Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading
Parshat Miketz

Column #7. The contents of this weekly column are 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. 
Let's take a break from shifted accents, MIL'EIL (which isn't) and MILRA (which is). The topic of this column is D'VEIKIM, words that tend to stick together improperly. Their pronunciation requires care.

The first type of D'VEIKIM are two words, the first of which ends with the same letter that the second one starts with. For example, in the SH'MA, we have VA'AVAD-TEM M'HEIRA. We have to be careful to separate the two words so that the final MEM of the first word and the initial MEM of the second word are both pronounced. Otherwise, the two words will merge into VAAVADTEM'HEIRA.

Maariv - SHOMEIR AMO YISRA'EL LA'AD, not YISRA'ELA'AD, with one of the LAMEDs getting swallowed. MODEH... MELECH CHAI (for us Ashkenazim who don't distinguish between CHAF and CHET). Pause between MELECH and CHAI so it doesn't come out MELECHAI. Kaddish - YIT-GADAL V'YITKADASH SH'MEIH RABA. Watch out for V'YITKADASH'MEIH. Separate the words.

In Birchot HaShachar, ...HA'OLAM, MATIR ASURIM. Here we have an example of this frist type - it shouldn't sound like HA'OLAMATIR - and the next type, where words begin with an ALEF, HEI, YUD, or AYIN must be separated from the word right before them, to prevent swallowing of the letters or a blending of the two words. MATIRASURIM or MATI RASURIM. Back to SH'MA - V'LIMADTEM pause OTAM, so it doesn't come out V'LIMADTEMOTAM or MOTAM (meaning their death, rather than THEM). In this week's sedra, "and there with us was a Jewish lad", V'SHAM pause ITANU, not V'SHA MITANU.

There is a third type of sticky words, where the last letter of the first word and the first letter of the following word are not identical, but similar (produced the same way). Chanuka's Al HaNisim - B'TAD pause T'HORIM. D and T are similar letters and it is easy to read the words B'YAT'HORIM. 
Two further complications. Sometimes the two words in question are supposed to be read together. This is indicated by a MAKAF (looks like a high, top-of-the-letters hyphen) joining the two words. E.g. in SH'MA - AL-L'VAVECHA. Here the trick is to say both LAMEDs distinctly, but not to overly separate the words. Not AL pause L'VAVECHA, but AL little tiny pause L'VAVECHA. B'CHOL-L'VAV'CHA. YEHOSHUA BIN-NUN. A pause to hear both NUNs, but not a long pause, because the BIN and NUN are joined. Not easy.

And, we have to be careful not to add a vowel or strong SHVA to the end of the first word in such pairs. YEHOSHUA BINN'-NUN. 

HAMOTZI LECHEM pause MIN-HA'ARETZ. Watch out for MINAARETZ, but don't overly separate the MIN from HAARETZ, since they are joined by a MAKAF. 

One should be particularly careful when reciting brachot. BARUCH quick pause ATA, to avoid BARU-CHATA. ADONAI quick pause ELOHEINU, to avoid YELLOW-HEINU, MELECH quick pause HA'OLAM, to avoid MELE-CHA'OLAM. These first 6 words of a bracha are the essence of the bracha. Saying it carelessly "certainly cannot be considered as having said a bracha at all" (in the words of the author of Aim HaMikra HaShaleim, quoting YESOD V'SHORESH HA'AVODA). Therefore, one would be eating or drinking without a bracha, which is both stealing from G-d and committing sacrilege, G-d forbid. Very serious. And even if poskim would not agree that a sloppy bracha as described above is no bracha at all, it still isn't a "nice" way to say a bracha.

More. HA'OLAM pause ASHER... to avoid it sounding like MASHER. B'MITZVOTAV pause V'TZIVANU, the first type of D'VEIKIM. Be careful not to blend the two V-sounds into one, B'MITZ-VOTAV'TZIVANU. Brachot, the SH'MA, davening, reading the Torah, all deserve our more careful attention.