated, severe malaria can be fatal within 24 hours.
The Text & Commentary
מְזֵי רָעָב וּלְחֻמֵי רֶשֶׁף וְקֶטֶב מְרִירִי וְשֶׁן־בְּהֵמֹות אֲשַׁלַּח־בָּם עִם־חֲמַת זֹחֲלֵי עָפָר
“They will be bloated [or hairy] by famine, consumed by fever [or demons], and cut down by bitter destruction [Meriri]; I will send against them the teeth of beasts, with the venom of creatures that crawl in the dust.”
— Deuteronomy 32:24
In Aryeh Kaplan’s Living Torah, he notes several classical Jewish commentaries on the phrase קֶטֶב מְרִירִי (ketev meriri):
Saadia Gaon: “Bitter plague”
Septuagint: “Unquenchable destruction”
Rashbam: “Robbers”
Sifri / Rashi: “Demons” / “Evil spirits”
Targum Onkelos:Ruchin bishin (“bad spirits” / “bad vapors”)
Ibn Ezra & Ralbag:“Bad air” — explicitly identified as malaria.
The Linguistic Link
Historically, malaria was believed to be caused by stagnant water and damp marshes emitting “bad air” (from the Italian mal aria).
The translation of Meriri as “bad air” by Ibn Ezra and Ralbag directly mirrors the etymology of malaria. Furthermore, there is a recognized linguistic shift between the liquids R and L across many language families:
$$\text{M – R – R} \;\longleftrightarrow\; \text{M – L – R}$$
The biblical term Meriri serves as a direct textual hint to Malaria.
2. Extreme Famine and Abnormal Hair Growth
The second part of the verse presents an extraordinary medical commentary by Rashi regarding the phrase מְזֵי רָעָב (Mezey ra’av).
Classical Interpretation vs. Rashi
While Onkelos translates Mezey ra’av as “swollen/bloated from famine,” Rashi offers a striking alternative interpretation based on Rabbi Moses Hadarshan of Toulouse:
Rashi on Deut. 32:24:
“They will sprout hair from famine (Mezey ra’av)… I heard in the name of Rabbi Moses Hadarshan that [this phrase] is equivalent to ‘hairy from famine,’ for an emaciated person grows hair on his skin.”
(Note: In Aramaic, m’zay refers to hair).
Medical Confirmation
This observation is confirmed in modern medical literature on severe starvation and malnutrition.
In The Biology of Human Starvation (University of Minnesota Press, p. 240), researchers document abnormal hair growth during severe hunger:
Curran (1880): Reported an unusual “false growth caused by decay and hunger”—a fine body hair growing on the face and arms of starving children during the Great Famine in Ireland.
Warsaw Ghetto Studies: Physicians documented the development of soft, downy hair (lanugo-like growth) across the bodies of famine victims.
When body fat is depleted, the body grows fine downy hair (hypertrichosis lanuginosa) as a physiological mechanism to regulate temperature and conserve heat.
Reflection
While these subjects reflect somber realities of human suffering and disease, Rashi’s insight—recorded centuries before modern clinical studies documented the physiological impacts of severe starvation—highlights the extraordinary depth embedded in the text of the Torah. May such suffering remain a matter of history, never to be repeated.