What different pronunciation should a Kohen give to each letter to be strict in halacha? (SA 128:33)

Question

When Halacha says that a Kohen should distinguish between all the Hebrew letters in Siman 128 Seif 33 from where it says "similar examples":

מי שאינו יודע לחתוך האותיות כגון שאומר לאלפי"ן עייני"ן ולעייני"ן אלפי"ן וכיוצא בזה לא ישא את כפיו:

One who does not know how to enunciate letters, for example one who pronounces Alephs as Ayins or Ayins as Alephs, or similar examples, should not perform the priestly blessing.

What pronunciation should the Kohen give to each letter, if he wants to be strict in Halacha?

Would historical accuracy matter even though it is not mentioned in the text. However it is impossible to even know what was the historical pronunciation and so he should just stay with his traditions' way of pronouncing?

Or would textualism matter and thus as long as the Kohen distinguishes between the letters even though historical accuracy is disregarded because either way it is impossible to be 100% sure what was the historical pronunciation? If so would would be the most appropriate way for the Kohen to distinguish if there is such thing for being appropriate? Would it be by adopting the Yemenite or Baghdad system or some other way?

Answer 1

R. Moshe Feinstein has a responsum about switching one's method of pronunciation. He notes, particularly, that Birkat Kohanim and chalitzah must be done in lashon hakodesh. He therefore argues that it must be that any pronunciation that is accepted by a significant group of Jews is considered a valid form of lashon hakodesh even though it is not historically accurate. He says that we don't know which pronunciation is the historically accurate pronunciation, and therefore one should not switch from the pronunciation he was raised with.

Igrot Moshe O.C. 3:5

ומה שנחשב שתי ההברות כל אחת מהן לשון הקדש אף שרק אחת מהן היא אמיתית הוא מטעם שאם יש קהל גדול שקורין אותן האותיות והתיבות בנקודות שבלשה"ק בהברה קבועה נחשב זה ג"כ לה"ק אף שהוא שינוי מהברה שהן דברו ושניתנה התורה

R. Joseph Ber Soloveitchik is also quoted by R. Hershel Schachter as making the argument that all pronunciations of a significant group of Israel are valid, for otherwise Birkat Kohanim would be very problematic.

Nefesh Harav p. 119

וכן הזכיר פעם בשיעוריו שבמוריה שהלא ברכת כהנים צריכה שתאמר בדוקא בלשון הקודש ובשאר לשונות הרי אין יוצאין וא"כ היאך הכהן הגליצאי או זה שיש לו הברה מאונגארען מברך קודם ב"כ ויוצא י"ח אולי אין זו ההברה הנכונה ונמצא שלא בירך בלשה"ק אלא ודאי מן ההכרח לתפוס כהנחה שכל מבטא והברה המקובלים אצל עדה גדולה מכלל ישראל דינה כלשה"ק

Thus, according to both R. Feinstein and R. Soloveitchik, a kohen need only conform to any of the accepted pronunciations, even if it is not the technically correct pronunciation.

Answer 2

While the other answers address the halachic question, I want to list the original pronunciations of some letters in Birkat Kohanim for reference:

כ was in the same part of the mouth as כּ, with a narrow space between the tongue and the roof. It sounds soft, not harsh.
ר was (probably) a trill like in Italian.
ד without dagesh was a voiced TH, like in the words "the" and "although".
ו was like W.
Be careful to pronounce א, not to skip it.
ח was made by squeezing the throat until the airway becomes narrow and then exhaling. It's soft, not a harsh sound.
(שׂ was originally pronounced by letting air around the sides of the tongue, not just over the tip. However, this pronunciation was lost so long ago that you can ignore it).

In the times of תנ״ך, the בגדכפ״ת letters only had their hard pronunciations. Their soft pronunciations did not yet exist. Thus, when this ברכה was first formulated, ב, כ, ד, and פ were always pronounced as if they had a dagesh. However, considering the fact that literally nobody pronounces Hebrew like that anymore, reciting ברכת כוהנים with such a pronunciation would make everyone around you believe that you are severely mispronouncing almost every word. I therefore suggest ignoring this paragraph in practice.

Answer 3

One may switch to a different Hebrew pronunciation whether they are Ashkenazi or Sepharadi as long as the pronunciation they are changing to is consistent. Yaskil Avdi, part 2 Orach Chaim 3; Yabia Omer, part 6, Orach Chaim 11; and Responsa Mishpitei Uziel (Orach Chaim:1).

However none of these responsa allow for one to create a new amalgamated Hebrew pronunciation that takes from different traditions. Therefore if one is concerned about making sure one pronounces in a way that follows all the rules brought down in the halakhot he should choose a pronunciation that follows all those rules. For example one is required if possible to distinguish between Alef and Ayin, Chet and Khaf, and Qof and Kaf. The distinguishing of the consonants is very important to the earliest sources on this issue. Of secondary importance is vowels, and the soft letters of of the BeGeD KeFet letters.

Every pronunciation of the Yemenite community satisfies the halakhic requirements, but there are differences in pronunciation especially when it comes to ג and ק.

The Iraqi tradition also satisfies this if one can learn from someone who has not lost the proper way of speaking.

Some Kurdish/Assyrian pronunciations also satisfy the halakhic requirements, and I learned this method.

Answer 4

This is an example of a chumra leading to a kula.

As the question asks,

What pronunciation should the Kohen give to each letter, if he wants to be strict in Halacha?

If you look in Shulchan Aruch Harav there, there are two positions about pronunciation. The "lenient" one is that if almost everyone in his place pronounces the letter in that "incorrect" manner, there is no cause for concern. The "stringent" one is that it matters regardless. The difference between the positions are whether the reason for concern is (for the "lenient") the distraction of the community that he pronounces the words in this manner, or (for the "stringent") the change in the implication of the words he is saying.

(Edit: Looking at Shulchan Aruch proper, we can tie the former reasoning to the Ta"z who speaks about it in the place where most can make the distinction, and the latter reasoning to the Magen Avraham who speaks about the change in meaning.)

If, as it being suggested, one adopts all sorts of historically accurate and precise pronunciations, which are weird and surprising to the community, then this would be a great cause for concern according to the reason for the "lenient" position. People would stare and point. The chumra here turns to a kula.

Therefore, I would say that one should not go overboard in looking for alternate pronunciations. The examples given were ayin and aleph, which are somewhat standard differences, and shin vs. sin. We need not, and should not, look to distinguish bet from bhet, or daled from dhaled. At most, maybe het from chaf. Nothing that would strike listeners as overly weird.