Parshiyos with a common shoresh

My 4^th grade daughter came home with an extra credit question last week - to name the פרשיות that share a common שורש. This is a particularly fun exercise (for those who find this kind of thing fun) because you start out thinking it won't be so many but in the end, there are a lot. Here's what I found:

לך לך
וילך

וירא
וארא
ראה

חיי שרה
ויחי

ויצא
כי תצא

וישלח
בשלח
שלח לך

בא
כי תבא

משפטים
שופטים

תצוה
צו

כי תשא
נשא

בחוקתי
חוקת

Some statistics: two instance of a group of three, only one pairing that appears within the same ספר.

Did I miss any? Is there a case to be made that במדבר and דברים share commonality?

ט"ו בשבט הגיע

Ok, I'm not sure why this has never bothered me as much as it has this year but that's just the way things go sometimes. It seems no matter where you go, where you turn, the name of this holiday is misspelled. Now, I have long believed that there can never be an absolute set of rules for Hebrew transliteration but I think the misspelling of this holiday speaks to a lack of understanding of one of the rules of דקדוק and so, while I stand on my soap box, I should probably take the opportunity to explain the situation.

So, for starters, I believe it should be Tu BiShvat. I have very rarely seen it spelled that way. I see plenty of B'Shevat, BeShevat, etc. Kudos to BaltimoreJewishLife.com for modifying the title of this article to reflect the correct spelling.

Interesting fact: Shevat is the only month in our calendar that begins with a שוא underneath the first letter. As a general rule (with very few exceptions) a שוא underneath the first letter of a word is a שוא נע. The common prefix for "in" or "of" is בְּ, with a שוא under the ב. So, six months ago we had Tu BeAv. However, there is a rule that a word may not begin with two consecutive שוא's. (One day, I plan to dedicate a post to why very often the change from a וְ to a וַ is not מעכב because of this rule.) So, to accommodate this rule the vowel underneath the ב becomes a חיריק. Consequently, because the ש is no longer the first letter, the שוא also becomes a שוא נח. And so we have BiShvat.

Songs that get it wrong

I figured on the heels of my recent (re-)post about the mistake in הרחמן הוא יקים it might be fun to compile a list of songs which commonly include mispronounced words. (Have to admit, partly inspired by this video.) We'll start with this one and another one in the comments of the source of that post. I'll add to the main list as I receive suggestions through comments or by email.

RED = חירוף וגידוף alert!

Proper pronunciation:	Commonly mispronounced:
הרחמן הוא יקים לנו את סוכת דוד הַנֹּפֶלֶת	הַנֹּפָלֶת
טוב לי תורת פיך מאלפי זהב וָכָסֶף	וָכֶסֶף
הנה אנכי שלח לכם את אליה הנביא	אליהו הנביא
הוֹדוֹ על ארץ ושמים	הוֹדוּ
ברוך הוא אלקינו שֶׁבְּרָאָנוּ לכבודו	שֶׁבָּרָאנוּ
מי כמוך בעל גבורות	בל גבורות
וְקוֹיֵ ה' יחליפו כח	וְקוֹוֵי (Sorry, Dedi) ** UPDATE: Sorry, Dedi, again. It seems this exact text is not so clear-cut.

To correct, or not to correct

I have had a number of people point me to a recent article discussing a פסק that declared that one should not correct בעלי קריאה because the embarrassment caused is more grave (דאורייתא) than an incorrect laining (דרבנן). Here is a reference the article. The original essay was written for the Techumin publication of the Tzomet Institute is only available for ₪ 15.

My thoughts are as follows: It is an interesting פסק in a "general sense." But it shouldn't apply in most situations. The בעלי קריאה in our shul, for instance, want to be corrected. And I dare say any decent בעל קריאה should. 

As for extra sensitive individuals such as Bar Mitzvah boys, I have already seen discussion along those lines suggesting that it is best to "lower the bar" for such situations to avoid embarrassment.

It also should be noted that the calculation involved here is not so simple. True, the heckling of corrections might cause some embarrassment on the spot. But if mistakes are allowed to go uncorrected, what will ensue after the fact in the way of murmurings, slander or any other type of undesirable behaviour?

Another point made to me by a reader: Where does this end? Suppose a ש"צ skipped יעלה ויבא. What then? I'd certainly like ot get my hands on the original text.
 

Chatafs

I was recently asked by someone about the proper pronunciation of חטף vowels. It has always been my understanding that the חטף vowels can essentially be pronounced either way. Take מרדכי, for example. There is a חטף קמץ under the ד. Most people pronounce it as a שוא but I have heard some pronounce it more like a קמץ. However, I recently saw a puzzling line (highlited below) in the משנה ברורה סעיף ה, ס"ק  ב which throws that notion into question. He seems to indicate that the pronounciation of the חטף vowel is like neither of the two. Can anyone shed some light on this opinion of the משנה ברוה and anything else regarding חטף vowels?

 

 

The First עליה in מסעי

Although this is not a דקדוק issue per se, it does pertain to קריאת התורה and would be the most appropriate of my blogs to cover it.

When מטות and מסעי are read together, the עליה which joins the two פרשיות does not end at שני of מסעי but rather, it continues until שלישי. There seems to be good reason for this. מגן אברהם תכ"ח:ח cites צרור המור, stating that one must not make a break in the middle of the מסעות, the פסוקים dealing with the list of בני ישראל's resting points in the מדבר. The reason for this is that there are 42 venues, corresponding to one of the Divine names.

For 21 years leading up to 2005, this was not an issue, at least in חוץ לארץ. It came up in 2005, 2008, 2011 and now 2014 but once again will become dormant for 21 years.

When we read מסעי on its own, where do we end the first עליה? Most חומשים have שני planted smack in the middle of the מסעות. Is this not in direct contradiction with the מגן אברהם? Perhaps this issue arises already the שבת before. What do we do at מנחה and then on Monday and Thursday? Does the כהן read all the way until שלישי? There are definitely times (עקב, for example) when dancing around illegal stopping points causes us to read an abnormally large chunk, and sometimes (ואתחנן for example) even past שני, even on Monday and Thursday.

With regards to מנחה on שבת and Monday and Thursday, it appears מנהג אשכנז is not to be bothered by this. Even the מגן אברהם would agree that if we are not ultimately reading all 42 of the מסעות, there is no need to ensure they are contiguous. Nevertheless, מנהג ספרד and מנהג חב"ד is to be cautious of this even then. The לוי reads all of the מסעות and the ישראל reads 4 more פסוקים. The מנהג of Munkatcher and Barditchever חסידים is to go one step further and have the כהן read it all, so as not to stop after the very first פסוק of ויסעו מרעמסס. Those who have the כהן stop there would reason that ויסעו בני ישראל מרעמסס is repeated again and thus, the 42 מסעות are still contiguous.

However, the proper procedure on Shabbos is still up for discussion. It is not clear whether the conventional stopping point found in most חומשים should be ignored on account of the צרור המור. This issue should be brought up with your local Rav and as early as possible to give time for necessary investigation. It seems there are two options if one is to adhere to the צרור המור. The entire list of the מסעות can be read by either the כהן or the לוי.

Plural of מקוה

Check out this recent post over at Daily Leaf. In a nutshell - what is the proper plural form of מקוה?