Column #113. 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.

After the Pesach davening experience, I feel compelled to repeat certain items that have been presented in this column in the past. For review. And emphasis. Actually, I'd like to scream them out. But I'll suffice at just repeating them.

Please, please, if you pronounce G-d's name as it appears towards the end of the second chapter of Hallel (and elsewhere) ELOHA, believe me when I tell you that it is a wrong pronunciation. Not a different opinion. Just a mispronunciation. Which is not a nice thing to do to G-d's name.

Apple is TAPU-ACH, not TAPUCHA. We all learned that in first grade or in Ulpan. S'fardim actually say TAPUWACH. Ashkenazim put the PATACH under the CHET before the sound of the CHET, rather than after it. S'fardim add a W sound. Wind is either RU'ACH or RUWACH. Not RUCHA.
ELO-AH or ELOWAH is harder for some people to say than TAPU-ACH or TAPUWACH, but it is no less correct because of the difficulty some have pronouncing it.

The PATACH under the CHET of TAPU-ACH is called PATACH GENUVA, stolen PATACH. Maybe it's because the syllable before "steals" the PATACH from under the CHET, vocalizes it first, and then the CHET is sounded, but without its vowel. Look at it any way you want, but know (and act on the knowledge) that the PATACH under the HEI (with MAPIK, dot) at the end of some words is also a PATACH GENUVA. He is tall. HU GAVO- AH (or GAVOWA). Not GAVUHA. This "lesson"" is not just for grammar-nerds and dikduk-heads. It is for anyone who wants to honor HaShem by saying His name correctly. Sounds harsh? Unfair to put it that way? Sorry.

Most of us were brought up saying ELOHA. It wasn't to purposely mispronounce. It just happened.

Rather than going into a tirade about the early AMEN that is such a bad habit in many shuls - BARUCH ATA HASHEM, Who blesses His people Israel BASHAMEIN, with FAT. Wrong. Let the chazan finish the whole bracha - no matter how long he stretches the last word (e.g. BASHA- LOM), let him. Then, after he finishes the bracha, say AMEN. Oops, I did go into a tirade.

Okay, something else.
From the sedra. R' Sharoni points out the word V'ACHALTI in Vayikra 10:19). The word is past tense, Aharon is saying to Moshe, had I eaten... So the word is pronounced v'a-CHAL-ti (MIL'EIL). This is in contrast to Shmuel Bet 13:5 where the same word appears, but the meaning is I will eat, future tense. In order for that to be, the accent shifts to MILRA and the word is pronounced v'a-chal-TI.

As we've written about several times, most (not all) verbs that are being flipped by a VAV HAHIPUCH from past to future, require the accent slide from the next-to-the-last syllable (past tense) to the last syllable (future).

I've spoken to many people about this, in the context of the Sh'ma, where we are instructed by halacha to be particular to pronounce the words correctly, and many of them resist because "I've always said v'a-HAV-ta - you mean I've been wrong all these years? You mean my father is wrong. My rebbe is wrong?" I don't have a good answer to these questions. The word in Sh'va is v'a-hav-TA ET HaShem Elokeicha, and you shall love G-d. That's the mitzva. That's what the word means. v'a-HAV-ta means "and you loved". That's not what we are supposed to be saying.

v'na-ta-TI (or v'naw-sa-TI). Either is fine, depending upon your style of pronunciation of Hebrew for davening and Torah reading. But v'na- TA-ti is just a mispronunciation, that happens to change the meaning of what you are saying.

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