[Avodah] Geshem or Gashem?!

[Mandel, Seth]

From: Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org>
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2018 10:37 AM
...
> Yes, in the Leshon haQodesh of the Tanakh, "gashem" is the correct pausal
> form. And, if one davens in the language of the Tanakh, then "geshem" vs
> "gashem" boils down to asking whether this is one item in a long list,
> or a phrase with a significant pause (esnachta or sof-pasuq, or in sifrei
> Eme"s, oleh veyoreid).

> The reason why Sepharadim end the berakhah on wine with "gefen" is because
> they more often daven in Chazal's Hebrew, rather than the Tanakh's. And
> Mishnaic Hebrew doesn't have pausal forms.
...

A slight correction to R Micha's post: as far as we can tell, Chazal
Hebrew DID have pausal forms. But they were not based on trop, of course,
nor even on on the end of a sentence. They are used consistently in a
case of parellismus membrorum in L'shon Chazal, and I am pretty sure in
some other situations as well, according to the evidence from the oldest
mss. with vocalization, such as the famous Kaufmann ms. of the Mishnah.

But in this case I do not have to send people to look at mss. We have
at least one example in the davening, where all traditions agree that
"pausal" forms are used, even though it is not the end of a phrase,
and there is no difference between Ashkenaz, S'farad, Italy, or Teiman,
in the first b'rokho before QS in the morning:

לקל ברוך נעימות יתּנו, למלך קל חי וקיּיםּ

...ּ זמירות יאמרו ותושבחות ישמיעו, כי הוא לבדּו פועל גבורות

[For those in digest text mode and therefore can't see the Hebrew,
this quote begins "LaKeil Barukh, ne'imos..." -micha]

To the best of my knowledge, all old nuskah'ot have "yittenu."

Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
Rabbinic Coordinator
The Orthodox Union

Voice (212) 613-8330     Fax (212) 613-0718     e-mail mandels at ou.org