[Mesorah] Bemidbar or Bamidbar?

[Zev Sero via Mesorah]

On 06/05/2016 02:28 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> The "correct" name of the parashah depends on textualism vs
> mimeticism. If you have enough faith in our mimetic tradition, then
> you assume that there is some reason why some parashah names are
> re-conjugated when the word is taken out of context, and others are
> not.  The textualist would just demand consistency, as he wouldn't
> consider minhag Yisrael as sufficient evidence to assume the
> differences (Shemos / Behar vs Bamisbar) are either intentional or
> meaningful.

In this case, though, there is no textualist case, because short titles
only exist through usage.  There isn't any textual basis for having them
at all.   We don't have titles for individual parshiyos (i.e. p'suchos/
s'sumos) in the Torah, because we've never felt the need for them.  We
developed handy titles for the weekly sedros because we needed them, so
they are whatever they are.  Even a textualist must concede that something
that only exists by dint of "`ama devar" is defined by that same "`ama".

-- 
Zev Sero               Meaningless combinations of words do not acquire
zev at sero.name          meaning merely by appending them to the two other
                        words `God can'.  Nonsense remains nonsense, even
                        when we talk it about God.   -- C S Lewis