Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading
Parshat Vayigash

Column #8. 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.

This week, we'd like to START on the topic of SH'VA, the two types thereof,  SH'VA NA (the traveling SH'VA) and SH'VA NACH (the resting SH'VA). The topic is complex. (Which isn't?) There are easier aspects and more difficult features to the SH'VA. Let's begin. in the middle of the topic.

ASHREI YOSHVEI VEISECHA (or VEITECHA).Famous opening words of this thrice-a-day recited chapter-plus of T'hilim. First word, first syllable (sounds like charades, eh?) is ASH, the SHIN has a SH'VA under it; that SH'VA is NACH. It has no vowel sound. It closed the syllable started with the ALEF-PATACH. Second word, first syllable is YO. Second syllable begins with a SHIN-SH'VA, the SH'VA being NA. The second syllable is SH'VEI. ash-REI yo-sh'VEI (both words are MILRA, but we're not discussing that in this column).  

B'reishit, No'ach, Lech L'cha, Vayeira, Chayei Sara... TOLDOT. We'll review all (most) of the rules, but let's first pronounce the word correctly. TO is the first syllable. The LAMED with a SH'VA does not belong to that first syllable (it has to do with the "O" being a "major" vowel and the syllable not carrying the main accent of the word). The SH'VA is a SH'VA NA and it give the LAMED a slight, quick, almost vowel sound, like a short version of the "e" in the English word "carpet". The LAMED-SH'VA is attached to the last syllable, and the word comes out as TO-L'DOT. The word is not pronounced TOL-DOT or TOL-DOT. (If we were also paying attention to accent, we'd write the word to-l'DOT, a MILRA pronunciation.) 

And speaking of the names of sedras, we have sho-f'TIM (not SHOF-tim, or even shof-TIM). And b'ha-a-lo-t'CHA (not lot-cha).  

NACHing a NA (common mistake) and NAing a NACH (less common, see further), usually don't change the meaning of the words. So this type of error is of (what we call) the less serious type. Yet, the Shulchan Aruch teaches us that one should be careful in the SH'VA not to NACH a NA and vice versa - so it is important. It one says (third passage of the SH'MA) says V'NAT-NU (incorrect) instead of the correct V'NA-T'NU (V'NAW-S'NU), he is YOTZEI the mitzva of SH'MA. His pronuncia tion is "merely" flawed. Someone making the same "small" mistake in reading the Torah on Shabbat Parshat Sh'lach would not be instructed to repeat the word. Most (but not all) of this detail of pronunciation is of the less-serious type. But not all. Here are two examples of a change in meaning due to NACHing a NA or NAing a NACH. Both are verbs whose subjects are Yosef's brothers (Parshat Mikeitz). B'reishit 42:35 tells us what happened when the brothers opened their sacks into which Yosef had returned their money. VA-YIR-U, and they saw the bundles of money. The SH'VA under the REISH is NACH and completes the syllable YIR.  

Later in the parsha, the brothers with Binyamin, are brought before Yosef, and they are scared; they assume that their summon has something to do with the money that reappeared in their sacks. 43:18 says, VA-YI-R'U HA'ANASHIM... And the men were frightened.. This time,  the SH'VAunder the REISH is NA and belongs to the last syllabe R'U. In these cases, a  switch of the SH'VA does make a different word. An error on the part of the BAAL KOREI should be corrected. 

Similarly, right before AZ YASHIR we have, VA-YI- R'U HA'AM ET HASHEM... And the people feared G-d... The SH'VA under the REISH is NA. It is attached to the last syllable of the word. And should be pronounced that way. As mentioned earlier, most of the errors of this type are made by NACHing a NA. NAing a NACH is less common, but there are (at least) two examples in the SH'MA. va-a-vad-TEM, not va-a-va-d'TEM. And va-a-vad-TEM (not the same word, one with an AYIN, the other with an ALEF - and that's another pronunciation issue which we probably won't get to for a while). 

The specific problem with words like these is that a DALET-SH'VA NACH before a TAV tends to get swallowed or blended with the TAV. One needs to pronounce the DALET as a consonant without a vowel, and then continue with the TEM syllable. Interestingly, if the letter with the SH'VA NACH is the same as the letter following it, then the NACH switches to NA, specifically because of the difficulty in pronouncing the SH'VA as NACH without losing the letter. In Vayikra 5:18, his inadvertant sin, should be SHIG-GATO. But because the GIMMELs would blend into one without a vowel for the first one, the SH'VA becomes NA and the word is SHI-G'GATO. That SH'VA NA is the shortest vowel available (so to speak) for the first GIMMEL, to save it from becoming swallowed. DALET and TAV are very close (phonetically, they are the same consonant sound with the DALET being voiced and the TAV being unvoiced (or however you call it), but they are not the same letter  so the SH'VA remains NACH. Here's a "worse" example. D'varim 15:6, and you will lend to other nations, but not borrow from them, V'HA-A-VAT-TA, not V'HA-A-VA-T'TA. In this word, the problematic letters are TET and TAV, which we pronounce identically. And yet, they are not the same letter, so the rule that NAs the NACH doesn't apply.  

The RAAVAD has an interesting opinion, expressed in his commentary on Rambam's laws of KRI'AT SH'MA (2:9). He says that if one cannot pronound the DALET-SH'VA as a NACH without splitting the word into two: VA-A-VAD pause TEM (which is also not so good), then he may NA the SH'VA and say VA-A-VAD'TEM. It takes practice. Remember: the meaning of the word doesn't change, so the mispronunciation is not "so bad". But we should strive for better and better pronunciation of our brachot, davening (especially SH'MA), and Torah reading. More on SH'VA NA and NACH next week, IY"H.