[Avodah] Zechor/zachar

[Eliyahu Grossman]

There is a famous formula in Midrashic literature that goes "do not read it
as 'x', but as 'y'..." A quick scan of Midrash Rabbah cme up with more than
a full screen of references. 

However, we do not have a tradition to read any of those pasukim 2 times,
with one time being a correct reading according to the Masoretic (concerning
pronunciation) and then incorrectly, without anyone in the shul correcting
the reader, with one exception, this week's reading of ZECHOR (which is also
named properly). One person said "Well we aren't sure how to pronounce it",
which is an answer that (a) doesn't require the speaker to ponder and (2)
has some far reaching implication with the entire Torah. 

So I've been trying to discover at what point this minhag of reading it 2
times came into being. I cannot find any ancient source (ok, 1900+ years as
being "ancient") where this tradition was intact. Either a Jewish or a
non-Jewish source. (The RAMBAM seems to have, and Rav Kook with no doubt had
the opinion that everyone is born with free will, even an Amalakite (and
thus is redeemable). 

I was pondering this with a friend on the interesting implications on the
minhag to accept a Midrash and turn it into a minhag (although this isn't
the only example of it).

Shabbat Shalom
Eliyahu Grossman
Efrat, Israel