Column #48. 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 some more where-does-the-comma-go? phrases from davening.
DL (again) wrote in with a famous, disputed comma-issue. He refers us to a Tosefot in Menachot (110a) where the issue of the phrase V’ISHEI YISRA’EL in R’TZEI is mentioned. We’re dealing with the R’TZEI in the AMIDA, right before MODIM. May You find favor in Your nation Israel and in their prayers (comma), and may You restore the Service to Your Dvir (Heichal, the Beit HaMikdash) — some say we pause here — then, and the korbanot (ISHEI YISRA’EL) of Israel and their prayers may You lovingly accept with desire, and let the Service of Your nation Israel always be favorable. The other possibility is that V’ISHEI YISRA’EL belongs with the earlier phrase, And restore the Service to the Beit HaMikdash and the korbanot of Israel. That leaves UT’FILATAM, and their prayers may You lovingly accept... Tosefot leaves the question of V’ISHEI YISRA’EL unre- solved. Tur Shulchan Aruch favors connecting korbanot and prayer, and the GR”A puts the comma after V’ISHEI YISRA’EL.

So which do you do? Either follow your Siddur or choose one opinion and stick with it — you cannot really go wrong in this case. So why bring it up? Here’s one possibly reason...

A woman called the Center earlier this week to thank us for calling her attention to commas. Not to a particular comma, but to commas in general. She sort of never noticed them or paid much attention to them... Until now. With excitement and a renewed commitment to davening, this woman (and I suspect other TT readers as well) is paying more attention to the davening. And that leads to better understanding and KAVANA.

As far as R’TZEI is concerned, whichever way you phrase it, notice the interplay between korbanot and prayer, and the word that means both — Service, AVODA. Prayer is one of the ways we serve G-d. During the hiatus in korbanot and during the long period of exile between Batei Mikdash, prayer is doing double-duty as a sub- stitute for the animals on the Mizbei’ach as well as Service of the Heart. May G-d truly accept our prayers with favor and may He hasten the coming of the Mashi’ach and the building of the Beit Ha- Mikdash, speedily in our time, AMEN.

Thank you, again, DL for your comments. You’ve got more, but let’s check some other reader feedback.

On the “to kiss or not to kiss” the TZITZIT question, several readers pointed out that the only phrasing problem comes from the second “tzitzit” which is part of the phrase TZITZIT HAKANAF, the fringe of the corner. So one either does not kiss the Tzitzit on the word, that second occurrence, or no kissing at all... or, as a different SG writes, one can do what Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch z"l, the Telzer Rosh Yeshiva used to do, and that is to kiss the Tzitzit after the word HAKANAF.

BrianM, among others, calls our attention to the comma problem in Maariv, after the SH’MA, we say ...MOSHE UVNEI YISRA’EL L’CHA ANU SHIRA B’SIMCHA RABA, Moshe and Bnei Yisrael sang You the Song with great joy, pause, V’AMRU CHULAM: “ MI CHAMOCHA...” and they all said: MI CHAMOCHA... (which is a quote from the Song just referred to. We most-often hear a pause before B’SIMCHA RABA, which takes it away from the phrase to which it belongs. Here again, just look for the comma in the Siddur. Of course, to see the comma, you have to have a Siddur that has a comma, and you have to be looking in the Siddur when you daven. Some Siddurim are better than others for accurate punctuation. And some people pay more attention to what they are davening than others. <mtc>

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