[Mesorah] aleph with a dagesh

Sun Apr 16 10:20:31 PDT 2017

Without getting into the debate of whether 
grammar is descriptive or prescriptive . . .

I guess the question is: why do those particular 
words have an alef-dagesh?  Is there any 
grammatical reason at all?  Or, is the answer: 
"we don't know, but that is the mesorah on those words"?

At 12:22 PM 4/16/2017, Mandel, Seth wrote:

>I am not a chasid of all the attempts to uncover 
>meanings in the Masorah before people understand the Masorah.
>
>The Masorah was not a composition of grammatical 
>rules.  It was an attempt to commit to writing 
>the traditional way of chanting/reciting the 
>Biblical text.  The Masoretic apparatus was part 
>of that, a way of making sure that the way words 
>were written and pronounced were preserved.
>
>The tradiition was that the aleph was realized 
>as a glottal stop.  In almost all languages with 
>such a phoneme, it is sometimes elided and 
>sometimes stressed, in addition to the normal pronunciation.
>
>Just as the Masorah shows which cases the aleph 
>is elided (by not having any vocalization and a 
>rafeh sign above it), it shows the places where 
>it is stressed by putting in a dagesh.
>
>Only after understanding the totality of the 
>Masorah would d'rushim become appropriate.  As 
>was the case in Parshat Tzav, when various 
>d'rushim of why the vayyishchat with a 
>shalshelet reflects hesitation: the drush is 
>based on ignorance of the Masorah, and ignorance of the intricacies of trop.
>
>
>Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
>
>
>
>----------
>From: sholom90 at gmail.com <sholom90 at gmail.com> on 
>behalf of Sholom Simon <sholom at aishdas.org>
>Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2017 12:00 PM
>To: Mandel, Seth; Mesorah AishDas List
>Cc: Micha Berger; Lori Linzer; debbyhowarth at aol.com; David and Esther Bannett
>Subject: aleph with a dagesh
>
>Over the yom tov, I noticed an aleph with a 
>dagesh.  (As Emor is my son's bar mitzvah 
>parsha, and, thus, he's layned it at our shul 
>every Pesach-2 and Sukkos 1 & 2, I'm surprised I didn't notice it before).
>
>I took a quick scan via the R'aG (rabbi google) 
>and found the following at 
><https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/35510/aleph-with-a-dagesh>https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/35510/aleph-with-a-dagesh 
>
>
>Anyone have any other comment?
>
>In four places in Tanakh, our text has an aleph 
>with a dagesh: Gen 43:26, Lev 23:17, Job 33:21, 
>and Ezra 8:18. What is the significance of this, 
>and for the first two examples, how would you 
>indicate its existence while laining?
>
>Commentaries that I've seen:
>
>Gen 43:26 -- Radak points out that it's there, 
>but otherwise says nothing. Minchat Shai says to 
>look in ñôø äð÷åã äâãåì from øá àùé, but I don't know where to find that.
>
>Lev 23:17 -- Ibn Ezra says he doesn't know what it means.
>
>Job 33:21 -- Malbim comments that this is from 
>the binyan Pual, that normally comes with a dagesh.
>
>On all four, Minchat Shai mentions the 
>phonomenon, but does not explain it, besides 
>pointing to òøåîéí from Gen 2:25, where he says:
>
>îöàúé ìäøîØä æØì áä÷ãîú ñôøå ùëúá æä ìùåðå ëì 
>àúà ã÷øéà ãâù áàåøééúà ìå ñîéê ìä î÷îà àúà 
>ãëúéáà åìà ÷øéà áø îï çîùä úìú îðäåï îìàéí åàØå åúøéï îðäåï îìàéí éåØã
>
>and then lists òÈøåÌîÌÄéí, úÌÀìåÌðÌÉúÈí, 
>úÌÀìåÌðÌÉú, and our two examples, åÇéÌÈáÄéàÌåÌ 
>and úÌÈáÄéàÌå. I'm not sure of who he's quoting, 
>and I'm having some trouble parsing the Aramaic, 
>but he seems to be saying that the Vav and Yud 
>male are causing a dagesh, but only in these 
>five instances (in Torah). Can someone fully 
>translate this passage, and help shed some light?
>
>I'll also add that in my tikkun, by Gen 43:26, 
>there's a note to "pronounce the aleph strongly"!
>
>A good mo'ed everyone!
>
>-- Sholom
>
>On Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 10:05 AM, Mandel, Seth 
><<mailto:mandels at ou.org>mandels at ou.org> wrote:
>
>I am sure all those who davened the Musaf 
>prayers for Yom Tov also noted this other 
