[Mesorah] Shalsheleth

[dovb at netvision.net.il]

Primary sources and non-absolute paseq rules

In my post a few minutes ago I quoted Widawski-Himmelfarb who opined that
the rules for paseq are not absolute, and I tried to explain how that is in
contradistinction to the rules for teamim. 

Support for this position may be found in the writings of Eliyahu Bachur,
author of Massoret HaMassoret who says in Chapter heh - (my translation) I
found in the writing of Ben Asher the reasons for the occurances of paseq
but I abstained from writing them (mana'ti lekotvam) because I discovered
that many many of [ the occurances of paseq] don't fall into one of these
five rules. (harbeh harbeh she-ainam nichnasim be-echad me-hameshet
ha-klalim ha-hem) 

Dikdukei HaTeamim of Ben Asher (dated to around 915) is the primary source
of all primary sources for rules of teamim. The paseq rules he gives (Dotan
edition of Dikdukei Ha Teamim p 28) are poetic, cryptic and not all too
clear (to me) without the its mefarshim-medakdekim who explain what they
mean. But even R Eliyahu Bachur says the that the rules are not absolute or
comprehensive.

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