Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading
Parshat Va'eira

Column #11. 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.

More on SH'VA NA and SH'VA NACH. The hard stuff. We need some preliminary items first. Advance warning: These rules are not smooth, as you will see, with exceptions galore and disputes among Baalei Dikduk. We'll do the best we can. 

Vowels in Hebrew come in two flavors: T'NU'A G'DOLA (long vowel) and T'NU'A K'TANA (short vowel). The G'DOLOT are KAMATZ GADOL (T-shaped vowel, pronounced like the "o" in "hot" in the S'fardit pronunciation, and like the "ou" in "cough" in the Ashkenazis pronunciation), TZEIREI (two dots side-by-side, sounded like the "a" in "late" in Ashkenazis, and a little softer in S'fardit, closer to the "e" in "pet"), CHIRIK GADOL (or MALEI, a single dot under the letter and a YUD following it, like the "ea" in "heat"), CHOLAM (the VAV with a dot above it or just the dot slightly to the left and above the letter, sounded like the "o" in "home"), and the SHURUK (VAV with a dot in it, as the "oo" in "food"). 

The T'NU'OT K'TANOT are paired off with each of the G'DOLOT. PATACH (horizontal bar, like the "o" in "hot", but a little shorter than the KAMATZ GADOL in S'fardit), the SEGOL (three dots in a triangular arrangement - at 10:00, 2:00, and 6:00 o'clock, sounded like the "e" in "bet"), CHIRIK KATAN (or CHASEIR, meaning without the YUD after it, sounded like the "i" in "hit" or TIDBITS), KAMATZ KATAN (T-shaped vowel, "officially" indistinguishable from the KAMATZ GADOL in looks, but some Siddurim, such as Rinat Yisra'el, used an exaggerated, bold T to distinguish it from the KAMATZ GADOL - logically opposite from what you would guess, sounded in Ashkenazis just like the KAMATZ GADOL, and in S'fardit as the "ou" in "cough" or even a little more like a CHOLAM), KUBUTZ (three dots in a row angled from 10:30 to 4:30 on a clock, sounding like the SHURUK, but should be a little shorter). It gets "worse". 

USUALLY (an important qualifier), a letter with a SH'VA under it, following a letter with a "short" vowel, is part of the same syllable with that letter and the SH'VA is NACH and totally unsounded. Examples from this week's sedra... Avraham, Yitzchak, Yisra'el, Amram, Par'o, Mitzrayim - their first syllables are made up of two consonantal letters, the first of which is voweled with a T'NU'A K'TANA (short vowel) and the second of which has a SH'VA, which is NACH. AV, YITZ, YIS, AM, PAR, MITZ. PATACH and CHIRIK without a YUD following it are short vowels. 

The SH'VA following a letter with a T'NU'A G'DOLA, on the other hand, is a SH'VA NA and the letter gets a very short vowel sound, and it begins the next syllable, rather than closing off the previous syllable. These are the names of the sons of Levi L'TO-L'DO-TAM. The first LAMED is SH'VA NAed (last week's column). The first TAV has a CHOLAM which is a long vowel. The LAMED that follows with a SH'VA, is a SH'VA NA and belongs to the following syllable L'DO (not TOL-DO, rather TO-L'DO). How about one of Levi's sons, GEI-R'SHON. GIMMEL with a TZEIREI (which is a long vowel) - there is also a METEG with the TZEIREI which gives the first syllable a secondary accent and lengthens the vowel a bit more - the SH'VA under the REISH is NA and the R' (with a short voweling) belongs to the second syllable R'SHON. 

Okay. So far (this column) we have a SH'VA NACH following a T'NU'A K'TANA - YITZ-HAR, NACH-SHON, SHUL-CHAN (table). And a SH'VA NA following a T'NU'A G'DOLA - ...MISHO-M'RIM LA-BO-KER, SHO-M'RIM LA-BO-KER (T'hilim 130). 

Next week, IY"H, we'll look at the flip-side of each of these situations - when a T'NU'A K'TANA gets just a bit stronger and the SH'VA that follows it is NA, and when a T'NU'A G'DOLA gets even stronger and the SH'VA after it becomes NACH.