All Questions
16 questions
0
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Ribono Shel Olam pronunciation
I haven't studied Hebrew in 50 years and cannot read it anymore. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions on how I can get the pronunciation of Rabbi Nachman's phrase "Ribono Shel Olam" both ...
- 31
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
Why is hebrew, the holy language, so messy?
Something that has always bothered me and I've never really understood is why Hebrew is so messy. If it is the language of G-d, the language in which the world was created and the language in which ...
- 4,666
0
votes
1
answer
276
views
ד mi yodeya (the pronunciation)?
The gemara (Brachoth 13b) records that one is supposed to draw out the ד of "אחד" in the first verse of the Shema:
.תניא: סומכוס אומר: כל המאריך באחד מאריכין לו ימיו ושנותיו
אמר רב אחא בר ...
- 17.9k
2
votes
0
answers
190
views
ג (gimel) mi yodeya (the pronunciation)?
From a halachik perspective, what are the correct ways to pronounce the ג (gimel)? Are there variant traditions? Is there an academic/linguistic opinion on how it was most likely pronounced from the ...
- 17.9k
5
votes
2
answers
208
views
ב (bet) mi yodeya (the pronunciation)?
What are the correct ways to pronounce the ב (bet)? Are there variant traditions? Is there an academic/linguistic opinion on how it was most likely pronounced from the time of the giving of the Torah ...
- 17.9k
3
votes
1
answer
166
views
א mi yodeya (the pronunciation)?
What is the correct way to pronounce the א (aleph)? Are there variant traditions? Is there an academic/linguistic opinion on how it was most likely pronounced from the time of the giving of the Torah ...
- 17.9k
6
votes
2
answers
651
views
The letter Dalet
The fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is "dalet" and not "daled." Why, then, do Ashkenazi Jews not pronounce it as "dales." I have heard an answer that "dales" sounds too much like "dalus", ...
- 627
15
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Have any of you ever heard anyone pronouncing ayin as "ng"?
I have read that historically the letter ayin was pronounced by some Dutch, Portuguese, and Italian Jews as a velar nasal consonant (ng as in sing). Reference to this can be found here, here, and here....
- 5,577
4
votes
2
answers
353
views
Are there any letters that do not have a distinct pronunciation?
Are there any two letters which do not have a distinction between their pronunciation in any tradition of pronunciation? To ask the inverse, is there at least one tradition of pronunciation for each ...
- 59.1k
7
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How do I pronounce "yod" when there is a dot inside of it?
I'm trying to brush up on my Hebrew. As an American Jew, it is still important to me to be able to recite my prayers from the siddur in their original Hebrew.
How do I pronounce "yod" when there is a ...
- 159
5
votes
2
answers
980
views
Correcting tav/sav
If someone who usually pronounces the letter "ת" without a dagesh as "sav" is leining Torah, and he accidentally says "tav" in a place where he would normally say "sav", should the gabbai correct him? ...
- 25.1k
8
votes
1
answer
885
views
How to pronounce the name of the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet?
I have heard mixed answers as to how to pronounce the letter תּ
Is it taf or tav?
(I'm referring to the halachic pronunciation not the common street way.)
Is there a difference between Ashkenazi or ...
- 21.5k
6
votes
0
answers
227
views
Good resource for learning vowel pronunciation
In trying to improve my leyning, I'm trying to get the finer points of vowel pronunciation down.
What is a good resource to learn, e.g., the difference between a patach and chataf-patach or a ...
- 6,946
12
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Why shin and sin?
Why does Hebrew use the same letter to represent two different sounds: shin and sin? As far as I know, with the exception of when using a dagesh kal, no other Hebrew letter has this property.
- 4,008
7
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Silent aleph (no, I mean really silent)
Please explain what is going on with the letter Aleph in certain places in Tanakh (e.g. the second to last word of Devarim 3:12, the first word of Tehillim 34:10), where the Aleph contributes neither ...
- 4,008
23
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Relationship between Samekh and Sin
What is the relationship between the letters samekh and sin? Did they ever have distinct sounds? Why do they exist as separate letters?
- 4,008