הִכְנִיס פִּיל בְּקוּף הַמַּחַט

ביטוי (אנגלית)

To thread an elephant through the eye of a needle/ to exaggerate

הגדרה (אנגלית)

By metaphor: asserted a strained and illogical argument. Tried to prove his point by sophistries of irrational or impossible matters. Or: exaggerated in his stories (The eye of the needle meaning the hole at the head of the needle through which the thread is passed).

("Rava said: Know that there is no mirror for man, no golden lamp, and no elephant gathered in a needle's thread" - Blessings 55b, and so: "He said to her: How long have you been waiting for me, a giant elephant gathered in a needle's thread? (Targum: He said: To him: "Have you not seen, O my friend, that they make an elephant go through the mouth of a needle?" - Baba Mtsiya Lakh A"A, and so on: "Have you seen from your days a husband on a needle?...Is not a husband on a needle an elephant on the head of a needle, and is not a camel dancing on a stick?" - H. Hazaz/ Dorot Harashonim, 71, and so on: "And will you not reveal to us how a camel can be hunted on the mouth of a needle? And you, my friend, were Reveal to me your professional secrets? - H. Baer/ To a Place Where the Spirit Goes, 190)