Column #94. 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.

Concerning Birkat Kohanim...

Last week we wrote about the correct accenting of the words of this three-pasuk, 15- word blessing. DK/BE would like to apologize if his words sounded critical of Kohanim; his intentions were educational and not meant to sound sharp.

None of the words change meaning if the wrong syllable is accented. So we are not talking of a serious flaw. "Just" the beauty of correct Hebrew. And maybe a little more because of the command in the Torah: KO T'VORACHU ET BNEI YISRAEL, EMOR LAHEM - Thus you shall bless the people - say to them: It is as if G-d was the first One to call out the words that Kohanim throughout the generations are to repeat. We see it each day as repeating after the Shaliach Tzibur, but it is really repeating after G-d. If He said to say ei-LE-cha, then the Sha"tz should say ei-LE-cha and the Kohanim should say ei-LE-cha. Not ei-le-CHAAAA. yi-SA, not YI-sa. It just seems important to get right.

Since we presented DK/BE's understanding of the role of an ALEF, we now present YL's. We've got a real, old-fashioned MACHLOKET. Who's right? We'll see. Here's what YL writes...

The twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet all represent consonants, i.e. the sounds we make when we block (completely or partially) the air flow from our lungs. For example: we pronounce [b] ] - represented in writing by a BET - by pressing our lips together, thus blocking the air flow at the lips. Similarly, we pronounce [g] - written as a GIMEL - by pressing the back of our tongue against the palate and blocking the air flow there. Precisely in  this manner we pronounce a glottal stop (or "catch") by blocking the air flow at the vocal cords, and we represent it with an ALEF. 

It is not true that an ALEF contributes "no sound at all". Thus YA'-DIR very definitely has an ALEF-sound before the DALET, just as YAF-GISH has a FEI-sound before the GIMEL.

When is it true that an ALEF is silent? Only when it has no NIKUD whatever, as in the word M'LACHA or in the word B'REISHIT (just like the second SHIN/SIN in the name YISSACHAR - it has no NIKUD whatever, and so remains silent.) And so you do not lengthen the YA in any way in the word YA'DIR - you pronounce a glottal stop after the A and get two closed syllables: YA' and DIR. 

Of course, we all know that ALEF is taught as a "silent letter" in the Ashkenazi tradition. But this (actually) only relates to those ALEFs without NIKUD. When an ALEF has a NIKUD-sign, it is supposed to be pronounced as a glottal stop.

Dear reader, don't think you've heard the last word on the pronunciation of ALEF.

On another note... In Parshat To-l'dot, we find a not-so-common occurrence of a CHATAF-vowel under a letter that is not ALEF, HEI, CHET, or AYIN (the usual letters that get CHATAFs). The Torah describes Rivka's experience during pregnancy as in VAYITROTZ'TZU HABANIM B'KIRBA - the children struggled inside her... There are three different opinions (practices) as to how to pronounce the TZADI with a CHATAF-PATACH.  Some always pronounce these CHATAFs just like a SH'VA NA (except for the ones under ALEF, HEI, CHET, AYIN). Some pronounce then as CHATAFs, even though they are not the usual four letters. And some will pronounce them with a CHATAF unless the letter under which the CHATAF is, is the first of two-the-same letters (which is the case here) or the word has to do with eating or blessing - in which cases, the CHATAF is pronounced like a SH'VA NA.

Therefore, two of the three opinions go for VAYIT-RO-TZ'TZU (rather than VAYIT-RO-TZA-TZU).

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