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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=en-IL link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>I finished reading Rabbi Seth’s 4 posts, and I saw that at the end he writes that he plans subsequent posts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>I looked for more in the archives for a year ahead (he wrote in 2014), and couldn’t find any more posts by Rabbi Seth in this series.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Does anybody know if he posted more of his excellent introduction to the Mesorah, either in this forum or somewhere else?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Shavua Tov<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Yitzhak<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US> Yitzhak Ajzner <yitzhakajz@gmail.com> <br><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, 8 September 2024 10:35 AM<br><b>To:</b> 'Mesorah Email List' <mesorah@lists.aishdas.org><br><b>Subject:</b> RE: [Mesorah] </span><span lang=HE dir=RTL>מקראות גדולות - ונציה, רע"ח - מהדורת המקראות הגדולות הראשונה - דפוס בומברג</span><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>A few follow ups on this:<o:p></o:p></span></p><ol style='margin-top:0cm' start=1 type=1><li class=MsoListParagraph style='color:#002060;margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>I was asked privately if Rabbi Seth Mandel’s posts can be forwarded. As most of you would know, Rabbi Seth passed away last year, and was rather movingly eulogized in this forum. At the beginning of the 4th post that he sent (see below), he wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:72.0pt'><span style='color:red'>I am asserting my copyright privileges on these emails; no one is allowed to copy them or send them to other people without my written permission. I dislike having to say this, and I apologize to all members of the Mesorah list. But when I first joined Avodah, I was innocent and assumed that no frum person would take something you wrote, publish it under his own name without crediting it, and omit important information to understand the context. Little did I know that there are all sorts of people lurking on the internet, and, it pains me to say, exactly that happened with an article I had spent much time and effort on. My statements here, of course, will not prevent such evil people from doing things like this, but I at least am making an effort, since, if God is willing, I intend to publish a book one day, and would like to include this series.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText style='margin-left:72.0pt'><span style='color:red'>In this context, I am not allowing anyone from the list to forward it to others without my written consent, nor to publish links to it in blogs. The smaller the group that is reading it now, the more chance I have of maintaining my rights. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:red'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>I am not familiar with what happens to a request like that, once the writer passes away. Perhaps somebody here knows the family, and can ask somebody if this request would still be relevant, or would have expired now. Does the family or anybody else intend to do anything with Rabbi Seth’s unpublished writings?<o:p></o:p></span></p><ol style='margin-top:0cm' start=2 type=1><li class=MsoListParagraph style='color:#002060;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Rabbi Richard Wolpoe sent a request for more information about what may have happened in the past 2 generations with the published versions of Mikra’ot Gedolot. Many of you will recall that 40 or 50 years ago, it was common for Mikra’ot Gedolot to contain the Mesorah Ketana and Gedola, together with all the other familiar features of Mikra’ot Gedolot. I am not an expert on what is available, but nowadays, it is so rare to see the Mesorah in Mikra’ot Gedolot, that I don’t even know if it is available at all anymore.<br>I imagine this is merely an economic matter, as interest in the topic has waned, even though it is extraordinarily fascinating, and the amount of material is mindboggling. <br>Does anybody have anything further to add to this?<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class=MsoListParagraph style='color:#002060;margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>In the 3rd post (below), Rabbi Seth has a link to material that Rabbi Micha Berger graciously posted:<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-left:72.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:red'>I am greatly obliged to Micha for many things, but in this regard, for his generous offer of storing photocopies of some of the material we will discuss here on the Aishdas website; most of the material is not readily available. The photos are at</span> <span style='font-size:12.0pt'><a href="http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/dikdukeiSoferim.">http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/dikdukeiSoferim.</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'> This link no longer works. Yet I was able to access these invaluable resources through this page: <a href="https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/image-archive/">https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/image-archive/</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'> The relevant links there are:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><a href="https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/dikdukeiHaTeamim.pdf">https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/dikdukeiHaTeamim.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><a href="https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/machberethHaTijan60-69.pdf">https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/machberethHaTijan60-69.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><a href="https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/machberethHaTijan78-80.jpg">https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/machberethHaTijan78-80.jpg</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoListParagraph style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Perhaps Rabbi Micha can tell us whether these resources may be shared outside the forum. Let’s say I want to use them in a shi’ur, would it be OK to give them out to the participants? How about forwarding digitally?<o:p></o:p></span></p><ol style='margin-top:0cm' start=4 type=1><li class=MsoListParagraph style='color:#002060;margin-left:0cm;mso-list:l3 level1 lfo3'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>A personal note: my guess is that many of you, like myself, purchased many sefarim in your 20s, naively planning that at some stage in your life, you will most definitely read or at least use them. Some of my most painful moments have been parting with probably 80% or more of these books, as I needed to replace bookshelves with children’s furniture. <br>I studied Hebrew Language at Hebrew University, and in that period, I purchased Aharon Dotan’s version of Ben Asher’s Diqduqe Hatte`amim at the university bookshop. Although the actual composition of Ben Asher takes up 10 pages, Dotan’s edition is a huge 3 volume set. Even though I valued that set, and today it is a rare find, at some point I reached the conclusion that along with many other sacrifices, I needed to part with this large, space-hungry set. <br>In the past 4 years, I have been giving an online course on Ta’amei Hamikra. I am a student of Michael Perlman, and used to watch him teach, in order to learn how to teach myself. About 2 years ago, I needed to present something that is in Ben Asher’s Diqduqe Hatte`amim. I cannot tell you the extent of my anguish that I no longer had the book, and could not present the passage I needed to show. I am rather far from a decent library, and I think it was still Corona days anyway. As great as my sorrow over that incident, was my joy to re-find this book last night, <a href="https://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/dikdukeiHaTeamim.pdf">posted on the Aishdas site</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></li></ol><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Best,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Yitzhak<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:#002060;mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US> Yitzhak Ajzner <<a href="mailto:yitzhakajz@gmail.com">yitzhakajz@gmail.com</a>> <br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, 5 September 2024 10:28 PM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org">mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</a><br><b>Subject:</b> RE: [Mesorah] </span><span lang=HE dir=RTL>מקראות גדולות - ונציה, רע"ח - מהדורת המקראות הגדולות הראשונה - דפוס בומברג</span><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>As requested, I am pasting here the 4 posts of Rabbi Seth Mandel from 2014. If this does not come out reasonably, I can resend in a file, or in some other manner.