[Mesorah] FW: grammatical query

[D&E-H Bannett]

I don't see room for any question.  vat'gallach is pi'el 
just as vat'dabber. She did the shaving because, if he did 
it,the text would say vaigallach like vaidabber.

I agree that the nikkud signs were added later because they 
hadn't been invented at the time of Shimshon's haircut.  It 
does NOT follow that the correct pronunciation of the text 
was not known and that Jews, when reading Tanakh, were not 
makpid to pronounce every word correctly.

Shu"t Bar Ilan tells me that the root appears 23 times, 
never  in pa'al (kal). Only pi'el and it's friends pu'al, 
and hitpa'el.

 I've never heard this verb used in the pa'al. If it had 
been pa'al, the nikkud of the text would have been 
vatiglach. Even a galach wouldn't say vayiglach, and 
certrainly not vatiglach.

If she had been a havdala drinker and was shaving herself it 
would say vatitgallach.

I assume the job was not done on Shabbat, Chag, or during 
the nine days or s'firat ha-'omer. Not even on chol hamo'ed.

David