[Avodah] An Aleph with a Nekuda

[Micha Berger]

On Sun, May 19, 2019 at 04:24:19PM -0400, Daas Books via Avodah wrote:
: In last week's parsha (Emor; Lev. 23:17), there is an aleph with a nekuda.

Also, Bereishis 43:24, "Vayavo Yoseif bahaysah, vayavi''u" -- where vayavi''u
has the dotted alef Same shoresh, too.

Ezra 8:18, "Veyavi''u lanu..."

Iyov 33:21 has the only example with another shoresh "veshupu atzmosav lo
ru''u" (ru''u with a dotted alef). Assuming that's real. The Rambam
on Seifer haYetzirah only lists the other examples.

Also, in the ta-/yavi''u cases, it's after a tenu'ah gedolah, a chiriq
malei. So, it's not just the alef that makes it odd. And it means
you can't just double it -- the previous syllable would have a chiriq
chaseir if it were closed! This alef is entirely at the start of the
/''u/ syllable.

And the chiriq has the emphasis, too. It is about as far from a tenu'ah
qetanah as exists.

There is a mapiq hei, and Teimanim also have a mapiq alef -- maybe
it's one of those. But it's not at the end of the word. So that
is also a stretch. 

I would guess it's a mapiq alef. Of course someone else would say that it's
not at the end of the word, so they would guess it's a dageish chazaq.
This is not only oddly in an alef

: This is not even printed in most Chumashim.

Well, that's likely just because of the difficulty of implementing special
cases with computer publishing.

What are the odds the dageish misses any of the black of the alef? No one
is going to bother coding for it.

: What is its significance? How does it affect the leining, and why here?

R Josh Waxman suggested to R Stephen Belsky that MAYBE it's to tell you
to read the chiriq as chaseir, despite the yud.

Of course, the only time you hear people make a point of pronouncing a
chiriq malei differently is in Mezotrah with the metaher vs the meetaher.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Today is the 38th day, which is
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