20
votes
Accepted
Why is there a dagesh in second camocha, but not in first?
It's one of 10 traditional exceptions to the rules of BeGeD KePeT recorded by the master masorete Ben Asher in his Dikdukei haTa'amim.
Minchat Shai records two homiletic explanations:
The second מי ...
- 95.6k
20
votes
Accepted
Is there a reason or pattern as to when the Torah uses אֵת instead of אֶת?
When the word stands on its own, with its own trup-mark, it's אֵת, with a tzeireh. When it's attached to the next word with a dash and therefore does not have its own trup-mark, it's אֶת, with a segol....
- 46.9k
15
votes
Is there a reason or pattern as to when the Torah uses אֵת instead of אֶת?
The word is אֵת. When the word is "joined" with the next word with a makaf "־" then they become treated as one long word, and there is no longer an accent on that syllable. Unaccented closed syllables ...
- 95.6k
12
votes
Accepted
Are these vowels?
Based off your comments, I have concluded that the symbols you are seeing are helpful aids that have been put in the Sefaria Siddur, apparently based on the Metsuda Siddur.
The three dots are to ...
- 18.5k
9
votes
Accepted
What rule governs the varying nikkud in words מִשְׁתֶּה and מִשְׁתֵּה?
When משתה is in construct state it has a tzere instead of a segol and would mean "drinking-party of" instead of just "drinking-party".
- 95.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Why are there varying vowels on proper nouns in Megillas Ester?
There are grammatical rules in general, but for your case:
It's always שושַן הבירה, otherwise שושָן.
It's always מרדכַי except on an esnachta, sof pasuk, or in exactly one case a zakeif katon ויגידו ...
- 8,799
8
votes
Accepted
Hebrew/Aramaic names with Nekudot for Mishna Tractates
Here are the mishnayos (and their titles) with nikud, based on the Kaufmann manuscript from "late 11th - mid-12th c.".
- 23.3k
7
votes
Gemara text with Nekudos
Depending on which tractate you're looking for, you could try Tuvia's who also makes his texts available online for free at e-daf.com. (It's one of the "size" options in the dropdown. Note: they don't ...
- 17.2k
7
votes
Why are there varying vowels on proper nouns in Megillas Ester?
מרדכי takes a Kamatz when it is on a hard pause (same as most nouns that have a patach or segol on the primary stress).
שושן takes a Patach when it is attached to הבירה (same as any noun ending in a ...
- 95.6k
7
votes
Vowels in tefilat Hashachar
This kind of vowelization doesn't appear anywhere in the Tanach, because nouns in semichut, or which mark possession, can never have a definite article in front of them.
Dayan Levi Yitzchak Raskin, ...
- 23.8k
7
votes
In Parshas Chukas, why is first mention of Parah Adumah "פָרָה" instead of "פָּרָה"?
Generally, when a word ends in a vowel sound, without a pausal cantillation note on that word, the first letter in the next word loses its dagesh. Usually, the rule is stated in terms of the previous ...
- 46.9k
6
votes
According to Chazal, does Beged Kefet matter?
Rav Saadiah Gaon writes in Chapter 2 of his commentary to Sefer Yetzirah lays down the correct pronunciation of the Hebrew letters, saying that not only is there בגד־כפת letters, but that even the ר ...
- 9,691
6
votes
Accepted
What is the dot in this vav?
It's a Dagesh Forte which indicates gemination of the consonant "w". So the word would be read something like Yiwwadha' with a prolonged /w/ sound.
The word is in passive future third-person ...
- 95.6k
6
votes
Difference in Nikkud for לא כי in Torah and Mishna
The letters בגדכפת take a Dagesh Kal at the start of a word, unless they follow a word ending in אהוי. There are four major exceptions to this rule when the Dagesh Kal is there even after a word ...
- 95.6k
6
votes
Are there "don't read X but Y" that differentiate between Tzere and Segol or Patach and Kamatz?
If you're willing to accept a drasha that doesn't explicitly use the words אל תקרי, then Shekalim 6:6 should qualify:
זֶה מִדְרָשׁ דָּרַשׁ יְהוֹיָדָע כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל, (ויקרא ה) אָשָׁם הוּא אָשֹׁם ...
