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.

Let’s do more on brachot. Before we look at some new stuff, let me review an item from two weeks ago, via an experience I just had this evening (Tuesday night). I was at a wedding and it was Sheva Brachot time under the chupa. Each bracha was said by a different person. It wasn’t until the last bracha that I noticed something. The person who said the final bracha said BARUCH, then paused, very briefly, and then said ATA. In contrast, none of the others had done that. And there is a difference. Maybe it’s only in the contrast, but there was a difference. BARUCH ATA sounds so much better than BARUCHATA or BARU CHATA. It’s not easy if you haven’t paid attention to this before. One morning recently, I said BIRCHOT HASHACHAR out loud in shul. Fifteen brachot in a row. Very hard to put that little pause between BARUCH and ATA and between HASHEM and ELOKEINU. Takes practice.

Okay, let’s look at the three word endings of several brachot. BOREI MINEI M’ZONOT. Do we have three separate words and no phrasing, or do any other the words pair up? That would mean pairing the first two and then saying the third, or saying the first and then pairing up the second and third. In fact, it is MINEI M’ZONOT (kinds of foods) that G-d is the Creator of, so the correct phrasing is BOREI, slight pause, MINEI M’ZONOT. Similarly, PRI HA’ADAMA, PRI HA’EITZ, PRI HAGAFEN, etc. The verb applies to the two-word object.

This is intuitive, but it can be seen in some brachot because of DIKDUK rules. Take the bracha for spices during Havdala. Because MIEI and B’SAMIM go together to mean “kinds of spices”, the DAGESH (dot) drops out of the BET of B’SAMIM, and the correct pronunciation of the end of the bracha is BOREI, slight pause, MINEI V’SAMIM.

Similarly, but the opposite (can you say that?), the DAGESH does not drop from the PEI of PRI in the wine, fruit, and vegetable brachot, indicating that there is a slight pause after BOREI and before PRI HAGAFEN, etc.
And besides... PRI, for example, means fruit, but in the context of the bracha, it means the fruit of. It is in S’MICHUT mode, connective, (possessive?) rather than stand-alone noun. So we don’t say BOREI PRI, He Who creates fruit.

Not only is the word PRI misused, so to speak, but the HA’ADAMA is now hanging awkwardly on its own at the end of the bracha.

In the bracha before the SH’MA in Maariv, He loves his nation Israel. OHEIV, slight pause, AMO YISRAEL. For some reason, most people say OHEIV AMO, then pause, and then say YISRAEL, which then hangs at the end of the bracha. Listen in shul to different BAALEI T’FILA. Listen during the week, and then on Shabbat and Chag. The traditional nusach and tunes sometimes interfere with the proper phrasing.

No claim is being made that this is a major, crucial issue. But veteran readers of this column have generally raised their standards for the davening, brachot, and Torah reading that they do, and that they listen to. It’s sort a song you really like, that you’ve heard many times from many different singers. Then you hear a really great singer sing it. He’s got the voice, the range, the feeling - everything that makes a song great. And you hear the difference. You appreciate the difference. Now, the song will never be the same as it was before. Your standards of appreciation have gone up. You want to hear it right from now on, and you want to sing it right.

All right, the analogy has its limitations. But you get the idea. Remember, this column (and most of TT) is not just for LILMOD purposes, but LISHMOR V’LAASOT, ULKAYEIM...<mtc>

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