The name of the sedra takes extra care in pronouncing it correctly, without swallowing the HEI. It is too easy to say VAYAKEL. It takes an effort to say VAYAK-HEL. Notice that that is how we wrote it at the bottom of each page. Let's stay with the sedra. Look in 35:24. The word T'RUMAT (the T'RUMA of) occurs twice. The second time, in the phrase T'RUMAT HASHEM, the word is accented MILRA. t'ru-MAT. That is it's "correct" accent. The first time in the pasuk, we find t'RU-mat KE-sef, the accent is MIL'EIL. This is a result of NASOG ACHOR (which have met often in this column), in which the accent recedes to the earlier syllable because the next word, to which it is linked (meaning same phrase, no pause between t'RU-mat and KE'sef) to a word that is itself a two-syllable MIL'EIL word (KE-sef) or to a one-syllable word. Now go to the next pasuk. V'CHOL ISHA CHACHMAT-LEV. The CHET in CHACHMAT is voweled with a PATACH. Take a look in 35:35 - CHAwCHMAT-LEV, a KAMATZ KATAN under the CHET. Ashkenazic and S'fardic pronunciation both distinguish between the two words. Rashbam explains the difference. CHACHMAT- LEV refers to a wise woman. Adjective-likeword. CHAwCHMAT-LEV is a noun. A kind of wisdom. Check Targum Onkelos for the distinction. CHAKIMAT LIBA. All women who are "wise of heart". The second time, CHAKIMUT LIBA, G-d filled them with a "wisdom of the heart". See if your Baal Korei gets them right. Or, better yet, show him the two words in advance of his reading, so that he will get them right. BTW (by the way), these are the only two occurrences in Tanach of this two-word phrase. They are identical in spelling, but not vowels. Here's something that is not just from VAYAK- HEL, but shows up throughout Tanach. The word ACHAT, feminine form of ONE, PATACH PATACH (under the ALEF and CHET) changes to ECHAT, SEGOL KAMATZ when the word has a major pause-causing TROP note on (or under) it. That is, SOF-PASUK, ETNACHTA - the two highest category of MAFSIKIM (called KEISARIM) and the SEGOL and ZAKEF KATAN, both in the second highest category, known as M'LACHIM. (In Ashkenazis pronunciation, we're talking about ACHAS and ECHAwS.) For al other TROP notes, the word is ACHAT. For the ZAKEIF KATAN, the word is sometimes ACHAT, see Sh'mot 36:15 in our sedra. VAYAK-HEL also has severalACHAT EL ECHAT - this shows the two forms of the word clearly. Of course, mispronouncing this does not change the meaning of the word, but a careful Baal Korei should get things right in all cases. [The Parshat Vayak-hel Homepage]
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