[Mesorah] Yad Vashem, not Yad Veshem

[Elazar M. Teitz]

     In answer to the question as to why there is a kamatz under the vav hachibur in "yad vashem," I was quoted as having explained that

>>Pairs of items are specified in TaNaCH as if there was a heih hay'diah even when the conversational English translation uses an improper article, e.g. B'reishis 8:22.<<

     I don't recall having said so in this context, but in any event the explanation is much simpler: when the syllable following the vav hachibur is accented (or the word following the vav is monosyllabic, and hence automatically accented) the sh'va changes into a kamatz.  Thus, in the pasuk cited, we have zera v'kaTZIR, but kor vaCHOM, kayitz vaCHOref, yom vaLAIla.  It's why the neighborhood of Yerushalayim is Bayit VAgan, and why the kohein gadol counted achas V'achas, achas V'shalosh, achas V'arba, but achas VAshesh and achas VAsheva.

    (If I had said it, I would have said "as if there _were_," not "as if there _was_.")

EMT