The famous Morid HaGeshem vs. Goshem debate as it relates to Morid HaTal

Question

Just to establish some basic grammar rules quickly - if a word starts with two segols and is the end of a sentence, the first segol is often changed to a kamatz (one example of many in the Torah: Yefes turns into Yufes when the note is an esnachta or it's a sof passuk). Similarly, a patach will be changed to a kamatz if it's the end of a sentence (maaluh --> muluh).

There's a famous debate among poskim quoted in several answers to this question about whether the line of Mashiv HaRuach ends in Morid HaGeshem or Morid HaGushem, a segol under the gimmel or a kamatz. However it seems to be more or less universal among those who say Morid HaTal to say it with a kamatz under the tess (Morid HaT-uh-l instead of Morid HaT-ah-l). Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach is quoted in a Dirshu Mishna Brurah note in Siman 114 as saying it should be a patach but every siddur I've seen has it as a kamatz. Assuming there's basis for pronouncing Tul with a kamatz, which indicates that whatever line you're saying before Mechalkel is separate and has a stoppage before Mechalkel, why would you say Morid HaGeshem with a segol, which implies the line continues into Mechalkel? As it happens, R' SZ Aurbach is quoted in that same Dirshu note as saying it should be Geshem with a segol, so the question would not be on him, but most siddurim have the pronunciation of Geshem with a segol and Tul with a Kamatz.

Answer 1

This answer is from Emes L'Yaakov Al HaTorah, p. מ״ו-מ״ז.

First of all, it seems the custom of the Stoliner Chasidim is indeed to say "tal" with a patach, as you would have expected.

But the reason to differentiate between "geshem" and "tul" is that "tul" goes with the previous phrase and ends it, because "tul" is involved in the mechanism of techiyas hameisim (cf. Isaiah 26:19), whereas "geshem" is at the beginning of a list of other gevuros of Hashem.

Answer 2

In Mishnaic Hebrew, segolates completely lack a pausal form. Their vowels remain the same regardless of their position in a sentence. When the phrase משיב הרוח ומוריד הגשם was first instituted, the final word was pronounced הַגֶּשֶׁם, without a Kamatz.

There’s a wider debate regarding whether blessings and parts of the liturgy that were authored using Mishnaic Hebrew, should be pronounced as if they were written using Biblical Hebrew. That debate is the same reason that, in the blessing over wine, most Ashkenazim say הַגָּפֶן with a Kamatz, while Sephardim pronounce it with two Segols.

The reason most Ashkenazim pronounce הגשׁם with a Kamatz, is because it probably does come at the end of a sentence; thus, if it were Biblical Hebrew, we would all pronounce it with a Kamatz. However, as mentioned, the word’s position didn’t matter in Mishnaic Hebrew.

This debate does not apply to the word הַטָּל. In the summer months, the entire phrase of משיב הרוח is replaced by מוריד הטל. If the word “הגשׁם” is at the end of a sentence, so is הטל. A stressed Patach vowel, unlike segolates, does have a pausal form in Mishnaic Hebrew, in which the Patach lengthened to a Kamatz.

Thus, according to the majority opinion that this phrase occurs at the end of a sentence, the word הטל would have a Kamatz. According to the minority opinion that it instead begins the next sentence, it would have a Patach.