Torah tidbits
Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading

Let's go back to words in the weekly sedra to review different topics.
The name R'UVEIN appears in Tanach 88 times - 71 as R'UVEIN and 17 as RUVEINI, the family name. Occasionally, R'UVEIN has a prefixed letter; RUVEINI always does.

In R'UVEIN, the REISH has a SH'VA NA and is part of the first syllable with the SHURUKed ALEF - R'U.

With a prefix letter, the SH'VA under the REISH will change to a NACH and join the prefix in the first syllable of the word. KIR-U-VEIN, LIR-U-VEIN, UR-U- VEIN. (There are one each of these in Tanach; the other 68 R'U-VEINs stand alone.)

With RUVEINI, we have a different situation. The SH'VA we might have expected under the REISH is dropped. The REISH without vowel followed by ALEF- SHURUK is pronounced as if the ALEF were not there and the SHURUK went with the REISH. RU, not R'U. RUVEINI, not R'UVEINI. The prefix in this case, makes up its own syllable. In Parshat Pinchas, we find MISP'CHOT HA-RU-VEI-NI, the families of Reuven. HEI-KAMATZ GADOL is the first syllable, then RU (completely silent, as if non-existent ALEF), then VEI and then NI. So too LA-RU-VEINI, V'LA-RU-VEI-NI, and V'HA-RU-VEI-NI (that covers the 17 occurrences in Tanach.)

If a person reads the word this week as HA-R'UVEINI, it's no big deal, but it isn't accurate and beautiful. +

...SHISHA V'SHIVIIM ELEF V'CH'MEISH MA'OT:
That's Yehuda's count. May Torah readers will pause after SHISHA V'SHIV'IM (because of the DARGA- T'VIR) and not after the word ELEF. In fact, the TIPCHA of ELEF should get a strong pause; the T'VIR indicates only a slight pause. If one pauses longer after the T'VIR, the count comes out to 76 and 1500 (1576) instead of the intended 76,500.


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