Monday, December 11, 2023

You Make the Call - וקראהו

The initial purpose of this blog was to alert people to Dikduk-related issues in the פרשה in advance. (I realize that my repostings late Friday afternoon do not serve that purpose too well.) But I would like to tap the resources of this blog's knowledgeable readers for another related purpose. As I may have stated at the outset, I am charged with correcting for the laining in our shul. At the behest of the Rov, I try to keep the corrections only to those where the meaning of the word is certainly altered. I have definitely had my share of challenges from alert listeners and try to take them all seriously. So, if I have made a correction unnecessarily or missed a necessary correction, I'd like to get the opinion of the masses as to whether the correct action was taken.

Last week, מ"ב:ל"ח, the בעל קריאה said "vekarahu" instead of "ukra'ahu." The המון עם (or, dare I say, the ערב רב) in unison made a knee-jerk correction of the "ve" to an "u." I don't think anyone in their right mind could possibly argue that it was a necessary correction. But there's only so much I can do about that. But the problem was that (I believe both times) he said "karahu" instead of "kra'ahu." I did notice it at the time but perhaps in my frustration at the unnecessary correction of the "ve,"I neglected to correct it. And I was approached afterwards about it.

So the question is, was the meaning of the word changed? On the surface, it would appear that it was. Pronounced the way it was, it is very much like the word at the beginning of this week's פרשה - וקרהו. That is of the root קרה whereas last week's seems to be of the root קרא. However, of note here is that the תרגום on both words is identical - וִיעָרְעִנֵּיהּ. So what's the verdict?

Based on Elie's comment, it seems the word might be different but the meaning is the same. Nevertheless, this incorrect pronunciation essentially skips a letter (א) so I would deem this a correctable mistake.

1 comment:

elie said...

נחזי אנן
יש למשל ועשהו חטאת בתחילת פרשת אחרי
כלומר השורש עשה בדומה לקרה שניהם מה שנקרא ל"ה
זו צורה פשוטה יותר
הצורה וּקְרָאָהוּ קצת יותר מורכבת
במגילת אסתר יש "אשר קרהו" שהוא בדיוק כמו קראהו אצלנו וכן גם בראשית מד כט
כנראה יש צורה פשוטה של קָרוֹ יש יותר מורכבת קרהו ועוד יותר קראהו
למעשה צורה זו שייכת לל"א!(כל המילים וראהו מראות כן) ולא לל"ה
השגיאה של הקורא כאן היא שבלבל עם קרהו של מד כט ושל המן
הוא קרא מילה אחרת אבל שינוי משמעות הוא לא עשה