[Mesorah] V'kamu n'dareha

[Akiva Miller]

R' Yitzchak M. Gottlieb wrote:

<<< Breuer (chapter 15, 24) brings a long list of example where the precise
division of the פסוקים is ignored in favor of other considerations.  In
addition, there a many cases of a מפסיק become a משרת, e.g. 10.3, and the
reverse, sometimes (seemingly) for musical reasons.  (Breuer brings these
as well; see 2.74 and 2.75)  There is even discussion that certain
exceptional/unusual sequences are there to recall another פסוק that has
similar wording and טעמים. >>>

Thank you! I had wanted to ask about the singsong tune used for the Masa'os
(most of Perek 33).

In some of those travels, the Torah gives a few words about what happened
there, but in the others, these pesukim are very brief:

And they traveled from A [esnachta] and camped at B. [sof pasuk]
And they traveled from B [esnachta] and camped at C. [sof pasuk]
And they traveled from C [esnachta] and camped at D. [sof pasuk]
And they traveled from D [esnachta] and camped at E. [sof pasuk]

But as I heard it in two different minyanim this past Shabbos, that trop
seems totally ignored, and the pesukim are doubled up:

And they traveled from A and camped at B [esnachta] and they traveled from
B and camped at C. [sof pasuk]
And they traveled from C and camped at D [esnachta] and they traveled from
D and camped at E. [sof pasuk]

How can this be done? And by "how", I mean "how" is it okay to disregard
the trop in this manner.

We have many different sets of how to sing the various notes: for the
Torah, Haftara, Megilos, and so on. Although the exact sound of a given
note varies, their *meanings* are consistent - this one is a major break,
that one is a connector, and so on. (I believe the same is true for Az
Yashir; it is sung rather than read, but the trop is not distorted much, if
at all).) What is done at the Masa'os is very unlike what we will do this
week for Devarim 1:12, which is to read that pasuk with the Eicha trop. In
that case, each note keeps its meaning, but with a mournful tune. In
contrast, the meaning of the trop notes seems abandoned when we read the
Masa'os.

The only similar situation I can think of is the Aseres Hadibros, which has
two different sets of notes, with drastically different meanings. But I
have heard reasons for that, and I don't want to hijack the thread by
discussing those exact reasons. My question is this: ARE THERE reasons for
doubling up the pesukim of the masa'os, and for distorting it into a
singsong, and if so, what are those reasons?

Akiva Miller
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