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'>Here it is:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b>Details of Masorah - Rabbi Seth Mandel<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b>first section of Details of Masorah<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Since there is a range of knowledge among the people who will read this, I am writing a brief introduction to make sure we are all on the same page when I start discussing the points I wish to write about.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>As members of this list know, the Mesorah is extremely complicated. In fact, it is just like other mitzvoth from the Torah, consisting of wheels within wheels within wheels, or, as it is phrased in halokho, “<span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>במה דברים אמורים</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The Mesorah was laid out for all 24 books of the T’NaKh, and is concerned with every issue: <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>קרי </span>and <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>כתיב, מלא </span>and <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>חסר</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>, what we call vowels and consonants, what Ashk’nazim call “trop,” and what the Mesorah calls <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>גיעיה </span>and <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מקף</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>. Not only are these all matters of the Mesorah, they are all interconnected. It is a fundamental error to think that one can discuss vowels, for instance, without discussing the trop (as aficionados of ’et with a tzere vs. ’et with a segol know).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Unfortunately, several factors have contributed to most modern Jews being completely ignorant of Mesorah:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>1) Printed T’NaKhs have gradually left out more and more of the Mesorah. I know of no editions in the past 200 years (except for scholarly works) that have printed the Mesorah Q’tanna or G’dola, even though they were in Ibn Adonyah's printed T'NaKh and in several editions that came later (such as the Warsaw edition). Most recent printings of T’hillim omit even the trop.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>2) Various printings and grammarians have taken the issue of <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>גיעיות </span>into their own hands, and have totally ignored even the cases where the Masorah comments on them. This goes back hundreds of years, to the first printing, since many of the manuscripts themselves varied greatly. [I use the name <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>גיעיה </span>for the vertical line, because that is the word used by the Masorah: it appears, vocalized, in some of the Masoretic notes that are appended to the Leningrad Codex. The term "meteg," as well as the terms "meteg kaved" and "meteg qal," which we will discuss below, were invented apparently by <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>יהב'י </span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>(Y'qutiel haNaqdan ben Y'hudah, last half of 12th Century].<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>3) Various people, under the influence of their spoken language, consider the <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מקף </span>as separate from the issue of vowels and trop, and so even some editions of T’NaKh without vowels or trop put in the <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מקף</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The result is that most Jews nowadays, even "ba'alei q'ri'ah" who try to be careful about the proper pronunciation, and most "grammarians" are almost totally ignorant of the Mesorah, its function, and what it shows us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Ignorance is bliss, and, indeed, most Jews can do fine without the Mesorah. However, for those who want to really understand the Hebrew in the Holy Scriptures, it is indispensable to try to find out what the Ba'alei Mesorah and Ben Asher himself, whom we theoretically pasken according to, held and told us about how to read and write the Scriptures.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>In my article in Jewish Action, I described the fact that in the time of the early Geonim (and perhaps earlier) three distinct systems had been developed for Hebrew vocalization. (I did not describe there the fact that the different systems not only showed differences in pronunciation, but many "grammatical" differences.) The most complex of them all with the most fully developed method of showing trop and other details was the Tiberian system. In the books of the T'NaKh, the Tiberian system also contained the Masoretic notes. Due to several factors, among them its attention to detail, the Tiberian method was adopted by all Jewish communities around the world, and so in the Medieval Era all Jewish communities had manuscripts of the T'NaKh that included the Mesorah. However, the quality of the manuscripts in various communities varied significantly, up to the point where certain manuscripts cannot really be called "Masoretic," because they violate what the Masorah stated.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Another point that I did not address in my article was that the Tiberian system first appears in the 7th Century, virtually fully-blown. However, the final work of the Masoretes did not occur until Aharon Ben Asher, in the 10th Century. The Masoretic notes themselves quote Masoretes who lived in the 9th Century. The disagreements between Ben Asher and Ben Naftali, which are listed in many Geniza fragments, date to the 10th Century.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The Jewish immigration to the Rhine Valley took place under Charlemagne in the 8th Century. So manuscripts the Jews took with them did not have Ben Asher’s final reworking of the Masorah. This alone could explain why most medieval Ashkenaz manuscripts of the T’NaKh are among the furthest from the Ben Asher system.