[Mesorah] Two (obvious) questions on parshas bereshis - double trop and double arum

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 08:29:58PM +0300, Danny Levy via Mesorah wrote:
: In the absence of direct evidence, to claim as Benner does that "at some
: point in the ancient past the letter ghayin began to be written with the
: letter ayin" is, I think, problematic to reconcile with an Orthodox
: approach to Mesorah.

If the ancient past in question is pre-Sinaitic, why?

We know LhQ evolved between Moshe's day and Rebbe's. Why couldn't it have
evolved between the Dor haPelagah and Moshe's? (I won't get into what
"safah echas udevarim achadim" means here; that's more an Avodah type
question. But the question of evidence of multiple languages dating
earlier than Avraham avinu / Migdal Bavel should get attention somewhere.)

: However, in his article Benner quotes Edward Horowitz who does not claim
: this.  He writes that the same letter ayin had two different sounds. I find
: that far more palatable.  It is also very credible considering the shin and
: sin.

However, it is indeed believed that `ayn and ga` had different letters. One
an eye, the other a twisted cord looking thing. And this isn't one theory,
it's numerous texts. Multiple texts were found, the text deciphered, etc...
That's Proto-Sinaitic / Proto-Canaanite, up to around c. 1500 bce.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Sinaitic_script

But by the time you get to Paleo-Hebrew (c 1000 bce) the 22 letters we know
and love were already in place. Although in a script that is likely Chazal's
Kesav Ivri. Ayin vetes shebaluchos, beneis hayu omedim -- and while these
aren't the only tweo closed shapve in Paleo-Hebrew, tes is a circle with an
X in it, ayin is a circle. The other closed shapes aren't big circles.

So it looks like one could say that the RBSO made sure the Torah was
given in the right alphabet by having an alphabet that evolved to proper
state just in time for the event.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is a drop of intellect drowning in a sea
micha at aishdas.org        of instincts.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
Fax: (270) 514-1507