[Mesorah] Sefardic nusach of brachos

[Joshua Meisner]

If I understand correctly, the nusach that Sefardim use for the bracha
rishona on wine is "Borei p'ri ha-gefen", rather than that used by
Ashkenazim of "Borei p'ri ha-gafen".  At first glance, this seems to be
identical to the difference in "Mashiv ha-ru'ach u-morid ha-geshem/gashem",
which I had assumed was due to a difference in opinion over whether the
latter line is the end of a primary clause, and hence should have its
accented vowel lengthened from a segol into a kamatz, as is done in Tanach
with words that have an esnachta or a siluk.  However, this reason would not
apply for the former case (when the question re-occurred to me over Shabbos
dinner, I wondered if the vowelization gefen was used only at night, but my
Sefardic host assured me that it was not).

Hence, what is the reason behind these differences?  And why would this
reason not be similarly applicable to "haMotzi lechem min ha-aretz"?  (A
desire to use the exact vowelization of the passuk that serves as the source
for the bracha seems to be an overly simplistic answer)

Thanks,

Josh
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