[Mesorah] Kimchi's rules

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Apr 16, 2019 at 07:37:36PM -0400, Sholom Simon via Mesorah wrote:
: So, perhaps Kimchi didn't invent anything, but perhaps he systematized
: something that did not go back to the 10th century?  (In other words,
: perhaps he "invented" the notion that his pronunciation was part of the
: mesora?)

This is where I was going when asking what we meant by the Mesoreric
Rules that R Y Qimchi apparently veered from. AIUI, the Baalei Mesorah
dealt in cases and perhaps grouped similar rare cases. Did they codify
rules?

And if they didn't, someone later than them is going to notice patterns
and propose rules.

The patterns should fit their data.

But language rules don't need to perfectly fit the data to be
valid. Forcing a natural language to perfectly fit rules inevitably
means changing the language.

So until someone explains what the Mesoretic rules are that are getting
changed, I am not sure how the claim has meaning.

Uless you are saying there are cases where the Qimchis' rules actually
differ from signficant swaths of what the Mesoretes describe casewise.

On more of an Avodah note, I have a similar attitude toward lomdus.

I don't think the Rambam thought in Brisker or Telzher terms. (If you
read his instructions to Luneil about how to use his Yad, the Rambam
pretty clearly didn't.) But if the various systems of lomdus gives you
a unifying theory to explain his data points, are they not emes?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For a mitzvah is a lamp,
micha at aishdas.org        And the Torah, its light.
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