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>In addition, because of the complexity of the Masorah, most manuscripts contradict themselves: for example, a Masoretic note may say that a certain word appears 3 times <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>חסר </span>and once <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מלא</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>, whereas in the text, it appears twice <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>חסר </span>and twice <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מלא</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>When printing was invented, the editors of the Hebrew T'NaKh had to choose manuscripts to use. Unfortunately, the manuscripts from Italy and Ashkenaz were, in general, the poorest in quality, and they were used for the first printings by the Soncinos. However, Ya'akov Ibn Adoniyah did quite an amazing job in the Great Rabbinic Bible published by Daniel Bomberg in 1525. He recognized the importance of the Mesorah and printed both the Q'tanna and G'dola. He he attempted to gather the best manuscripts of the T'N'aKh from around the Jewish world, and what he called "Miqra'ot G'dolot" remained the standard for all subsequent printings for 400 years, and for most printings even today. Indeed, his version was a very significant improvement over previous printings and over many manuscripts.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>However, he did not have the best manuscripts that we have today. And in particular, in the realm of some of the details, his edition was far indeed from the Masorah of ben Asher. Two of the features that differentiate Ben Asher’s Masorah from others lie in the area of the use of the <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>גיעיות </span>and the hataph vowels.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I will refer all those who wish to read more about the Bomberg T’NaKh and how great an accomplishment it was and its shortcomings to the two articles of Menachem Kohen in his edition of the T'NaKh, "Mikra'ot Gedolot 'HaKeter,'" Bar Ilan University, Joshua-Judges, 1992, "Introduction to the Keter Edition," and Kings I-II, 1995, "Introductory Chapters."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>As Menachem Kohen points out in "Introductory Chapters," for some reason for the <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>גיעיות </span>and the hataph vowels Ibn Adoniyah did not use the method he used for fixing the consonants, vowels, and trop. For the latter, he indeed did what he set out to do, try to establish an authoritative text from the evidence of the manuscripts he had. For the former, he seems to have used the edition of Felix Pratensis published by Bomberg in 1517. the first Hebrew Bible printed by Bomberg, with a Haskama from Pope Leo X (!!! after all, Bomberg was Catholic, and Pratensis had converted from Judaism 10 years before). In any event, the <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>גיעיות </span>and the hataph vowels in Ibn Adoniyah's edition do not reflect the Masorah of Ben Asher. And, since all subsequent editions were based on this edition, most Jews have not an inkling of these two features that characterise the Masoretic manuscripts (not just the Aleppo Codex, but all the mss that show the signs of coming from the Ben Asher school).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Although there was much discussion 50 years ago whether the Aleppo Codex was actually from Ben Asher, today it has been established beyond a reasonable doubt that it is, and, in all probability, was the Codex that the Rambam himself used and referred to as authoritative in Hil Sefer Torah 8:5. Unfortunately, we do only have less than 70% of entire Codex it. The closest manuscript to it is the Leningrad Codex, which, although it follows the same Masorah and system as the Aleppo Codex (including in the details we will discuss), is inferior to it in accuracy. For years, the Aleppo Codex was could only be seen by special permission in the Sifriyah L'umit, but now everyone can see it, in all its beautry and painstaking detail, at <a href="http://www.aleppocodex.org/newsite/">http://www.aleppocodex.org/newsite/.</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>These are little details, and, indeed, one should ask why are they of significance to most Jews.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The answer is that the details they are very significant in trying to understand one of the most murky aspects of the Bible.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The system of noting vowels and trop developed by the Tiberian Masoretes are significantly superior, in their detail, not only to the Babylonian and "Palestinian" vocalization systems, but to virtually all vocalization system developed back then or since for other languages. The Tiberian system distinguished not only between the major trop (the "<span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מלכים</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>"), but also between minor trop (the "<span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>משרתים</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>"), and not only between different vowels, but between vowels of different length (regular versus the hataph vowels). However, for some reason, the system uses the same sign, called "sh'wa," to represent both a short vowel and no vowel at all (in which case its function is to show that the consonant above it is pronounced; silent consonants have no sh'wa). Later grammarians distinguished between the two. Nowadays, following the Qimchi family, we refer to them as "sh'wa nach/ s'hwa na‘," but before the Qimchis the terms "sh'wa nach/sh'wa nad" were more widely used (and they were used by the Rambam, Hil. Q'ri'at Sh'ma‘ 2:9).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>How does a Jew know which is which when reading the T'Nakh? Easy: he follows the rules taught in school or printed in some books. Currently, children are taught 5 rules: the sh'wa is na‘, i.e. pronounced, if it is a) at the beginning of a word, b) the second of two consecutive sh'was, c) under a letter with a dagesh, d) after a t'nu‘ah g'dolah, e) under the first of two identical letters.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>These rules have been adjusted by various people to account for some exceptions, but, in whichever exact form people learn them, they are ultimately from the pen of the Bahur, R. Eliyah Bahur Levita (1549), a prolific grammarian. In actuality,they do not match many of the statements of Ben Asher. In particular, his statement that a sh'wa between two identical letters is always na‘ is so far from the truth, that there was a discussion in the early years of the State of Israel whether they should in fact teach it in school. The limmud zechus on the Bohur is that he was trying to simplify the rules for people who did not have access to the Masorah.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>That is enough for the first section; I apologize that I cannot see how I can discuss this with more brevity. And I encourage those who are bored to skip the next installments; all will be labeled “Details of Masorah.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Since I will be discussing many words with hataph vowels, I would like to know whether you all can see the hataph vowels in these two words: <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>עֲזוּבָה וַעֲצוּבַת</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>If not, I shall have to send my next sections as PDF files.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Seth Mandel<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b>second section of Details of Masorah<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I am having some “production difficulties,” since my materials are in various places. So I am sending a very short continuation this time; the next I hope will be meatier.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The notes of the Masorah are written in Aramaic, usually abbreviated, between the columns of the text. A small circle over the word signifies what the note refers to. A couple of examples:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText> <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>עֵדְוֹתָיו ה' מפקין וי'ו</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>שׁלְ</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>That means that there are 5 occurrences in the T’NaKh of the word with the vav after the dalet pronounced (just like “<span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מפיק ה'א </span>means that the he’ is pronounced).