Towards Better Torah reading and Davening Some TROP notes call for a pause after them and others link with and flow into the following word. Let's look again at the example of this from last week's TT (732). VAYIKRA V'SHEIM HASHEM is part of the Torah's lead-in to the YUD- GIMMEL MIDOT. VAYIKRA is marked with a MERCHA. It links its word to the following word V'SHEIM, which has a TIPCHA. (MERCHA-TIPCHA is a very common TROP combination.) No pause between VAYIKRA and V'SHEIM. (This is further indicated by the DAGESH KAL (dot) that dropped from the BET or B'SHEIM.) After the TIPCHA there is a pause. A significant pause, shorter only than ETNACHTA and SOF PASUK, which are the full stops in the world of TROP. "And He called out with the Name", what did He call out? "Hashem!". A similar phrase, as mentioned last week, occurs with Avraham Avinu. VAYIKRA with a TIPCHA, pause, B'SHEIM HASHEM. B'SHEIM has a MERCHA, which joins it to the word at the pasuk's end, Hashem. Calling in G-d's name and proclaiming the name "Hashem" are not the same thing. Proper pauses are important. But it is a bit more complex than pause or link. Whereas all the linking TROP marks are considered equal, the pause- causing TROP marks are subdivided into categories. Different grammarians have differing number of categories. We'll stick the the four categories that are presented in R' Nissan Sharoni's EIM LAMIKRA HASHALEIM. Without going through the whole topic (again), let's speak of the main pausers - ETNACHTA and SOF PASUK, significant pausers, lesser pausers, and slight pausers. These are not category names, but an attempt to use English words that will convey the strength of a pause. And here is the problem (or one of the problems). Some TROP marks, the way we sing/chant them, seem to call for a stronger pause that others that don't sound like they are - but they are - calling for stronger pauses. A glaring example of this, which we've presented in the past, is from Parshat Para, the beginning of Chukat. He (the TAMEI person) shall be treated with (the potion of the Para Aduma ashes) on the third day and on the seventh day he will be TAHOR (ritually clean)". Look back on this pasuk, even in this English rendering, and you can see the meaning of the verse change depending upon where you pause. Get sprinkled on the third day, and on the seventh day you are TAHOR. Not true! Get sprinkled on the third and seventh day, and he will be TAHOR. Yes, that's correct. BAYOM HASH'LISHI (and on the third day) is marked with another famous TROP combination, the DARGA (linking note) and T'VIR (a lesser pauser). This is followed by UVAYOM HASH'VI'I, with a MERCHA (linker) and TIPCHA (significant pauser). So the sprinkling of the Para Aduma potion need be on the third day and on the seventh day, in order to purify the individual. But the way we do the T'VIR seems to naturally call for a bigger pause than after the TIPCHA. And this will skew the meaning to sound like sprinkling on only the third day will bring about ritual purity on the seventh. Which it won't. Yes, there is a pause after a T'VIR, but the following words go with it together, to be separated from what comes after by a longer pause. Most similar examples will not change the meaning of the pasuk; they will just read awkwardly. But sometimes the meaning gets turned upside down. It's that time of year again... AMEIN CHATUFA. The premature Amein. It is the cantorial style of the davening of both Yamim Nora'im and the Chagim - both of which we will be observing during the upcoming weeks - for the Chazan to stretch out the ending of a bracha (mostly, but not only, in the repetition of the Amida) and for the congregation to answer AMEIN as the Chazan finishes the bracha. Problem. The halacha is that one answers AMEIN only after the one saying a bracha completes it - no matter how long it is stretched. A premature AMEIN is like no AMEIN. And the Chazan's brachot can be considered in vain. We are so used to doing this, that it is a bad habit that is hard to break. But it is an important issue, especially when we are trying to daven our best. Wait for the Chazan to finish - then answer. [The Rosh HaShana Homepage]
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