*וָרָב. כְּמוֹ שֶּׁנֶּאֱמַר, רְבָבָ֗ה "And numerous" (Deut. 26:5) - as it is stated, "I have given you to be numerous (rivava)…” (Ez. 16:7)* The word, rivava, רְבָבָה, does not mean thousands or tens of thousands.¹⁰⁹ Rather, the Maggid wants to explain what the sages stated; that the women would go out and give birth in the fields. The babies were then swallowed up by the earth and when they were older they would spring forth like the foliage of the land. Also they quickly grew in stature like plants so that a year old child was like a twenty year old. This is what is stated regarding the verse, “And made you walk erect,” (Lev. 26:13) - “With erect stature.”¹¹⁰ This is also what is meant by the verse, “and you continued (rebui) to grow up…” (Ez. 16:7) The increase (rebui) is not numerical, as has already been said, but rather an increase in the size and erectness of the person.

footnotes: ¹⁰⁹ See Deut. 33:17, Num. 10:36, and Micah 6:7. See BT Sota 11b. Foa is saying that the word רְבָבָה is not used here as a numerical term but as botany metaphor ¹¹⁰ See Rashi and Sifra on the verse Leviticus 26:13