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>עָם י'ו' וכל זקפ' ואתנ' וסופ' פסוק' דכות</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>'<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>That means that there are 15 occurrences in the T’NaKh of the word with a qomatz, but every case where the word has the trop zaqfa, etnachta, or sofa dipsuqa it also has the qamatz (this only refers to the word<span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>עם </span>when it is by itself and not if it has a prefix).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>ראשי האבות ב' וכל כתיב' דכות' ב' מ' ז</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>'<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>That means that there are only 2 occurrences in the T’NaKh of this pair of words with the he’ in front of the second word, but every case in the K’tuvim (Aramaic K’tivin) where the pair occurs has the he’ except for 7 cases ( <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>בר מן ז</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>').<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Outside of the Masorah in the Aleppo Codex (and the related codices), there are a couple of other sources which are necessary for this discussion.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>One is a book called Kitaab alKhilaf (sefer haHillufim in Hebrew), which is primarily a list of the differences between Ben Asher and Ben Naftali. Ben Naftali was a Masorete who lived at the same time as ben Asher, and the differences, as is to be expected, are in real kleinigkeiten: whether a syllable has a ge‘ayah, what the m’sharet trop is on a word. There are only 2 or three systematic differences: Ben Asher punctuates the name to be read <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>יִשָּׂשכָר</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>, whereas Ben Naftali puncuates is <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>יִשְׁשָּׂכָר </span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>(and Moshe Mocheh, another Masorete, read it <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>יִשְׂשָּׂכָר</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>. When a prefix such as bet or lamed is added to words beginning in /yi/, Ben Asher puts in a sh'wa (e.g. l'yisra'el), whereas Ben Naftali punctuates it a lisra'el, with the yod elided. Since the sh'wa in that position is pronounced as a hiriq according to Ben Asher, the difference in pronunciation is tiny indeed. I have attached as a PDF file a page from one of the versions of Kitaab alKhilaf, and you can see, that in the first example, the difference is the trop on the word ‘im, and in the second, the difference is whether there is a ge‘ya on the word pen.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Another composition of the Masoretes is called Sefer Okhla v'Okhla. It list pairs or groups of words that are very similar, but vary in small matters. The first entry, whence the name by which the book is referred to, reads:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אלפא ביתא מן חד וחד חד א' וחד וא' ולית דכוותנון </span>meaning "a list of all the word in the T'NaKh that appear only twice, once with a vav at the beginning and once without, in alphabetical order."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Another (#44) is titled<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>כ' זוגין מן חד וחד חד מלרע וחד מלעיל וא' בריש תיבתא וליתא </span>meaning "a list of 20 pairs of words beginning with aleph that appear only twice, one of which is "mill'ra‘ [here meaning punctuated with a sh'wa or patah] and the other mill‘eil [meaning a “heavy” syllable, punctuated with a patah and dagesh or a qametz in place of a dagesh] [For example, the first pair is Isaiah 51:2 vs/Gen. 27:33] (One can imagine such lists being of great interest to the Masoretes, but not so interesting to the rest of us mortals.). The entire book is available online at <a href="http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101065583708;view=1up;seq=11">http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101065583708;view=1up;seq=11</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b>third section of Details of Masorah<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoPlainText>And now we come to the sources that are most relevant to the matters I wish to discuss, and indeed are necessary knowledge for anyone seeking to understand the Masorah.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Although in the previous posts, we have mentioned that the Masorah and some Masoretic works mention the ge‘ayah, none of them really discuss it, nor do they discuss anything that would look to us like "grammatical rules," or any sort of rules. To those acquainted with the history of grammar, this should not be surprising. Grammar, i.e. the study of the rules of a language, was not much studied: anyone who spoke the language knew the rules, and anyone who did not know the language went to learn it from native speakers, not from Berlitz or from books. The first grammar of a Semitic language was of Arabic, and it was religiously based: the Arabs considered the Qur'an to have been dictated by God, and therefore the language of the Qur'an must be divine. Since by the 7th Century it differed from most spoken Arabic in several points, it was considered a meritorious act to fully describe it. Jews, like most people, never had written anything about grammar. The Masoretes, although not interested in grammar, were very much interested in fixing the proper way to write and read the T'NaKh, and so ben Asher himself wrote various observations on some matters. It is very important to understand that he did not intend this to be a grammar, in the sense of rules that determine what should be said. Rather, what should be said was the starting point, and that was represented in the T'NaKh with the complete Tiberian system, But Ben Asher decided to write some observations, which, like the Masoretic notes, would serve as memory aids. The book he wrote is called Sefer Diqduqei haT‘amim. It was so well known in the time of the Massoretes, that several codices, including the Leningrad codex, included it as an appendix to the T'NaKh. Outside of the codices containing parts of it, it is found in many Genizah fragments. It was unknown, though, in Europe, not even mentioned by any of the grammarians up until very modern times.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The various chapters found in the codices sometimes differ in the exact wording, and since none arranged them as a "book," with numbered chapters, it is unclear whether all the pieces were part of the original work. It has been published in two editions: Baer-Strack in 1879 and by Aharon Dotan in 1967. Dotan brings all the pieces that are available, and then has decided which ones belonged to the original. I am greatly obliged to Micha for many things, but in this regard, for his generous offer of storing photocopies of some of the material we will discuss here on the Aishdas website; most of the material is not readily available. The photos are at <a href="http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/dikdukeiSoferim.">http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/faxes/dikdukeiSoferim.</a> Pages 1 through 10 are Dotan's version of Diqduqei haT‘amim. If you look at the first page, you will see that the P'tiha states that the composition is called "Sefer miDiqduei haT‘amim," composed by Aharon ben Asher in Ma‘azyah, which was called Tiberias by the Romans.