[Mesorah] 'Tis Chanukka

[Mandel, Seth]

and with it a pet peeve of mine.

There are many places where people mispronounce the Hebrew.  In many of these places, people who know some grammar do not, for instance in the first b'rokho of Shmoneh Esreh most people who have learned Hebrew say "hagoDOL hagibBOR v'hannoRA," even though you will find those who say "haGOdol haGIBbor v'haNOra."

But there are a couple of places almost everyone makes a mistake (although, for completely full disclosure, RYHBS said correctly; he was not much on dikduk but R. Chaim Brisker was):

one is in the b'rokhos on neros Chanukka: she'Osoh NIsim, instead of she'osSOH nisSIM.

Another is qiddush on Friday night; vaychulLU, whereas almost everyone says vayCHUlu.

I am not focusing on the change in meaning, which is only in the last case.  I am focusing on the clear distortion of the Hebrew.  The reason is clear: they learned the b'rokhos and qiddush from someone from Eastern Europe who pronounced Hebrew with the penultimate stress of Yiddish, rather than the ultimate stress that is standard in most Hebrew words.

As with most of dikduk, we are dealing with picayune mistakes.  But a mistake it is, and it grates on my ears.



Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
Rabbinic Coordinator
The Orthodox Union

Voice (212) 613-8330     Fax (212) 613-0718     e-mail mandels at ou.org
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