There is no new column in this week's TT. Towards Better Torah reading and Davening Many people mistakenly pronounce this word ELOHA, which is as mistaken as saying TAPUCHA for apple or MIZBEICHA for altar. The PATACH under the CHET of TAPU'ACH is called a PATACH G'NUVA, a stolen PATACH. It is as if an invisible ALEF sneaks into the word right before the CHET at the end and steals the PATACH from under the CHET for itself, so you end up hearing the PATACH before the sound of the CHET. We are all familiar with words with a PATACH G'NUVA under the CHET at the end of the word - RU'ACH, NO'ACH, SI'ACH, and many more. Fact is, when a HEI is at the end of a word and there is a PATACH under it, that PATACH is also a G'NUVA. It also is to be heard before you hear the HEI. The HEI in these cases always has a MAPIK (dot) in it, indicating that it is to be heard, rather than be silent, as all HEIs without a dot are at the ends of words. Most of the more than 60 times this MAPIK-HEI/PATACH occurs in Tanach are our target word, either as a name of G-d or [L] the opposite. The other times are the word GAVO-AHHH (tall, as in the tree that Haman made for Mordechai but ended up on) or some variation of the same root. Back to our word. Not ELOHA. But the first syllable is ELO (the ALEF has a CHATAF-SEGOL, which is a weak vowel, so the ALEF is attached to the LO forming a syllable together). This is the accented syllable. The second syllable is AHHH, with the HEI sound following the PATACH's sound (as already mentioned). The PATACH G'NUVA also applies to an AYIN. Although Ashkenazim can forget about this one. Take the word for week, SHAVU'A. The PATACH sound at the end is supposed to come before the sound of the AYIN, not "under" it. What sound, you ask? Well, guess what? Just because we Ashkenazim consider both the ALEF and AYIN to be silent letters, the AYIN definitely is not supposed to be. But enough of that for now. One more thing. Ashkenazim and S'faradim handle PATACH G'NUVA differently. Ashkenazim say TAPU'ACH. MIZ- BEI'ACH. S'faradim say TAPUWACH, with a distinct W sound before the ACH, and MIZBEIYACH, with a Y sound before the ACH. If the vowel that precedes the PATACH G'NUVA is a SHURUK or CHOLOM (RU'ACH or NO'ACH), then the S'fardi pronunciation has a W sound. If it is a CHIRIK or TZEIREI (MAGBI'AHHH or MIZBEI'ACH), then the S'faradim have a Y sound. Why this review for Yom Kippur? Because we say - several times - during VIDUI, V'AL KULAM (and for all the sins we mentioned), ELO'AH S'LICHOT (G-d of forgiveness), S'LACH LANU... forgive us, pardon us, give us atonement. Is it not ironic that we repeatedly ask G-d to forgive us and we mispronounce His name every time. To be sure, G-d will not hold our mispronunciation against us, but it behooves us to put the effort in to get His name - every one of them - straight. [The Parshat B'reishit Homepage]
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