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Page 11 is a photocopy of some of the sections of the book from the Leningrad Codex. The one on the left corresponds to Page 3, Sha‘ar 5. The one on the top right corresponds to Sha‘ar 22 on Page 9. The below it on the right corresponds to Sha‘ar 25 on Page 10. Many people, including me, are not happy with Dotan's editing decisions. But it is the shortest edition.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Unlike the Masorah, which is in Aramaic, this composition is all in pure Hebrew, and very artfully rhymed, no less. As might be expected, a lot of the terminology used is unfamiliar to modern readers, who learned diqduq based on the European Rishonim and Acharonim. For instance, vowels are called "m'lakhim." Chaper 1, found on Page 1 after the P'tiha, giives the names and numbers of the trop, called "t‘amim." A couple of the names will not be familiar, such as "na'da" and "teres." Some will be a little different than in European books, such as "tilsha."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Some of the book talks about exremely arcane topics, such as the exact trop used in certain conditions. Other parts are readily understandable, such as Sha‘ar 6 on Page three, that describes when the word "ben" occurs with a tzere ("two dots"), and when with a segol ("three dots").<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>We will discuss some of the information from the chapters later; for now, I just wanted to draw attention to the photograph from the Leningrad codex on Page 11. If you look on the column on the left, 7 lines from the end, you see the word ge‘yah spelled out and with vowels, and that is why I prefer to use that form rather than the word meteg invented by YHB'Y or the vocalization "ga‘ayah." A rose by any other name, etc., but why not use the original?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>In the century following, while the art of writing the codices was still active (the Leningrad codes dates from 1009), a composition was written in Arabic (the spoken language of the Jews at that time), called "Hidaayat alQaari" (Guide for the Qore/Reader), which, as its name implies, contains many useful comments for understanding the Masoretic text. It quotes most of the Sefer Diqduquie haT‘amim verbatim, and adds a wealth of other information. Unfortunately, we do not have the entire composition. Many fragments of it are found in the Geniza, and it was extant in Yemen for years (Teimani rabbis quote from it). It was written in the 11th century.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>However, several Hebrew compositions exist that were based on Hidaayat alQaari. One is called "Mahberet haTiijaan" (a notebook about the codices), which was used in Yemen, and was printed by Joseph Derenbourg in 1870. which was reprinted in the Yemenite Chumash (the "Taaj") when it was first printed in Yerushalayim in the 1940's. A facsimile edition from a Yemeinte mauscript has been published in "Qovetz Diqduqei Torah" by Ariel Levi, Jerusalem, 2001. I have provided photos of 10 pages of the Mahberet that discuss the sh'wa, which will be one of the subjects that we will be focusing on.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Let me just start with the two pages that deal with the pronunciation of the sh'wa, on Pages 12 and 13, pages 61-62 of the Mahberet. It describes how the sh'wa nad is pronouned 1) like a short chirik before a yod; 2) if the sh'wa is followed by a guttural, like the vowel under the guttural; 3) like a short patach in other cases (note the use of the word "melekh" to describe a vowel, as well as "ge‘ya, terms that were not used in European grammars). These pronunciations are quite different from the historical Ashk'nazi and S'faradi pronunciation of a sh'wa na‘ as a short ih vowel or eh vowel, but the pronunciations are reflected in the Masoretic text, and are absolutely necessary to understand the Aleppo Codex, which is why I am mentioning them here.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The Mahberet haTiijaan was apparently written in the 12th century. Outside of the material from Hidaayat alQaari, it has at the end a short section that contains a poem written by R. S‘adya Ga'on that gives mnemonics for the number of times each letter of the Hebrew alphabet occurs in the T'NaKh. For those interested, the letter aleph occurs 42,377 times, whereas tav occurs 63,140 times. Of course, R. S‘adya would never be so crass as to write the actual number. Instead, he wrote a poem, one stanza for every letter, which contains allusions to certain things mentioned in the T'NaKh. Once you understand the allusions, you can then figure out what number is referenced in that passage, and when you add the numbers from the different passages, you come up with the number. For example, the stanza for aleph starts off wtih "'Ohel m'khon binyanay," referring to Nehemia 7:66 where the number 42,360 is found, and "ulzevch todah ba'u banai," referring to Numbers 7:17 where 17 qorbanot, all told, are mentioned. Add them up, and you get the 42,377 number.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>You need not worry. I am not going to discuss this poem. As a matter of fact, even though the Masorah is, to a large part, numbers (of occurrences), our discussion is going to be about theory, with very little numerical information. But I did want to give the readers a flavor for what the giants of the Masorah, and R. S‘adya Ga'on were able to do, without any computers. Their accomplishments boggle the imagination.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Seth Mandel<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><b>fourth section of details of the Masorah<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoPlainText>A couple of matters before we continue:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I am asserting my copyright privileges on these emails; no one is allowed to copy them or send them to other people without my written permission. I dislike having to say this, and I apologize to all members of the Mesorah list. But when I first joined Avodah, I was innocent and assumed that no frum person would take something you wrote, publish it under his own name without crediting it, and omit important information to understand the context. Little did I know that there are all sorts of people lurking on the internet, and, it pains me to say, exactly that happened with an article I had spent much time and effort on. My statements here, of course, will not prevent such evil people from doing things like this, but I at least am making an effort, since, if God is willing, I intend to publish a book one day, and would like to include this series.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>In this context, I am not allowing anyone from the list to forward it to others without my written consent, nor to publish links to it in blogs. The smaller the group that is reading it now, the more chance I have of maintaining my rights. But I am explicitly soliciting comments from everyone on this list, especially as we go on.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Next, in the previous installments I have explained some basic information and said briefly that the Aleppo Codex represents the work of Aharon Ben Asher himself. This is relevant because the Rambam, in <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>הלכות תפילין ומזוזה וספר תורהת ח:ה</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>, says as follows:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>ח,ה וספר שסמכנו עליו בדברים אלו, הוא הספר הידוע במצריים, שהוא כולל ארבעה ועשרים ספרים, שהיה בירושלים מכמה שנים להגיה ממנו הספרים; ועליו, היו הכול סומכין, לפי שהגיהו בן אשר ודיקדק בו שנים, והגיהו פעמים רבות כמו שהעתיקו</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>. <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>ועליו, סמכתי בספר תורה שכתבתי כהלכתו</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>So the Rambam is stating that we pasken according to this manuscript, and all later poskim that address the issue that I know of agree.. We know that the manuscript the Rambam is referring to went later to Aleppo. Although 800 years have gone by, the sources I have referred to show beyond a reasonable doubt that this is the same manuscript.