<html><head></head><body>Sun, 6 May 2007 from: "Simon Montagu" <simon.montagu@gmail.com><BR>On 5/6/07, Mike Miller <avodah@mikeage.net> wrote:<BR>><BR>>> Does anyone know the name of this week's Sedra is not changed from<BR>>> Behar to Bahar, for the same reasons that Bemidbar becomes Bamidbar?<<<BR>><BR><BR>>Probably because it's not the name of a whole book, therefore used less<BR>often, therefore under less pressure to become corrupted by amhaaratzim. I<BR>have no answer to why Sh'mot doesn't become Shemot, though.<<BR><BR>Hypothesis: The names of the parshios Be'har, Sh'mos and B'midbar were always (and still are) pronounced in their possesive form. The spelling "Bamidbar" with an "a" is a recent American or English rendition, the origin of which should be researched. (Any texts available by which to check this ?)<BR><BR>Zvi Lampel<br></body></html>