Genèse 15:11

And the birds of prey: Heb. הָעַיִט. This is a bird, and [it is called עַיִט] because it swoops down [עָט] and seeks the carcasses. Like (Job 9:26): “to swoop upon food,” and like (I Sam. 15:19): “and you flew (וַתַּעַט) upon the spoil.”

upon the carcasses: upon the parts. (Other editions: הַפְּגָרִים is translated into Aramaic as פַּגְלַיָא, [meaning “carcass,” and not “parts,” as Rashi interprets]. But because they [the Targumim] were accustomed to translating אִישׁ בִּתְרוֹ [verse 10] as וִיהַב פַּלְגַּיָא [meaning: “He placed each part”], the word פַּגְלַיָא was mistakenly changed to פַּלְגַּיָא, and they therefore translated הַפְּגָרִים as פַּלְגַיָא. But whoever translates that way is in error, because we cannot equate בְּתָרִים, parts, to פְּגָרִים, carcasses, for בְּתָרִים should be translated פַּלְגַּיָא, and פְּגָרִים should be translated פַּגְלַיָא, an expression of פִּגוּל, an abominable thing, as (Lev. 19:7): “it is an abominable thing (פִּגוּל),” an expression of a carcass. (So I heard from Rabbi Judah the son of Rabbi Samuel.) And so it was emended in a Rashi ms., and in another ms. was written: So did Rabbi Meir the son of Rabbi Samuel explain.)

and Abram drove them away: Heb. וַיַּשֵּׁב, an expression of blowing and causing to fly away, like (Ps. 147:18): “He causes His wind to blow (יַשֵּׁב).” This is an allusion that David the son of Jesse will come to destroy them, but they will not permit him from heaven [to do so] until the King Messiah arrives. [from Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, ch. 28]

And there came down idolatrous peoples which are like to unclean birds, to steal away the sacrifices of Israel; but the righteousness of Abram was a shield over them.

AND THE BIRDS OF PREY CAME DOWN UPON THE CARCASSES. [They came down] to eat them, as is the nature of birds.

AND ABRAM DROVE THEM AWAY. It was thus alluded to Abraham that the nations would come to abolish the sacrifices, but the children of Abraham would drive them away.

וירד העיט, the word עיט is description of predatory birds generally.

על הפגרים, the carcasses which are whole. This term is not applied to the animals which had been cut in half as part of the sacrificial procedures, [presumably, the author does not feel comfortable in the Torah describing sacrifices which had been accepted by G’d winding up as the food for vultures. Ed.] The author quotes a number of examples where the word פגר occurs in the Bible, in all of which the reference is to a whole carcass, not to a section of it. (compare Isaiah 14,19; Chronicles I 10,12; Samuel I 31,12) The symbolism in all this is that there would hardly be a generation in which the gentile nations would not attempt to devour the Jewish people, and to annihilate them utterly. Nonetheless, in the final analysis, G’d has always saved us from becoming total victims. This confirms the prediction in Leviticus 26,44 that even during our darkest days when we are being punished collectively for our sins and the sins of our fathers, “I will not despise you and allow you to be wiped out completely.” In the verse following the one we just quoted, the Torah adds verbatim: וזכרתי להם ברית ראשונים, at such a time “I will remember for them the covenant I concluded with the forefathers.”