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>But that does not mean that only this manuscript is "right" and other manuscripts are "wrong." There was a masorah before Aharon ben Asher was born. The masorah is also reflected in the Biblical manuscripts in the niqqud Bavli, and they most certainly reflect the pronunciation of Chazal in Bavel. Were they wrong? Say, rather, the truth: that the masoretes in T’veriah were later recognized as having the most accurate masorah, and so the Rambam (who certainly did not pronounce Hebrew like the T’verian system) says that we "pasken" like them. Someone who follows another old system cannot accurately be called "wrong," just like the Ashkenazim and Teimanim who did not abandon their old minhogim when the M’chabber wrote the Shulchan ‘Aruch cannot accurately be called "wrong," even had the R’Mo not written his dissent. What can be said is that S’faradim now "pasken" like the M’chabber, and Ashk’nazim mostly "pasken" like the R’Mo.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Nevertheless, since the Rambam and others held that Ben Asher was the most authoritative word on the matter, and since most people (and printings) pay lip service to that idea, I think it is very valuable to see what Ben Asher himself holds on many matters. Especially since it differs significantly in details from what most people who study Hebrew have been taught.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>As I believe I have indicated, two of the major, characteristic differences between the Aleppo Codex and the codices close to it (there are several that have survived) and most printed editions lie in the area of the ge‘ayot and the hataph vowels. There are also some characteristic differences in certain trop, which we will not discuss here, but can be found in Yeivin’s book (as can the matters we will discuss, but without the conclusions that I think can be drawn from them).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>At this point, let me repeat again that the Tiberian system is one, interdependent system. The vowels, the trop, the ge‘ayot, the maqqaf. For instance, we read every day T’hillim 147, in which the tenth pasuq reads<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>י לֹ֤א בִגְבוּרַ֣ת הַסּ֣וּס יֶחְפָּ֑ץ לֹֽא־בְשׁוֹקֵ֖י הָאִ֣ישׁ יִרְצֶֽה׃ </span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>(If you enlarge it, the trop should be visible.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Each section of the pasuq consist of four words, almost exactly parallel: <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>לא </span>followed by two words in s’mikhut, followed by the verb. But the trop is different, since in Sifrei <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אמ’ת </span>the trop in the first part and the second part of the pasuq is always different, and the word <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>לא </span>is connected to the following word with a maqqaf in the second half, whereas in the first it has its own trop. If the word was <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>את </span>instead of <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>לא</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>, then the first occurrence would be <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אֵת </span>whereas the second would be <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אֶת</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>-. Which is why when I am asked for the rules of <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אֵת </span>versus <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אֶת</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>-, I can give general pointers, but not the exact rules, since they depend on the rest of the trop, and the rules of the trop essentially determine when it will be <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אֵת </span>with its own trop versus <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>אֶת</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>- with a maqqaf. The rules of the maqqaf, the rules of the ge‘aya, even the rules of the vowels, the rules of the trop are all interdependent to some extent.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>As I stated, in the area of the ge‘ayot, ibn Adoniyah for some reason did not do what he had done in the matters of spelling (male and chaser), trop, and vocalization. Instead of using the systems of the best manuscripts and trying to decide between them, he used an inferior system. It can almost be said (and Kahle did) that the mark of a manuscript that follows Ben Asher closely is that the ge‘ayot are most all in different places that in the printed editions.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>One of the most stable and characteristic uses of the ge‘aya is what YHB’Y called <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>הכבדה הגעיה</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>. This appears next to the vowel in a closed syllable, if that syllable is followed by another syllable, then a sh’wa na‘, then the stressed syllable. For example, <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>וְהִֽתְפַּלְל֞וּ </span>in 1 Kings 8:35. The ge‘aya is next to the hiriq; the syllable is closed, as shown by the peh with a dagesh qal beginning the next syllable, which is followed by a sh’wa na‘, which is followed by the stressed syllable. Or take a look at Deuteronomy 30:17: <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>וְהִֽשְׁתַּחֲוִ֛יתָ</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>. Go to <a href="http://www.aleppcodex.org/newsite">www.aleppcodex.org/newsite</a>, select Deuteronomy, the select “From 30_11 to 31_12.” It is the last word in the 9th line from the bottom of the first column (note the "zoom image" button on this website, which brings up a tool where you adjust the magnification to your liking, and you can see every dot in the manuscript clearly), and you will see that Ben Asher has the ge‘aya clearly. This appears in words that are connected by a maqqaf as well, since they are considered as one word.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>This ge‘aya is standard whenever the word has a trop that is a mafsiq, it is almost always found. Out of the thousands of times it appears in the T’NaKh, Yeivin estimated that it occurs with the ge‘aya over 90% of the time (there are only a couple of exceptions to the rule, which are listed in Mordechai Breuer, Ta’amei haMiqra, Horev, Jerusalem, 1989) p. 185). But this ge‘aya disappeared completely in the standard printed Chumashim and T’NaKhs in Europe, without a trace left. Instead, the printed editions put in a metheg (I will not call it a ge‘aya) under the tav, before the het with the hataph patah. Some editions (like Qoren and Breuer) have restored it, but left the new metheg, creating a word with two ge‘ayot, something that is almost completely not allowed in the Ben Asher texts.