[Mesorah] More on "pausal forms"

[Mandel, Seth via Mesorah]

In my last post on this subject, I mentioned that the use of the second form of nouns and verbs, called the “pausal”form, is just as common in cases that are not strictly speaking “pausal,” but dictated by the rhuthm of the reading.  That is always the case in parallelismus membrorum, but I am looking for another word, and would appreciate someone who knows terms used in literary analysis to suggest one that is used in non--Hebrew works.
As was mentioned, at the end of the reding this past Shabbos this usage was particularly evident.
You have this:
כ:יא מוֹת-יוּמְתוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם, דְּמֵיהֶם בָּם.
Versus this:
כ:יג מוֹת יוּמָתוּ, דְּמֵיהֶם בָּם.
The form is based on the rhythm of the pasuk
When someone suggests or finds the proper term for this phenomenon,  I also mentioned it is consistently used in L’shon Chazal: even when the word at the end of a Mishna does not have pausal form, these cases do, according to the ancient mss. with vocalization.  I will give examples from the Kaufamann ms. when I have time, but right now (since I will be leaving soon), I wanted to mention an egregious example in L’shon Chazal that people say every day, but do not focus on because of familiarity.  As is well known, the b’rakhot and t’fillot that were used by Chazal, and attributed to Ezra and Anshei K’nesset haG’dola, were omposed in L’shon Chazal except for Biblical quotations and references.  Much of the t’fillot were since rewritten by various rabbis who wished to “correct” them to proper Biblical Hebrew form, but the various communities have all preserved some of the older forms, and, if all the nuscha’ot have the same form which is unusual, it is almost a certainty that it was the original form.  And so, in the first b’rakha preceding Q’riyat Sh’ma‘ in the morning, we find:
לְקֵל בָּרוּךְ נְעִימוֹת יִתֵּנוּ, לְמֶלֶךְ קֵל חַי וְקַיָּם זְמִירוֹת יֹאמֵרוּ וְתֻשְׁבָּחוֹת יַשְׁמִיעוּ
(tushbachot is the original form).  All nuscha’ot of which I am aware have these two pausal form, yittenu and yomeru, and they are both because of this rhythmic phenomenon that I referred to, whose proper literary term I am searching for.
These forms were not edited out  because, after all, they do appear in the Bible, even though some grammarians may not have known about this, shall we say, “rhythmic form.”



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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