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On Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, the phrase "ויזכה לעלות לרגל" - "he should merit to go up [to the Beit Hamikdash]" is added to the end of the Mi Shebeirach after each aliyah.

I've always been bothered by the grammar of this phrase, because all of the previous phrases are of the form "He (i.e. God) should ... him" - from "ישמריהו" - "He should guard him" all the way to "וישלח ברכה והצלחה בכל מעשה ידיו" - "and He should send blessing and success to all his endeavors", but this phrase breaks the pattern, changing the subject of the phrase from God to the person.

This Sukkot, I was flipping through an old Hebrew Publishing Company machzor (copyright 1933), and I noticed that it says "וִיזַכֵּיהוּ לעלות לרגל" - "and He should give him merit...". This makes sense to me, but I've never seen it in any other source.

I'm working on reprinting my shul's gabbai's book (mostly based on the Artscroll "Gabbai's Handbook", but with notes about our customs), and I'm trying to decide whether to use the common phrasing or to copy how the old machzor has it.

I suspect that the vast majority of such changes throughout history have been done by publishers without rabbinic input (and there are some very questionable changes - almost certainly mistakes - in the Hebrew Publishing Company machzor), but I'm curious if anyone has any sources that discuss the history and/or proper wording of the Mi Shebeirachs after aliyot.

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    Google indicates ויזכהו לעלות לרגל (or ויזכם) is something other people still do. I'd love to find who's the first one who messed it up. In any event ושמתח בחגך you've taught me something new and made me very happy.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 18:28
  • There’s a Siddur that was published about 25 years ago called “siddur vilna” and is found in most shuls in the U.S. it was researched and corrected many mistakes. They have veyizkehu, not veyizkeh. Artscroll has veyizkeh
    – Chatzkel
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 19:34
  • @Chatzkel the proposal here is for "vizakehu" not "veyizkehu". the issue is the nikkud in the beginning (binyan hifil) not the suffix "hu". It should be a transitive form with God as the subject and the oleh as the object.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 19:53
  • @Chatzkel My go-to siddur for these types of questions is Siddur Aliyos Eliyahu, but it says "v'yizkeh" there and has no notes in the Masores Hatefilla about it. I'm going to try to ask Rav Lopiansky about this next time I see him.
    – Moshe Katz
    Commented Oct 12, 2022 at 19:57

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