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>What is very interesting is what qualifies as a sh’wa na‘ here. A sh’wa at the beginning of the word, of course, as in <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>תִֽמְנֶֽה־לְךָ֣ ׀ חַ֡יִל </span>in 1 Kings 20:25. The second of two sh’was, as in <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>וַֽיִּלְכְּדֻ֑הָ</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>, Numbers 32:39. The sh’wa under a letter with a dagesh hazaq, as in <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵ֛הוּ</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>, Genesis 3:23. A hataf vowel under a guttural, as in in the example from Deuteronomy 29:17 above. The first of two identical letters, as in the example from 2 Kings above. And after some words that the Masoretic material clearly indicate have a sh’qa na‘, such as the first word in this quotation from Joshua 22:6: <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>וַֽיְבָרְכֵ֖ם יְהוֹשֻׁ֑עַ וַֽיְשַׁלְּחֵ֔ם וַיֵּֽלְכ֖וּ אֶל־אָֽהֳלֵיהֶֽם</span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span><span dir=LTR></span>. Note also the third word, which is another case of the regular "heavy ge‘aya."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>However, sh’wa’s after what is called a "tn’u‘ah g’dolah" are NOT normally considered na‘ for this purpose. See the fourth word in the quotation above. There are only a small number of exceptions.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>On the one hand, it must be noted that at the time of the Ba’alei Masorah, no one knew what a "tn’u‘ah g’dolah" was. It was a term invented by the Qimhi family in Spain in the 12th Century. Nevertheless, one would have expected that if the sh’wa’s in these words were na‘, regardless of what one calls the first vowel, they would have a ge‘aya in the closed syllable, as every other possible case of sh’wa na‘ does.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>This is just one of the signs that something is wrong with the Bahur’s rules. In the next section, we will find more.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I must express my gratitude to the Mechon Mamre foundation (www.mechon-mamre.org<<a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/">http://www.mechon-mamre.org</a>>), which has put the T’NaKh on line with great care, with and without vowels and trop, a monumental task, and also put the Mishne Torah on line, in the most correct edition. And to the Be-Zvi Institute, that put detailed photographs of all the extant pages of the Codex on <a href="http://www.aleppocodex.org/newsite">www.aleppocodex.org/newsite</a>. Years ago, only a few individuals could see the Codex by special permission. Then they issued a facsimile edition, which was very expensive and mostly purchased by libraries (it can be yours at Amazon, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Aleppo-Codex-Massoretic-Considered-Authoritive/dp/9652235687/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409598477&sr=1-4&keywords=Aleppo+Codex,">http://www.amazon.com/Aleppo-Codex-Massoretic-Considered-Authoritive/dp/9652235687/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409598477&sr=1-4&keywords=Aleppo+Codex,</a> for only $1,275). But now it is available to anyone, and the magnification tool is extraordinarily useful.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Since it was necessary to show the trop, I have copied the examples here with the trop, but I strongly suspect it will cause problems in many computer systems; it even does in mine if I try to change the font. However, you should be able to find the examples by the references I give for each.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Rabbinic Coordinator<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The Orthodox Union<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>11 Broadway, New York, NY 10004<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='mso-fareast-language:EN-US'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US>-----Original Message-----<br>From: Mesorah <<a href="mailto:mesorah-bounces@lists.aishdas.org">mesorah-bounces@lists.aishdas.org</a>> On Behalf Of Michael R Stein via Mesorah<br>Sent: Thursday, 5 September 2024 3:04 PM<br>To: <a href="mailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org">mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</a><br>Subject: Re: [Mesorah] </span><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מקראות גדולות - ונציה, רע"ח - מהדורת המקראות הגדולות הראשונה - דפוס בומברג</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>It would be more useful, to me at least, if you could just repost what he wrote...saves the trouble of doing my own search.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>On 9/5/2024 4:05, Yitzhak Ajzner via Mesorah wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Sorry to bother you all again.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> I just figured out how to view the Hebrew parts of Rav Seth’s posts, <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> so need to send help about that. Thanks.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> If this interests anybody, then let me know, and I can post how to do it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Yitzhak<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *From:*Yitzhak Ajzner <<a href="mailto:yitzhakajz@gmail.com"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>yitzhakajz@gmail.com</span></a>><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *Sent:* Thursday, 5 September 2024 11:59 AM<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *To:* <a href="mailto:dovbbb@gmail.com"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>dovbbb@gmail.com</span></a>; 'Mesorah Email List' <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <<a href="mailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</span></a>><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *Subject:* RE: [Mesorah] <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מקראות גדולות - ונציה, רע"ח - מהדורת המקראות</span><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>הגדולות הראשונה - דפוס בומברג</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> As always, this forum has been extremely helpful and resourceful! Thank you.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Using “SECOND Rabbinic Bible, 1525-7” for my search, in light of Dov’s <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> correction, I was able to find the whole book online here <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/archive.org/details/The_Second_Rabbinic_Bible_Vol_1__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1QvkSrEQoLSv9AySFLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3nS6wr5p$"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://archive.org/details/The_Second_Rabbinic_Bible_Vol_1__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1QvkSrEQoLSv9AySFLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3nS6wr5p$</span></a>>. Was able to download as Pdfs as well.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Dov, I would love to read everything Rabbi Seth wrote in that thread. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> I took a look at the archives, but all the Hebrew he wrote comes out <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> gibberish for me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Do you have an email from back then that contains the whole thread <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> that you could forward me? (I wasn’t in this group back then). Perhaps <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> someone knows how I can view the file that one can download from the <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> archives, so the Hebrew comes out properly?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Thanks for the great help!!