[Mesorah] question re 5-15:11

[Yitzchak M. Gottlieb]

On Aug 22, 2006, at 3:40 PM, MPoppers at kayescholer.com wrote:

> (Please forgive me if this question has been previously asked on this  forum, but I couldn't find any indication that it had.)
> 
> This posuq, like 5-15:8, features the phrase "pasoach tiftach [es yad'cha]."  In verse 8, the first word of the phrase is graced with a m'shorais, as one would expect from a doubled-verb phrase; does anyone know why it's graced with a mafsiq in verse 11?  AFAIK, the t'lisha g'dola is of the same "mafsiqedness" as the azla, so the full phrase is governed more by the tipcha on the 2nd-to-last word in the verse -- seems to me a t'lisha *q'tana* (i.e. a m'shorais which, in earlier manuscripts, was written the same way but merely above a different portion of the word) would make more sense.  Does anyone speak to this issue?  (I checked the  online Aleppo Codex, but it begins with D'varim 28.)  Thanks.

This question has been sitting in my mailbox for a few years, and I think I have an answer.  I believe that it has to do with the nature of the geresh. Specifically, (according to Breuer) the geresh frequently takes a shalish tafel when a single word separates the shalish tafel from the mafsik. The second pasuk has the correct structure to enable a shalish tafel, while the first's structure makes another mafsik unlikely.

Zuki

-- 
Yitzchak M. Gottlieb
zuki at CS.Princeton.EDU