And they traveled FROM... and they camped IN... The "from" MEM will get a CHIRIK before all letters except for
ALEF, HEI, CHET, AYIN, and REISH, and the first letter of the name of the place
will get a DAGESH CHAZAK. If the first letter has a DAGESH KAL (BET, GIMEL,
DALET, KAF, PEI, TAV), then that DAGESH becomes a DAGESH CHAZAL. When the MEM is before an ALEF, HEI, CHET, AYIN, or REISH, it is voweled with a TZEIREI. Since these five letters do not get a DAGESH CHAZAK, the first syllable of the word would be "weak" with a MEM/CHIRIK. The MEM/TZEIREI is a "stronger" letter and vowel which can and does stand well as a syllable. So they traveled MEI-RITMA, not MI-RITMA, their first point of departure - And they traveled MEI- RA-M'SEIS (not RA'AM-SEIS), MEI-EITAM, MEI-ARVO- NA, MEI-ALUSH, MEI-RIMON-PERETZ, etc. On the arrival side, and they camped IN... The Bet gets a SH'VA NA as in B'RISA, B'TZALMONA, B'HAR- SHAFER, etc. If the name of the place starts with a SH'VAed letter, then the BET gets a CHIRIK. R'FIDIM gives BIR-FI-DIM. BIK-HEILATA. BIV-NEI YA'AKON. And, third possibility, if the name of the place begins with a letter that has a CHATAF-PATACH, then the prefixed BET will have a PATACH. The place is CHATZEIROT. There is a CHATAF-PATACH under the CHET. So when they traveled from KIVROT HATA'AVA they camped BACHATZEIROT. Notice: B'CHASHMONA, but BACHATZEIROT. The CHET of CHASHMONA has a regular PATACH. The BET gets a SH'VA. The CHET of CHATZEIROT has a CHATAF-PATACH; BET-PATACH. [The Parshat Matot-Mas'ei Homepage]
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