>egregious example of a pausal form not at a etn'ha/silluq:
>
>ãá' èæ:èæ ùÑÈìåÉùÑ ôÌÀòÈîÄéí áÌÇùÌÑÈðÈä éÅøÈàÆä 
>ëÈì-æÀëåÌøÀêÈ àÆú-ôÌÀðÅé éÀéÈ àÁìÉ÷ÆéêÈ 
>áÌÇîÌÈ÷åÉí àÂùÑÆø éÄáÀçÈø, áÌÀçÇâ äÇîÌÇöÌåÉú 
>åÌáÀçÇâ äÇùÌÑÈáËòåÉú åÌáÀçÇâ äÇñÌËëÌåÉú, åÀìÉà éÅøÈàÆä àÆú-ôÌÀðÅé éÀéÈ øÅé÷Èí.
>The word yivhar has a pausal form, even though 
>the word has a zaqef and the etn'ha does not come until the word hassukkot.
>The reason is transparent.
>I am only pointing this out because there are so 
>many examples of a pausal form not dictated by 
>the trop, but people often miss them unless the 
>pronunciation of the word is very different to their ears, like pesach-posach.
>
>
>Seth Mandel
>
>
>
>
>----------
>From: Mandel, Seth
>Sent: Sunday, April 2, 2017 3:03 PM
>To: Sholom Simon; Micha Berger; Lori Linzer; 
><mailto:debbyhowarth at aol.com>debbyhowarth at aol.com; David and Esther Bannett
>Subject: Re: Pesach / Pasach
>
>
>Since no one else has replied, I will make my comments:
>
>The pausal form is not restricted to a silluq or 
>etn'ha.  Although those two trop indeed 
>represent a pause, pauses may occur elsewhere, 
>in which the pausal form of the noun or verb is 
>used.  Most people notice the pausal forms of 
>the segholate nouns, since they may show a 
>qomatz instead of a seghol, but verb pausal 
>forms are even more common, where the form would 
>be, for example, yikhtovu instead of yikht'vu, 
>or yiqtol (with a qomatz) instead of yiqtal.  If 
>one is sensitized to these forms, they are quite 
>frequent outside of words with the two pausal trop.
>
>Here is one pasuq with two forms of the verb '-m'r:
>
>áø' èæ:ç åÇéÌÉàîÇø äÈâÈø ùÑÄôÀçÇú ùÒÈøÇé 
>àÅé-îÄæÌÆä áÈàú åÀàÈðÈä úÅìÅëÄé åÇúÌÉàîÆø 
>îÄôÌÀðÅé ùÒÈøÇé âÌÀáÄøÀúÌÄé àÈðÉëÄé áÌÉøÇçÇú.
>Neither appearance of the verb is at the silluq 
>or etn'ha. The first time it has a pausal form, and the next time it does not.
>
>If and when you figure that one out, and even if 
>you do not, the pasuq about the Pesach should be 
>transparent.  This is one of the few p'suqim 
>that lacks an etn'ha, and the major break in the 
>pasuq is designated by the tip'ha.  If there 
>were a few more words, there would indubitably 
>have been an etn'ha on the word.  But with or 
>without that trop, it is in a pausal situation, 
>and so probably the best way to translate this 
>would be "Let B'nei Yisrael do the pesach – at 
>its proper time." The more precise way would 
>involve intonation, with a pause indicated by 
>the slowing of tempo when you say pesach, and a 
>tone of voice indicating a meaning of "however."
>
>
>Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
>Rabbinic Coordinator
>The Orthodox Union
>
>Voice <tel:%28212%29%20613-8330>(212) 
>613-8330     Fax <tel:%28212%29%20613-0718>(212) 
>613-0718     e-mail <mailto:mandels at ou.org>mandels at ou.org
>
>
>
>----------
>From: 
><mailto:sholom90 at gmail.com>sholom90 at gmail.com 
><<mailto:sholom90 at gmail.com>sholom90 at gmail.com> 
>on behalf of Sholom Simon <<mailto:sholom at aishdas.org>sholom at aishdas.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 6:30 PM
>To: Mandel, Seth; Micha Berger; Lori Linzer; 
><mailto:debbyhowarth at aol.com>debbyhowarth at aol.com
>Subject: Pesach / Pasach
>
>Good chodesh everyone!
>
>In Bamidbar 9:2, and I saw that "pesach" was 
>with a kametz, and it was not at the usual 
>pausal position (esnachta or sof pasuk).  (In 
>9:4 "pesach" ends the pasuk, with the usual pausal kametz)
>
>Inline image 1
>
>
>Along the side of my "Simonim" tikkun is the following:
>
>Inline image 2
>
>
>Frankly, I can't understand it at all.  It 
>*seems* like part of it is saying that when 
>"pesach" follows a tevir, there's a kametz and 
>that "all others" it's a segol -- but we know 
>that's not true (unless he means: "in all other 
>places that's not the usual pausal positions).
>
>Anyone have any thoughts?  (Or, perhaps it would 
>be crystal clear if I could just figure out the 
>translation of the comment! ;-) )
>
>-- Sholom
>
>
>
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