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Is the prayer we recite on Yom Kippur night pronounced "Kal Nidre" (with a kamatz) or "Kol Nidre" (with a חולם)?

I've heard in the name of one of the Posekei Hador, Harav Bension Musafi, that it doesn't make sense to call it "Kol Nidre" as it is in Aramaic, but most of the Siddurim write Kol. What do the sources have to say?

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    Harav Musafi says that there's no qamatz qatan in Aramaic?? That's clearly false; not only that, but the full spelling of כל is with a waw: כול. There is a Canaanite shift, whereby a long a-vowel becomes an o-vowel (eg: Aramaic כתב = Hebrew כותב), but that doesn't mean that you can work backwards, turning all Hebrew o-vowels into long a-vowels for Aramaic.
    – Shimon bM
    Aug 27, 2013 at 4:35
  • @ShimonbM I've heard it in his name but not from him directly. Aug 27, 2013 at 4:40
  • How do you pronounce the a and o in those words? Either please include a recording, or write the names of the vowels you are trying to denote.
    – Double AA
    Aug 27, 2013 at 4:46
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    For Ashkenazim, and most others, it should be pronounced like "call", with a non-NY accent. For Syrians, it should be like the first syllable in "California".
    – Seth J
    Aug 28, 2013 at 12:02
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    That is to say, you have the right idea, which is that Aramaic doesn't have a Kametz Katon.
    – Seth J
    Aug 28, 2013 at 12:04

3 Answers 3

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Here is an image from the Machzor of Worms (from the 13th century) with Kal rather than Kol: enter image description here

However, please consider that it is written in a hodgepodge of Hebrew and Aramaic. Do you think that the word מיום כיפורים זה and הבא עלינו לטובה or שבועות are Aramaic?

Ultimately, as long as we have the correct intent and are saying what has been established as a nusach, I cannot really see myself bothered one way or the other.

An additional point. In Daniel, which contains Biblical Aramaic, we see kol. Thus, in Daniel 4:3: וּמִנִּי, שִׂים טְעֵם, לְהַנְעָלָה קָדָמַי, לְכֹל חַכִּימֵי בָבֶל: דִּי-פְשַׁר חֶלְמָא, יְהוֹדְעֻנַּנִי.

However, two pesukim later, with a makef introduced, we have kal: בֵּלְטְשַׁאצַּר, רַב חַרְטֻמַּיָּא--דִּי אֲנָה יִדְעֵת דִּי רוּחַ אֱלָהִין קַדִּישִׁין בָּךְ, וְכָל-רָז לָא-אָנֵס לָךְ; חֶזְוֵי חֶלְמִי דִי-חֲזֵית וּפִשְׁרֵהּ, אֱמַר.

If we trust the Masoretes for their vocalization of Aramaic, then this would should that there is indeed Kol in Aramaic. Which in turn would undermine the entire premise of the question.

By the way, at least in Hebrew, the kamatz of kal is a kamatz katan, pronounced almost like or identical to a cholam. In which case, there would not really be much a difference. Would this extend to Aramaic? Maybe not.

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    Re your last paragraph, see Hacham Gabriel's comment on his own question, where he quotes a "תשובה". (Note there's no makaf in "כל עצמותי תאמרנה".)
    – msh210
    Aug 28, 2013 at 4:39
  • Another point, Daniel 4:3 has ג וּמִנִּי, שִׂים טְעֵם, לְהַנְעָלָה קָדָמַי, לְכֹל חַכִּימֵי בָבֶל: דִּי-פְשַׁר חֶלְמָא, יְהוֹדְעֻנַּנִי. 3 Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known unto me the interpretation of the dream. Aug 28, 2013 at 6:23
  • While 4:6 has a makef and ו בֵּלְטְשַׁאצַּר, רַב חַרְטֻמַּיָּא--דִּי אֲנָה יִדְעֵת דִּי רוּחַ אֱלָהִין קַדִּישִׁין בָּךְ, וְכָל-רָז לָא-אָנֵס לָךְ; חֶזְוֵי חֶלְמִי דִי-חֲזֵית וּפִשְׁרֵהּ, אֱמַר. 6 O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret causeth thee trouble, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. Aug 28, 2013 at 6:26
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There are a few Sephardic communities which have a tradition to pronounce every qames in Aramaic as qames gadhol: e.g., kal nidre. (Even fewer retain this only in certain common phrases, like kal nidre, but there is probably no basis for this.) This may have developed as an over-correction: people had to be careful to say "ʿalam" and not "ʿolam" so they also said kal and not kol. In all other communities Aramaic has the same rules for qames-qatan as Hebrew does. Beware! that many siddurim spell kol and similar words with a qames but neglect to include the maqqeph. This causes people to err because they think the word has independent stress and therefore the qames must be gadhol. In such places, one should use kol with qames qatan despite the lack of maqqeph. In Ps. 35:10, most traditions consider the qames to be qames gadhol because the word has an accent. In Isaiah 40:12 wekhal with qames gadhol is a verb, and does not mean "all".

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Every qamatz at the last syllable with maqaf and another word must be qamats qatan, otherwise the baale hamassora would place a taam miqra in the word "kol".

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  • Ok. But is there a Taam Mikra under the word כל in this case?
    – Double AA
    Oct 1, 2014 at 20:21

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