Column #87. 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. Here's a review of a topic we've covered, but Yom Kippur makes this review timely and important. V'AL KULAM, ELOKAI SLICHOT, SLACH LANU, M'CHAL LANU, KAPER LANU For all of these sins, G-d of Forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, atone for us. We will be saying this sentence 27 times on Yom Kippur, 12 of which will be said out loud by the whole congregation, often singing at the top of their lungs. It is our plea to HaShem to forgive us for all sins, which we enumerate in token form with the 44-sentence double Alef-Bet AL CHEITs. And what do many, many people do in this powerful, dramatic moment with this powerful sentence? They mispronounce G-d's name. Let's start simple. Apple in Hebrew is TAPU'ACH. Not TAPUCHA like someone brand new to the Alef-Bet and reading might say. TAV-PATACH, TA. Good. PEI-SHURUK, PU. Fine. CHET- PATACH, CHA. No. Try again. CHET-PATACH, ACH. Correct. Maybe it's been so long since we've learned how to read Hebrew that we've forgotten this unusual phenomenon of Hebrew. Letter with a vowel, the sound of the letter goes first and then the sound of the vowel. Except. Except when there is a CHET at the end of a word with a PATACH under it. Then the PATACH is sounded first, followed by the CHET. Calendar or blackboard is LU'ACH, not lucha. Wind and spirit are RU'ACH. The Altar is MIZBEI'ACH. Strength is KO'ACH. Not kocha. Soot is PI'ACH. And so it goes. So far, so good. The PATACH under the CHET at the end of a word is called PATACH G'NUVA, a stolen PATACH. There is a virtual (we would have called it imaginary in the old days) ALEF before the CHET that steals the PATACH from the CHET. S'faradim handle the pronunciation of PATACH G'NUVA differently. If the vowel of the letter before the CHET-PATACH is a TZEIREI or a CHIRIK, then the imaginary letter that steals the PATACH is a YUD. Altar is MIZ-BEI-YACH. Soot is PI-YACH. If the preceding vowel is a CHOLAM or SHURUK, then the imaginary letter that takes the PATACH is a VAV sounded like it should be, like a W. Apple is TAPUWACH. The person midway between ADAM and AVRAHAM AVINU is NOWACH. Ashkenazim pronounce his name NO'ACH. S'faradim: NO-WACH. Where'd we get to apples and soot from the Yom Kippur Vidui sentence? The answer is that all of the above discussion of PATACH G'NUVA applies not just to CHET-PATACH at the end of a word, but to HEI-PATACH at the end of a word, too. (AYIN also, but we'll save that for another time.) HEI-PATACH at the beginning of a word or in the middle is pronounce HA, as to be expected. At the end of a word, the PATACH is stolen by an imaginary ALEF (YUD or WAW for S'faradim) and is pronounced BEFORE the HEI, which has a dot in it (MAPIK) and is NOT silent, but rather it is aspirated. Tall is GAVO'AH, not gavoha. This is harder to say than the CHET-PATACH, but it is not less a PATACH G'NUVA because of the difficulty in saying it properly. G-d's name in the above sentence is supposed to be pronounced ELO'AH, let's hear the HEI, but after the A. S'faradim would say ELOWAH. Many people say ELOHA, but that is wrong. It isn't the way to say G-d's name. Not ELOKA, but ELO'AK. But with a HEI, of course. And the accent of the word is on the LO syllable. e-LO-ah (e-LO-wah). It takes practice, but it is G-d's name and we are asking Him for forgiveness. It's worth the effort. [The Parshat Haazinu Homepage]
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