[Avodah] 'Al Hanisim

[Jonathan Baker]

From: "Larry Israel" <larry.israel at weizmann.ac.il>
> Both in the standing prayer and in grace after meals some places
> have 'Al hanism' and some have v'al hanisim. Some of the Ashkenazic
> siddurim I have had it one way; some the other. The (two) Sephardic
> (East European, not Oriental) ones had V'al hanisim.
>  
> Now without getting into halachic questions, it seem that stylistically
> V'al is more correct, as it is preceded by a string of V'als and
> followed by a V'al. Is there a good reason why all siddurim don't
> use V'al?

Baer notes that almost all old siddurim, both Ashkenazic and Sphardic,
don't use V'al, but Al.  He notes that even those few commentators (Mateh
Moshe and a couple of others) who add the Vav only do so in Benching, where
there is a string of V'als.  In Shmoneh Esreh, though, the string of V'als
is broken by Hatov ki lo calu rachamecha vehamerachem ki lo tamu chasadecha.

Siddur Eizor Eliyahu similarly notes that only two sources say V'al, but
all old siddurim say Al,  and uses Al both for benching and 18.

--
        name: jon baker              web: http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker
     address: jjbaker at panix.com     blog: http://thanbook.blogspot.com