Towards Better Davening and Torah Reading

HaSa’ir HaChai
The live goat. The word HaChai appears 15 times in Tanach. 14 times it is an adjective (meaning live or alive) and once, in No’ach, it is a noun, meaning all living creatures. The standard NIKUD is PATACH/PATACH. HaChai. Three times, the word is at a SOF PASUK or an ETNACHTA. Then the PATACH under the CHET becomes a KAMATZ. And that causes the PATACH under the HEI to become a SEGOL. The word is now HeChoi (Ashkenazis) or HeChai. When CHAI is a noun, the HEI is voweled with a KAMATZ, HawChai (Ashkenazis). Not sure why. HeChai (or HeChoi) shows up twice in the Friday night Z’mira TZOM’A NAFSHI. Both times at the end of the line.

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