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Yitzhak<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *From:*Dov Bloom <<a href="mailto:dovbbb@gmail.com%20%3cmailto:dovbbb@gmail.com"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>dovbbb@gmail.com <mailto:dovbbb@gmail.com</span></a>>><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *Sent:* Thursday, 5 September 2024 1:16 AM<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *To:* Yitzhak Ajzner <yitzhakajz@gmail.com <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <<a href="mailto:yitzhakajz@gmail.com"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>mailto:yitzhakajz@gmail.com</span></a>>><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *Cc:* Mesorah Email List <mesorah@lists.aishdas.org <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <<a href="mailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>mailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</span></a>>><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> *Subject:* Re: [Mesorah] <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>מקראות גדולות - ונציה, רע"ח - מהדורת המקראות</span><span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <span lang=HE dir=RTL style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>הגדולות הראשונה - דפוס בומברג</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> The classic Mikraot Gedolot, refered to by Breuer as Dalet, is not <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> called the first edition. It is called in English the SECOND Rabbinic <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Bible, 1525-7 I believe. This is the one Yaacov ben Chaim worked on.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> I shivver to quote Wikipedia but here they are correct:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Bomberg editions of Mikraot Gedolot<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> First published in 1516–17 by Daniel Bomberg <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Bo<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> mberg__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1QvkSrEQoLSv9AyS<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> FLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3nj9JR7n$> in Venice <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice__;<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> !!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1QvkSrEQoLSv9AySFLP6Zg9y<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> EUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3rtLbrMb$>, the /Mikraot <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Gedolot/ was edited by Felix Pratensis <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Pra<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> tensis__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1QvkSrEQoLSv9Ay<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> SFLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3rUiL2hJ$>. The <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> second edition was edited by the Masoretic scholar Jacob ben Hayyim <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> ibn Adonijah <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_ben<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> _Hayyim_ibn_Adonijah__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> QvkSrEQoLSv9AySFLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3hefUTI<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> B$> in 1525.^[3] <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikraot_G<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> edolot*cite_note-3__;Iw!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> QvkSrEQoLSv9AySFLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3t-WB-1<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> m$><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> R Seth Mandel z'l wrote an excellent post on this very list on <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> 31.7.2014 where he mentions both the Ibn Adoniahu 1525 (Second) <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> addition, and refers also to the Pratensis First edition ( re: gaayot and hataphim).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> From Seth's post of 2014:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> However, Ya'akov Ibn Adoniyah did quite an amazing job in the Great <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Rabbinic Bible published by Daniel Bomberg in 1525. He recognized the <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> importance of the Mesorah and printed both the Q'tanna and G'dola. He <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> he attempted to gather the best manuscripts of the T'N'aKh from around <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> the Jewish world, and what he called "Miqra'ot G'dolot" remained the <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> standard for all subsequent printings for 400 years<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Dov Bloom<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> On Wed, Sep 4, 2024, 10:48 Yitzhak Ajzner via Mesorah <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <<a href="mailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org%20%3cmailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>mesorah@lists.aishdas.org <mailto:mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</span></a>>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Does anybody know whether/where one can find the first printed<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> edition of Mikra’ot Gedolot online?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> I mean the edition that I believe is often referred to as “Dfus Rishon”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Put out by Daniel Bomberg, with the aid of R Eliyah Bahur and<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Yaa’kov ben Haim.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> A pdf version would be great as well, of course.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Thanks,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Yitzhak<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> _______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Mesorah mailing list<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <a href="mailto:Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</span></a> <<a href="mailto:Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>mailto:Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</span></a>><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <a href="http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/mesorah-aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/mesorah-aishdas.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/mes<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> orah-aishdas.org__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1QvkS<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> rEQoLSv9AySFLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3sKCjENI$><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> _______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> Mesorah mailing list<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <a href="mailto:Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/meso"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/meso</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> rah-aishdas.org__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!Qm9N8IldzlzZTbFlKspw1QvkSr<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>> EQoLSv9AySFLP6Zg9yEUG69Stxep_Q3X2jujkv39HYvktHN8Lb5zjvAY_j3sKCjENI$<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>Mesorah mailing list<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><a href="mailto:Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>Mesorah@lists.aishdas.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><a href="http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/mesorah-aishdas.org"><span style='color:#002060;text-decoration:none'>http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/mesorah-aishdas.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>