[Avodah] What does hamelech hakadosh mean?

[Jay F Shachter]

"Marty Bluke" <marty.bluke at gmail.com> wrote on Thu, 2 Oct 2008 10:53:49 +0300:

> 
> Rashi on the gemara comments that hamelech hamishpat is
> grammatically incorrect, it should be melech hamishpat and it is to
> be understood that way (the king of mishpat) and basically we ignore
> the extra heh.  The Beis Yosef comments that the same problem should
> apply to hamelech hakadosh and yet Rashi doesn't say anything.
>

That the Beyth Yosef would say such a thing is utterly mystifying,
unless he had a different nusax that we have (e.g., "qodesh", rather
than "qadosh").  "Qadosh" is an adjective, so the presence of the heh
in front of both words is exactly what you would expect.  "Mishpat",
in contrast, is a noun, thus you would expect the heh, as Rashi
correctly points out, only in front of the last word (e.g., "torath
nega` tzara`ath beged hatztzemer", Leviticus 13:59).

My understanding of "hammelekh hammishpat" has always been, since it
appears in direct address, that the second heh is the definite
article, of which (as in all construct forms) you would expect only
one, whereas the first heh is the vocative heh.  This account for both
heh's.


			Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
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