By the Thousands

 In the עשרת הדברות, we have (כ:ו) וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לַאֲלָפִים There is a פתח under the ל. Now, under normal circumstances, a ל+פתח indicates the definite - to the, a short form of לְהַ, whereas ל+שוא would indicate the indefinite - to a. However, those rules change when the main word begins with a שוא or חטף. Since a word may not begin with two שואs, the פתח is used for the indefinite, whereas, in this case the definite would be indicated by a ל+קמץ. In a previous year, I corrected the בעל קריאה when he said לָאֲלָפִים.

Curiously, in just a couple of weeks, we will read the י"ג מידות in כי תשא. There we find (כ"ד:ז) נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים. Why does it change from לַאֲלָפִים to לָאֲלָפִים, from thousands to the thousands?

I posed this question to a WhatsApp Dikduk group. The sum of the answers I received amounts to the following: In the עשרת הדברות, the "the" is not necessary because thousands is immediately qualified by אוהבי ולשומרי מצותי. When אלפים is used in the י"ג מדות is referencing "the know" thousands, as previously explained. That is why it is in the definite form.

בעל צפון

 I was at a shiur this week where the name of this עבודה זרה was mispronounced as Ba'al Tzafon (with a קמץ under the צ). The מגיד שיעור corrected himself immediately but it got me thinking - what is the actual meaning of this name? If it is just the idol of the north, it should in fact be Tzafon. There is plenty of discussion in the commentaries about the fact that this was an עבודה זרה, but not so much the actual etymology of the name.

Someone in one of my WhatsApp Dikduk groups pointed me to a מדרש שכל טוב which explains that it is in fact a reference to the north but seems to indicate that it is similar to the word צפוני, northern, which does have a natural שוא under the צ. So the ending יו"ד is dropped but the שוא stays and that is how we have Tzefon.

While on the topic of this word, see כלי יקר דברים ב:ג regarding the connection between north, tzafon, and hidden, tzafun.