[Mesorah] Sefardic nusach of brachos

[D&E-H Bannett]

Although the well written comments of R' Hayyim Obadyah on
gefen-gafen need no backing from me. I cannot resist adding
a bit of detail.

The first occurrence of borei pri ha-gafen w/ gimmel
k'mutza) is, IIRC, in the siddur of R' Shabbetai Sofer in
the early 1600's, methinks 1615.  Most of the other
modifications in the Ashkenaz siddur, so called corrections,
were made by R' Zalman Henneh (Siddur Bet Tefila, early
1700's) and R' Yitzhak Satanov (Siddur Vaye'tar Yitzhak,
late 1700's). As has been noted on the Mesorah list in the
past, R'  Ya'akov Emden wrote a book, Luach Eresh, to
attack, one by one, RZ"H's siddur changes. Of course, most
of the changes caught on and remain in the Ashkenaz siddur
to this day. One that was returned to the original by R'
Seligmann Baer is "nipnei hayad shenishtalkha b'mikdashekha"
in Shabbat rosh hodesh and yomtov mussaf.  I believe that
only the Yekkes (Roedelheim) still say ha-sh'lucha as per
RY"Satanov.  Of late, i.e. last 40-50 years, there has been
some return to morid ha-geshem because here is no pause but
most carefully preserve the kamatz in morid ha-tal (ha-tol)
because there is a pause. ( Some, perhaps, not for the pause
but for some mystic reason that, at the moment, I cannot
recall.  It was mentioned once on list.)

Of course, there can be some doubt as to the first
appearance of any nikkud changes in the siddur because
ancient siddurim were often written without nikkud.

I agree with R' Hayyim Obadyah that there is no point in
considering Ha-eretz because there ain't no such woid.  I've
never seen nor heard of it. TTBOMK, it does not appear in
the Tanakh or anywhere else. (I'm Keterless today because
the CD doesn't open and I'm advised to consult with Bar-Ilan
to solve the problem.)

When the prefix has a kamatz, the alef of haa-aretz always
has a kametz. When a sh'va in the prefix, the alef can be
s'gula.  When the prefix is a mem, the alef can be s'gula
even when the nikkud is not a sh'va (me-eretz).  And I
haven't thought about hei hash'eila as the chataf is a sh'va
na'.


kvh"t,

David