[Mesorah] 'Tis Chanukka

[Mandel, Seth]

I feel mostly sadness that my fellow Jews do not appreciate the sublimeness of the Masorah and its intricacies. And yes, some things grate on my ears.

These are not the only things.  A person who says "haTov ki lo CHOlu rachmekho" grates on my ears as well, and in that case is actually m'charef.  It can only mean either  "Your kindnesses do not apply" or "Your kindnesses were not appreciated/seen."

So why does vayeKHUlu disturb me more?

R. Michael said the answer: the stress is black on white in the Torah.  The trop shows it exactly.  Do not Jews look at the words in the Holy Torah?

As far as CHOlu goes, yes, it is clear in many siddurim that it should be choLU (including in Artscroll). But I do not blame people for not being so careful with the siddur and for not knowing basic Hebrew.  And fortunately/unfortunately, most Shlichei Tzibbur say the davening as fast as they possibly can, so if I do not listen carefully, I can just ignore all the mistakes.  But when someone says qiddush or makes the brokhos on neros chanukka I cannot.


Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel



________________________________
From: Mesorah <mesorah-bounces at lists.aishdas.org> on behalf of Michael Poppers via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2017 9:55 PM
To: mesorah at aishdas.org
Subject: Re: [Mesorah] 'Tis Chanukka

Quoth R'Seth, "As with most of dikduk, we are dealing with picayune mistakes.  But a mistake it is, and it grates on my ears."  To which I humbly add, "And that's the EHmes" :).

> vaychulLU, whereas almost everyone says vayCHUlu <
At least a small part of the problem is that many of our brethren do not know (dare I add, do not care to learn the basics of) ta'amei haMiqra, not just their function in creating phrases but their function as accents.  Maybe hQbH will grant me the koach & my local school will someday let me teach t'amim to the young'uns ....

> many places where people mispronounce ... a couple of places almost everyone makes a mistake <
C'mon, R'Seth, don't hold back -- tell us how you really feel :).

Gut Chodesh & "Zos Chanukas haMizbeiach!" from Michael

On Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 5:15 PM, Mandel, Seth via Mesorah <mesorah at lists.aishdas.org<mailto:mesorah at lists.aishdas.org>> wrote:

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<tel:(212)%20613-8330>     Fax (212) 613-0718<tel:(212)%20613-0718>     e-mail mandels at ou.org<mailto:mandels at ou.org>

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