Column #40. Contents of this weekly column are (mostly) based on the sefer: EIM LAMIKRA HASHALEIM, by R' Nissan Sharoni, Ashdod, a guide to correct pronunciation of Hebrew, specifically in davening and Torah reading. This week’s sedra: KI TEITZEI LAMILCHAMA AL now watch this next word, meaning “your enemies”, O-Y’VECHA. Not OY-VECHA. Yes, it’s the old SH’VA NA after a long vowel, where the letter-vowel is its own syllable and the letter with the SH’VA NA begins the next syllable, not finish the previous syllable. It’s come up many times before. It’s just that some are tougher than others to recognize as mispronounced, and to change to the correct pronunciation. The word in one form or another is in the AMIDA. First syllable is O, not OY. SHOVEIR O-Y’VIM... Of course, if one OYs his Os, then forget this distinction. I thought of a way to help us (you know who we are - the ones whose native English caused us - isn’t it great to find someone or something to pin the blame on - to mispronounce many types of Hebrew words) to better pronounce words with DAGESH CHAZAKs in them. Let’s try SHABBAT. This is review, but it’s a new way to look at it. The two syllables are SHAB and BAT. Yes, there is only one BET. But the DAGESH doubles it and sends one BET to close the first syllable and the second one to open the second syllable. Now, think of it this way. SHAB and BET are two consecutive words, but different from two real consecutive words. With M’CHAL and LANU (from the S’LACH LANU bracha of the weekday Amida) you are supposed to pause between the words to avoid the two LAMEDs from merging into one. Not, M’CHALLANU, but M’CHAL quick pause LANU. In the case of the presnted two words, SHAB and BAT, you want to say them without a pause, so that the two BETs merge into one (which they are, which it is). SHABBAT. But you should feel the BET get a little “thicker” than reguar BETs. Here are two subdivisions of the DAGESH CHAZAK issue, that night prove helpful to focus upon. The first is the DAGESH CHAZAK that often follows a HEI HAYEDIYA, the definitive article. BARUCH ATA HASHEM, CHONEIN HADDA’AT. Knowledge. DA’AT. THE knowledge. HADDA’AT. We think it’s supposed to be pronounced as it would be in English. HA (the) DA’AT. When, in fact, the DAGESH KAL that’s in the DALET in DA’AT, becomes a DAGESH CHAZAK in HADDA’AT and the syllables are HAD and DA’AT mearged as above into HADDA’AT, with a thickening of the DALET. ...M’VAREICH HASH no pause SHANIM. Thickening of the SHIN. HATOV SHIMCHA... HAT and TOV, DAGESH CHAZAK in the TET, blend the two TETs as if they are one (which they are), resulting in a thickening of (and a slight lingering on) the TET. The other subdivision to pay special attention to is the DAGESH CHAZAV in a letter with a SH’VA NA under it. D’VARIM. EILEH HADD’VARIM. That’s HAD and D’VA (and them RIM). Here you have to watch out for HA-D’varim as well as HAD-VARIM. It’s HAD blend into D’VARIM. The DALET sounds thicker and the SH’VA NA gives a very short vowel sound to the DALET. V’AL ZIKNEI AMM’CHA BEIT YISRAEL. Your nation. AMM’CHA. Thick MEM. SH’VA NA. Not AM-CHA (which is the natural way many people will read the word). And also not A-M’CHA (less natural, but equally mispronounced). AM, the first syllable. M’CHA, the second syllable. Don’t separate them as if they were two words. Let them fuse together. AMM’CHA. Let’s sum thing up this way. For those unfamiliar with and unaccustomed to DAGESH CHAZAK, the only way to work on it is to daven and bench from a siddur (and bencher). Davening by heart just won’t work. Once in a while, a DAGESH CHAZAK will change the meaning of a word, but even when it doesn’t, it is still nice to pronounce things correctly. <mtc> [The Ki Teitzei Homepage]
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