[Mesorah] Pinechas vs Pinchas (in Avodah Digest, Vol 33, Issue 95)

Tue Jul 7 07:08:17 PDT 2015

It should be noted that how Pinechas was read according to the Masorah is not really relevant to the way it was pronounced as a name.  Pinchas is a Yiddish name (to be sure, with its roots in Hebrew), and is pronounced without a het and without a sh'wa.  Its pronunciation in Hebrew is no more relevant than is the proper pronunciation of the word gannav (theif) in the T'NaKh to the pronunciation of the Yiddish word ganef.

Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
Rabbinic Coordinator
The Orthodox Union
11 Broadway, New York, NY  10004

Voice (212) 613-8330     Fax (212) 613-0718     e-mail mandels at ou.org
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From: Mesorah <mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org> on behalf of David and Esther Bannett via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 7, 2015 6:41 AM
To: avodah at lists.aishdas.org; mesorah at aishdas.org
Subject: [Mesorah] Pinechas vs Pinchas (in Avodah Digest, Vol 33, Issue 95)

R' Micha points out that his grandfather's name was Pinechas. He proves it first by the yud after the pei which, by the rules of dikduk, makes the following sheva a na'.  In addition, the name is an Egyptian one, Pi-nechas, pi being a common prefix in Egyptian names.  In case you haven't been convinced yet, there is a meteg in the pei which, by the rules, makes the chirik malei and the sheva na'

There is, however, one small point that makes me wonder.  R' Aharon ben Asher who, for the last thousand years, has been called the accepted decision maker on correct spelling in Tana"kh seems to disagree.  In perek 11 of his book Dikdukei Hat'amim he describes the sh'vaim before the otyot g'roniot inside a word, when they are na' and when nach. Included in his list of words where they are nach are laqkhu, barchu, Pinchas, zar'u, etc.

IIRC, not all manuscripts have all the words and Pinchas might be omitted in some.  It is possible that copiers of the words lists added or omitted.

On the Mesorah sub-list it is known that I am anti-dikduk because it opens the way to change the fine points on Torah pronunciation to match its rules. Among these "improvements" was the changing of many internal sh'vaim in words from nach to na'.  What enabled this to happen was the brilliant invention by R' Yosef Kimchi of the ten vowel, five pairs of malei and chaseir. This led to the rule that after malei the sh'va is na' and after chaseir it is nach.

Ben Asher, in perek 10 notes that there are seven vowels in Hebrew.  All of the masoretes also state this. If there aren't pairs of malei and chaseir, we've just lost the rule about the following sh'vaim.  All this is not something new.  Heidenheim in his comments on the Ein Hakorei of RYHB"Y (Shemini, just before sh'lishi) states that in the times of the kadmonim many sh'vaim that are now na'im were then nachim. He quotes (from Ibn Ezra?)  that  kol sh'va b'ot rafah shekadam lo echad mishiv'at ham'lakhim hu nach ki halashon ha-ivrit kasha la r'difat shalosh t'nu'ot...except for double letters and some words with groniot.

So how should I lein on Shabbos? Oh, no problem, I'm not the bal-koire.

bivrakha,

David

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