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 try a little more TROP (Torah notes). Remember, these columns on TROP are not just for people who read the Torah in shul. Yes, they should benefit from these columns by becoming more aware of how TROP works. (Assuming they were not already experts on the subject.) But the rest of us can also gain from learning more about TROP because it will help us read a pasuk and say the words in davening more correctly. And what follows that is a better understanding of what we are reading and saying. And what follows that is better KAVANA. And that’s the real goal of these columns. Not grammar for the sake of grammar, but grammar (and other things) for the sake of a more meaningful davening and Torah reading.

In last week’s column, reference was made to 19 TROP marks that are followed by pauses of different lengths and significances (these are called MAFSIKIM), and 8 TROP marks that link their word to the next word (M’SHARTIM). The M’SHARTIM were not subdivided into levels. Yet there are times when links need be made with different strengths, so that the correct meaning of a phrase is preserved. Sounds confusing, but let’s look at some examples. These examples come as part of a different issue, which we have touched on in past columns, but will be repeated here.

T’LISHA is the note that looks like a magnifying glass. There are 2 T’LISHAs. T’LISHA GEDOLA leans to the right and appears over the first letter of a word, regardless of where the accent of the word is. T’LISHA GEDOLA is a MAFSIK. It is followed by a pause, albeit a short one, and does not link its word to the next. The T’LISHA K’TANA leans towards the left and is above the last letter of the word, regardless of where the accent is. Its leaning to the left means it is leaning towards the word to come and it links its word to the next. Both T’LISHAs are the same size on the printed page; the GEDOLA (big) and K’TANA (small) refers to how long or short the note is sung.

Breishit 8:13, VAYHI (T’LISHA GEDOLA) pause, and it came to pass (pause), B’ACHAT V’SHEISH MEI-OT SHANA, in the 601st year...
Sh’mot 19:16, VAYHI (T’LISHA K’TANA), shorter note, no pause, links right into VAYOM HASH’LISHI... And it was on the third day...
Note that when the word following the T’LISHA GEDOLA begins with a BET, the BET retains its DAGESH, as it should “at the beginning of a word”. However, after a T’LISHA K’TANA, the BET of BAYOM lost its DAGESH and became VAYOM. We can say that being preceded by a word with a linking-TROP (a M’SHAREIT), the BET is less “the beginning of a word” than it is when preceded by a MAFSIK, a pausing TROP. Something like that.

Very often, a T’LISHA is followed by KADMA V’AZLA (the TROP pair, usually on a two-word phrase, sometimes both on the same word, that look like the upper right quarter of a circle’s circumference and the upper left quarter, both placed above the word and on the accented syllable). KADMA is a linker (M’SHAREIT) and AZLA (a.k.a. GEIREISH) is a pauser (MAFSIK - a low level one, meaning short pause after it).

When a T’LISHA KTANA links its word to the word with a KADMA, which links its word to the next word with the AZLA, the first link is stronger, necessitating a slight pause between the KADMA and AZLA (where there usually is not such a pause). Huh? Don’t worry. Read that again and then look at this example.

In Vayeitzei (B’reishit 30:35), Lavan removed some of the goats from the flocks that Yaakov was tending. VAYASAR BAYOM (TK) HAHU ET HAT’YASHIM (KADMA V’AZLA)...

Obviously, BAYOM HAHU, on that day, goes together more than HAHU and ET HAT’YASHIM do. Many Torah reading fellows miss this point. They will read it BAYOM (pause - which shouldn’t be there) and then HAHU ET HAT’YASHIM... But even if you don’t pause after the T’LISHA K’TANA of BAYOM, you still have to link it more strongly to HAHU, by a brief pause after HAHU.

Sometimes, the meaning of the words change - not just group awkwardly, as in the Lavan example.

Look at D’varim 7:15. “And all the terrible afflictions of the Egyptians (He won’t give you, but rather your enemy).” ...V’CHOL MADVEI MITZRAYIM HARA’IM. It is MADVEI MITZRAYIM, the Egyptian afflictions, which are described as RA’IM, terrible. MADVEI has a T’LISHA K’TANA, MITZRAYIM has a KADMA, and HARA’IM has an AZLA. If you pause after MADVEI and don’t pause slightly between MITZRAYIM and HARA’IM then the pasuk reads, “and all the afflictions of the terrible Egyptians”. Terrible as the Egyptians were, that’s not the correct reading of the pasuk. Only when MADVEI MITZRAYIM is read together, modified by HARA’IM will the pasuk read right.

Think of it like BIG TRUCK DRIVER. Is this a description of the driver of a big truck, or the description of the size of a truck driver. It depends where you pause and what words you link. That’s what TROP does. The driver of the big truck might be big or small, or the big guy might be driving a big or a small truck. Depends what you want the words to mean. <More to come (but not necessarily every week)>

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