Sunday, July 31, 2022
Days of Past Future
משה רבינו relates (א:י"ג) that he instructed the nation to gather wise men וַאֲשִׂימֵם בְּרָאשֵׁיכֶם. Although this is being related in the past, he is stating that he said in the past that he will place these men as heads of the nation - in the future. The בעל קריאה mistakenly put a קמץ under the וי"ו of ואשימם which I am pretty sure would change it from future to past. This is an easy mistake to make as everything which follows is indeed in the past tense. This is also tricky to catch since the difference between the וי"ו ההיפוך and the regular וי"ו is a שוא and a קמץ or פתח. But here it ends up being a difference between a קמץ and פתח. (See the comment by Bezalel for more detail as to why this ends up being more tricky.)
Hopefully recording this now will help me be more mindful of it in future years.
יהצה, what is your real name?
Friday, July 29, 2022
They are correct, sir!
I assume it is to show that they did not present their argument in a harsh manner. These are not the only pplaces where that verb form is found in kal.
אבל בפרשת פינחס לא כתוב על
בנות צלפחד ותדברנה
לכן אולי נאמר בדרך של ביני
בנות צלפחד ביקשו יפה לא בתקיפות ולכן כתוב שם דוברות
וכדי להשוות כתוב כך גם על מטה יוסף
Whose tribe is it anyway?
Don't miss the Mapik!
To afflict or to answer
The Interrogative
The Cold has Passed
Friday, July 22, 2022
פינחס - What's in a name?
UPDATE: Based on Elie's comment, the above appears to be incorrect. Both names are really פינחס. But the one פנחס is an exception. So now the question is "Why?"
One Big Happy Family?
All of the brothers
כבש vs כשב
UPDATE: Once again, the Dikdukian is rescued by its readers:
MG said...
According to the Malbim these two words do NOT have the exact same meaning, and might even be referring to two different "types" of sheep:
Link to ספר at HebrewBooks
However, as per my comment below, the מסורת הש"ס to :שבת צב might imply otherwise. As well, I happened upon a ספר חותם תכנית written in the 1860's which asserts that they are the same here.
Additionally, the משנה ברורה קמ"ג:כ"ו (which was recently learned as part of the Dirshu דף היומי בהלכה program), based on מגן אברהם counts כשב/כבש as an example of a change in pronunciation without a change in meaning which would nevertheless necessitate putting the Torah back and laining from another.
Nevertheless, Jack Gross's comment is very poignant. Whether there is a difference in meaning and whether this is a correctable mistake are likely two completely separate discussions. The difference in meaning might very well be debatable. But as for the קריאה aspect, it's simply a different word and the fact that it is almost the same is irrelevant. If the consonants are out of order, the word has not been pronounced properly and this needs to be corrected.
(Perhaps the same argument may be made regarding R' Marwick's position on בלילה הוא.)
5780: This topic is, in fact, covered by R' Michoel Reach in his recently published ספר מימיני מיכאל (available on Amazon.) With his permission, here is his entry for פרשת צו in which he points out that there is a very clear distinction to determine when the תורה will use כשב and when כבש. It all depends on the other animals that are being contrasted. Read below:
(or, since the viewing area might make this harder to read, it might be easier to follow this direct link.)
Reader question: שבת בשבתו
- Shaggy said...
- We often employ the semichut construct at times for certain words, see Nechemia 9:14 "וְאֶת-שַׁבַּת קָדְשְׁךָ".
Similarly in Parshat Emor "מִשְׁפַּט אֶחָד יִהְיֶה לָכֶם".
Just a Masoretic quirk. - JULY 2, 2010 9:50 AM
מלבד
I have, on many occasions, lauded the ספר אם למקרא ולמסורת by Rav Nissan Sharoni as the quintessential encyclopedia that is a must have for any בעל קריאה. Aside from methodically going through every single aspect of דקדוק in an easy-to-read manner, he goes through every פרשה and הפטרה listing the various nuances that one needs to be careful of. Essentially, it just about renders this blog obsolete 😀. And as an added bonus, I just discovered that the ספר was made available on Hebrew Books.
Every now and then, he will offer a very useful mnemonic to help navigate some tricky words. This week's was so cute that I had to share it. The קרבנות of each יום טוב contain a phrase beginning with the word מלבד. The problem is that the trop varies between instances. This is the trick Rav Sharoni offers to remember the proper notes:
- פסח: We lean to the left so the note on מלבד is a פשטא - like so מִלְּבַד֙
- שבועות: We received the לוחות so it is a גרשיים which looks like two tablets: מִלְּבַ֞ד
- ראש השנה: The תלישא looks like an apple dipped in honey: מִלְּבַד֩
- יום כפור: We received the second לוחות so, as with שבועות we find מִלְּבַ֞ד
- סוכות: We wave the לולב which looks like a פשטא, therefore מִלְּבַד֙
- שמיני עצרת: We use the same note as סוכות since there is still תשלומים for the חגיגה
A name that took ME by surprise
Friday, July 15, 2022
The Dead of the Plague
R' Feivel answers that this pasuk has in it a hidden meaning. Because of the terrible sin at Ba'al Pe'or, it was necessary to wipe out 24,000 of B'nei Yisrael. However, the gemara (Sanhedrin 105b) tells us that the period from the Shittim to the Gilgal (which encompasses this period,) was a period of goodwill during which HaShem did not become angry with B'nei Yisrael. Therefore, in order to lessen the blow of this plague, HaShem made it so that included in the 24,000 would be those who had reached their time to die anyway. This is expressed by the complete thought "Vayihyu hameisim bamageifah," and the dead ones, i.e. those who had reached their time to die, were in the plague. The pasuk then finishes off with a separate thought, tallying the total number of deaths in the plague.
I thought that perhaps this interpretation of the word meisim as those who were to die rather than those who died is in accordance with Rashi in parshas Ki Seitzei. Without getting into detail as to the meaning of Rashi, the pasuk warns to put a fence around one's roof so that you should not bring blood upon your house, "ki yipol hanofeil mimenu," if a faller were to fall from it. Rashi comments "Ki yipol hanofeil - ra'ui zeh lipol," the faller - one who deserved to fall. Here, too, we see a noun referring not to one to which something happened but one to whom this was destined to happen.
I Say Yericho, You Say Yereicho
Friday, July 8, 2022
Watch out for that חיריק
(Note that there is an additional significant difference in the vowel underneath the ק. But for ספרדים, that might be insignificant.)
What land was Sichon king of?
Just do it! ... again
Flee Market
ויקח קרח
Any thoughts? (We can start with if he's correct, and if so why.)

ירמיה מח לד
!!!יהץ!!!