Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading

Column #78. 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 column took a break last week. So if you did not find TBDATR in last week’s issue, it was because it wasn’t there.

A couple of readers made the following observation and suggested that we share it with readers of this column. So here it is:

The tribal leader of Menashe, at the beginning of the sojourn in the Wilderness (Bamidbar 1:10) was Gamliel ben P’DA-TZUR. The father’s name is spelled PEI/SH’VA, DALET/KAMATZ, HEI/no vowel, TZADI/SHURUK, REISH. When a HEI has no vowel under it, not even a SH’VA, the HEI is totally silent. Just as a HEI at the end of a word is silent, unless it has a MAPIK (dot) in it.

In Bamidbar 34:28, we find the new tribal leader from Naftali, at the end of the 40 years of wandering. He is P’DAH-EIL ben Amihud. In this case there is a SH’VA under the HEI and it is therefore sounded. The first syllable is P’DAH, with a slight aspiration after the P’DA. The HEI is not silent. It comes out in a puff of breath.

There is a section in EIM LAMIKRA HASHALEIM called EIM LAMASORET. It goes through the whole Chumash (and Megilat Esther) highlighting “problem” words, things for a BAAL KOREI to watch out for. This section serves as an excellent review of the lessons in the main body of the book, because it brings the various teachings to practical application.

Let’s take a look at one or two words in Parshat D’varim and remember what we’ve learned.

The Torah says (D’varim 2:10), HA-EIMIM L’FANIM YA-SH’VU VAH...

Referring to a people that originally lived in the land which was now Mo’av, the EIMIM. There are two things to point out about the word YA-SH’VU, they dwelled. First of all, the SH’VA under the SHIN is NA, which attaches the SHIN to the second syllable, not the first. First syllable is YUD-KAMATZ, YA. Second syllable is SH’VU. And in this case, the accent is on the first syllable, YA-sh’vu. This is not the normal way the word should be pronounced; it is an instance of NASOG ACHOR (remember that?) where the accent migrates back to the first syllable because of the following word in the same phrase, which is either a single syllable (as is the case here) or a MIL’EIL word. ya-SH’VU (is the “real” way to say the word), but here - YA-sh’vu VAH. Indication that the words are coupled in a two-word phrase is the drop of the DAGESH from BAH. Also note the H, meaning that the HEI is sounded because of the MAPIK (dot) it contains. YA-sh’vu VAH. It’s like trying to spell a word with at least two tempting ways to misspell.

Okay, now look at 2:36. From ARO-EIR which is on the bank of the ARNON river and the city in the wadi, as far as GIL’AD... The point here is not really a review for this column, but new ground that we’ve only alluded to in the past. The dificulty in this pasuk is that many of us who learned to read the Torah for our Bar Mitzva and haven’t developed into full-time, serious, and knowledge- able BAALEI K’RI’A, never learned the distinction between one pause and another, and even which TROP-NOTES are supposed to flow into the next word and which are not. Read the last sentence over until you are reasonably sure you are following the idea (which is not being expressed very clearly). Let’s take it one word at a time. MEI-ARO-EIR has a PAZEIR on it (That’s the vertically flipped h.) PAZEIR is a fourth level (that’s the lowest) PAUSING-TROP, which means it gets the briefest pause after its word, before continuing with the next word. The “problem” is that the note is so elaborate in the way it is intoned, that a reader can find himself taking a deep breath after a PAZEIR, which of course lengthens the pause unjustifiably.

The next word is “worse”. ASHER has a T’LISHA K’TANA (the magnifying glass with the handle pointing down and to the right). This TROP-note is not a pauser (MAFSIK), but a linker (M’SHAREIT). There should be no pause after its word. But many a Torah-reader will pause, because the intonation of the TK (in most cases without distinguishing it from a T’LISHA G’DOLA) lends itself to a pause. Then there is the KADMA and AZLA on (AL-S’FAT) NACHAL ARNON. The AZLA (a.k.a. GEIREISH) is also a fourth level MAFSIK and gets only the briefest pause after it. V’HA-IR (and the city) has a KADMA which is a linker (M’SHARIET0 to the next word. Patience, we’re almost there. ASHER has a MAH-PACH (less than symbol) under it.

Another linker. Which brings us to BANACHAL with a PASHTA, a level three pauser, which is the whole point that R’ Nissan Sharoni is making. Because this word has a slightly longer pause after it than any of the preceding words in the pasuk, one should read up to that point without pause and then pause after BANACHAL. This will convey the meaning of the pasuk properly. Take a look at where the comma is in the English rendering of this pasuk at the beginning of the last paragraph on page 13. Pauses of proper (varying) lengths can indicate the meaning of the pasuk. Conversely, a pause in the wrong place can distort the meaning of the pasuk. Here it is not the city that extends to Gil’ad, but the range of territory in the pasuk is from ARO-EIR on the bank of the river and the city... all the way until Gil’ad.

Again, apologies on two levels: for being so wordy and sometimes awkward in trying to explain, and for being so nitpicky. These tiny details fascinate (and scare) me and I want to share them with “like-minded” people. Part of the “scare” is that I must have slept through these lessons back in yeshiva, or more likely, they weren’t mentioned at all. The Torah is the greatest gift from G-d to His people. Certainly, we must study it diligently to know it well. Part of that is knowing how to read and understand it as well as possible. <mtc>