Last week we wrote that a SH'VA that follows a conjunctive VAV that switched into a SHURUK (because of the SH'VA under the first letter of the word), becomes a SH'VA NACH. For example, in the SH'MA... B'SHIV-T'CHA, when you sit (in your home), the first letter is a BET with a SH'VA NA. B'LECH- T'CHA (when you walk (on the road) would be the same, except it has a VAV at the beginning. AND when you walk (on the road). UV-LECH-T'CHA... The conjunctive VAV switches from VAV/SH'VA to SHURUK. The lead BET loses its DAGESH (that's another issue) and its SH'VA NA becomes a NACH. One exception is when the word being VAVed begins with two-the-same letters, the first of which has a SH'VA. LEVI. L'LEVI. To Levi. And to Levi should be UL-LEI-VI. But the two LAMEDs can too-easily fuse into one in that word. If the SH'VA under the first LAMED does NOT switch to a NACH, but stays as it was (or switches back, which ever way you want to look at it), then the word is U'L'LEI-VI, and the two LAMEDs remain distinct. Now comes a sticky one. Sometimes, the lead VAV as a SHURUK gets a METEG (vertical line under it). The rules for METEG are complicated and are not agreed upon by all DIKDUK experts. The METEG (we'll try to have more about it in future columns) increases the emphasis (slightly) on the letter under which it is. (By the way, it isn't only under a conjunctive SHURUK that we find a METEG sometimes. Hold off on that.) Let's go back to SH'MA. And (say it) when people go to sleep at night and when people arise in the morning. UV-KU-ME-CHA follows the same rule as above. But the question is, what about B'SHACH- B'CHA with an U before it. The VAV is a SHURUK with a METEG under it. Some say that the SH'VA under the BET still becomes a NACH. This seems to be the preferred opinion. (Preferred by whom? Good question.) Others say that the U with the METEG can now stand on its own as an open syllable, and the SH'VA under the BET stays NA. More to come. [The Parshat Chukat Homepage]
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