[Avodah] Who First Said it?

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 04:54:07AM +0000, rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com wrote:
: Who was the first Poseiq to suggest or require reading BOTH Zecher and
: Zeicher in Parshas Zachor?

MB, no? (We've been around this topic on list a number of times, starting
from around v3n168 or so.)

Maaseh Rav says the the Gra was maqpid to say "zeikher", and in his
hasqamah, R' Chaim Volozhiner disagrees and says the Gra was maqpid to
say "zekher".

FWIW, R' Jack Love argues in favor of "zeikher". Think about it:
saying "destroy all memory of Amaleiq, don't forget!" is a paradox. In
fact, today, the greatest thing keeping knowledge that there once
was a nation/tribe called Amaleiq alive is the very chiyuv in
question. Therefore, he suggests the Gra's haqpadah was to read the
pasuq as "destroy all reminders/memorials of Amaleiq". Which would be
with a zeirei, not a segol. (Much the way pi'el and pu'al use rounder
vowels than qal and nif'al.) This theory was questioned by RILJacobson
a number of times in previous iterations; at least we're consistent. <g>

What does this mean WRT Ashrei? RHSchachter records in Nefesh haRav that
RYBS said "Zekher rav... Zeikher rav..." (or perhaps in the other order,
I don't recall). However, if RJL's explanation of the nafqa mina is
correct, since people speak of the "fame of Your great Goodness", not
of reminders of that Goodness, it should be "zekher". The mesorah has
"zeikher", but Artscroll has "zekher" anyway, as RAM noticed in v10n126.

For that matter, in favor of RILJ's objection (oh no, a break from the
pattern!) is that while the two uses -- Par' Zakhor and Ashrei -- have
different meanings, the mesorah has the same niqud, "zeikher", for both.

The MB is in 685 s"q 18, where he suggests being chosheish for both
opinions and saying both. He doesn't cite anyone else making this
suggestion, so it looks like he was the first.

(Queue the usual discussion about the CC's intent when he wrote such
things about being chosheish for both sides of a machloqes and whether
he meant it lehalakhah ulemaaseh, lifnim mishuras hadin, or whether
the MB wasn't even intended to be lemaaseh altogether.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
micha at aishdas.org        I awoke and found that life was duty.
http://www.aishdas.org   I worked and, behold -- duty is joy.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Rabindranath Tagore