VAYIKATZ YAAKOV MEI'SHNATO B'reishit 28:16 - Yaakov awoke from his sleep... Last week we wrote about the SH'VA NA and NACH and mentioned that sometimes - but not usually - the meaning of a word can change if a SH'VA is switched for the other kind. Here is an example. MISH-NA-TO, without a DAGESH in the SHIN, would mean "his mishna" or his learning and reviewing of Torah. The SH'VA under the SHIN is NACH, it does not add any vowel sound to the SHIN and the SHIN colses the first syllable of the word - MISH. With a DAGESH CHAZAK in the SHIN, the SHIN is stressed and, more importantly, the SH'VA under the SHIN is NA. Technically, the SHIN is doubled (not as SH,SH but rather a long SHHH) and serves to close the first syllable as MISH and begin the next syllable SH'NA. (That's not SHNA as in SHNAPPS, but SH' and NA.) Although the syllables are officially MISH and SH'NA and TO, you don't hear (are not supposed to hear) two SHINs, just one long one. Realize that it isn't just elongating the SHIN sound; there is a very short vowel sound that follows the SH, almost, but shorter than the SHI in SHIP. It is that little vowel sound and the attachment to the NA that follows it, that gives us the word that means "from his sleep", MIN HASHEINA SHELO, MIN SH'NATO, MISH'NATO. If the SH'VA under the SHIN in this word is not NA-ed, the meaning is changed and we have a prob. [The Parshat Vayeitzei Homepage]
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