[Avodah] The Tube of an Egg

[Micha Berger]

I got up to the mishnah "lo yiqov adam shefoferes shel /btzh/".

Most people have the nusach that this last word is with a tzeirei --
"beitzah". The mental image being poking a hole in an eggshell filled
with oil, so that it drips into the neir on Shabbos.

The Maharil gives the beis a chiriq -- "bitzah", meaning a breed of swamp
reed. Don't snip off the closed tip of the reed, making a tube that one
fills with oil. It better fits the word "shefoferes", as a hollow reed
is more like a pipe than an eggshell with a hole on the bottom. (Nor is
an eggshell much like a cow horn, another sense of the word "shefoferes".)

There is an online siddur (available in plain TXT and in PDF) prepared
by R' Rallis Weisenthall with help from KAJ and from Machon Moreshes
Ashkenaz, "Siddur Bnei Ashkenaz" (lezeikher the Bad Homburg Kehillah --
1335-1942). It's public domain and at
<http://opensiddur.org/2010/11/siddur-bnei-ashkenaz-a-german-rite-siddur-prepared-by-r-rallis-wiesenthal/>
(or <http://bit.ly/siddurBA>).

Checking Siddur Bnei Ashkenaz, I see they have "beitzah", with a tzeirei.
Often the siddur comments when the nusach differs from the Maharil's,
but not here.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             With the "Echad" of the Shema, the Jew crowns
micha at aishdas.org        G-d as King of the entire cosmos and all four
http://www.aishdas.org   corners of the world, but sometimes he forgets
Fax: (270) 514-1507      to include himself.     - Rav Yisrael Salanter