- 8,799
5
votes
Etnachta on גֶשם vs. גָשם
The word גשם occurs at an etnachta only in Prov 25:23, where it has a kamatz. It occurs at a sof pasuk four times (1 Kings 18:41, 18:44, Zech 14:17, Eccl 12:2), each time with a kamatz. All ...
- 8,696
5
votes
Why דָּת in Esther but דַּת in kidushin?
Shadal, while commenting on the word זמרת in Exodus 15:2, discusses cases where there is a kamats instead of the expected patach (or other reduction) in smikhut. The cases he mentions are:
Isaiah 11:...
- 8,696
5
votes
Niqqud of the name of the מהר"ץ חיות
"Chajes" is not the English version of the name, but the German version, which would point to a pronunciation of "חַיֶס". In Hebrew, though, there's a vav, which it seems was pronounced as a cholam. ...
- 28.2k
5
votes
What are the reasons or rules for the different variations in vowels on the Tetragrammaton?
The divine name YHVH is always an instance of Qere and Ketiv. The convention used for representing Qere and Ketiv is to give the consonants of the written word but point the consonants with the vowels ...
- 4,811
5
votes
Accepted
Penultimate stress of אתה
The words אתה and עתה both have "minor" pausal forms אַ֔תָּה and עַ֔תָּה, that occur only at lesser disjunctives: tipḥa x5, zaqef qaton x23, pashta x2, and revi'a x2; and in the poetic books:...
- 8,696
4
votes
Can we teach reading Hebrew without using the full names of the letters and vowels?
I read the following in the introduction to the Eizer L'Seifer Movo Likrio, which is the aid to the original book Sefer Movo Likrio, which is used in Lubavitch cheiderim to teach small children the ...
- 17.7k
4
votes
Aleph with a Dagesh
In his book on Tiberian Hebrew (pp. 135ff), Geoffrey Khan suggests that in fact, the dot in the aleph is to be pronounced as a doubling of the consonant, not simply as a sign that the aleph should be ...
- 3,416
4
votes
Accepted
Why do Torah scrolls not have vowels or Trope?
The vowels and cantillations are part of the Oral Torah, and were thus to be memorized and transmitted from generation to generation. Only when we (relatively recently) began writing down the Oral ...
- 6,434
4
votes
Accepted
What rule governs the nekuda under the words אֶת and אֵת?
If the word את has its own Taam (trop) then it will be אֵת - with צירי-
But if it has no taam of its own, and is connected to the following word with a makaf (hyphen) then it will be אֶת - with a ...
- 6,819
4
votes
Origin of Nikkud signs names in Rabbinical literature
There's a really good paper by the great scholar Aron Dotan, called The Relative Chronology of Hebrew Vocalization and Accentuation (can be read for free after registration), where he discusses the ...
- 7,025
4
votes
Why does Artscroll indicate that the מ of למנצח should have a שוע נע?
Rav Aharon Lopiansky, in his amazing siddur called Aliyos Eliyahu, has a section on the bottom called Mesores HaTefillah. There he explains the sources for the parts of the siddur, and variant ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
Are the vowel points part of the inspired word?
The answer is, yes and no.
A Torah scroll or scroll of the prophets or miegilaos or other writings (those do exist, there is a tehilim scroll in the back room of the kotel cave) is always written ...
4
votes
Are the vowel points part of the inspired word?
The Idea in Brief
The Masoretes from the 10th Century provided the codified system of system of vowel points and accent markings of the received Hebrew text. They assigned the vowels and accent marks ...
- 1,539
4
votes
Accepted
Why is there no דגש in the ת in the word "וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם"?
The correct verb form without the and should be: כְּתַבְתָּם – inscribe them. Although in second person plural the kamatz shortens to a sheva na, the tav won't receive a dagesh, because it doesn't ...
- 7,025
4
votes
Accepted
Pausal form with a non-pausal cantillation mark
According to the article Exegesis and Pausal Forms with Non-Pausal Accents in the Hebrew Bible by Dr James D. Price, there are a few such examples. He lists:
Munaḥ (prose books): Judg 9:36 (הִנֵּה־...
- 8,696
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