The Age of Trup -- part xxv

Shadal continues his Vikuach Al Chochmat HaKabbalah. (See previous segment.) Here he discusses whether the nikkud and trup, while not agreeing with the Talmud Bavli, consistently agrees with the Yerushalmi.


The guest: You have said correctly.

And behold, we have already seen that the nikkud and trup do not always agree with the opinion of Chazal, the Tannaim and Amoraim, and the authors of Targum.

The author: Perhaps they did not rely on the words of the Talmud Bavli because the authors of nikkud were Sages of Tiberias, and they are residents of Eretz Yisrael, and perhaps they attached themselves to the words of the Talmud Yerushalmi. And I have already found a support to this in the verse {Shemot 30:23, in Ki Tisa}:

כג וְאַתָּה קַח-לְךָ, בְּשָׂמִים רֹאשׁ, מָר-דְּרוֹר חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת, וְקִנְּמָן-בֶּשֶׂם מַחֲצִיתוֹ חֲמִשִּׁים וּמָאתָיִם; וּקְנֵה-בֹשֶׂם, חֲמִשִּׁים וּמָאתָיִם.

23 'Take thou also unto thee the chief spices, of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty,

that even that the opinion of the Talmud Bavli is against the trup, still in Yerushalmi (Shekalim perek 6) we find the explanation which accords with the trup.

The guest: Do not say that the trup with Talmud Bavli specifically, for still the explanation which disagrees with the trup is not the words of a Babylonian Amora, but rather the words of a brayta (tno Rabanan), and every brayta is the words of the Sages of Eretz Yisrael. If so, the Sages of Eretz Yisrael themselves were divided in the matter, and the masters of the trup chose for themselves one of the two opinions (the one which sat better upon the simple meaning of the Scriptures).

And know that we also find that the masters of Nikkud argue on the words of the Yerushalmi, for in Ovadiah, they place the end of the pasuk after the word mikatel. {That is, in Ovadiah 1:9-10:

ט וְחַתּוּ גִבּוֹרֶיךָ, תֵּימָן, לְמַעַן יִכָּרֶת-אִישׁ מֵהַר עֵשָׂו, מִקָּטֶל.	9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter.
י מֵחֲמַס אָחִיךָ יַעֲקֹב, תְּכַסְּךָ בוּשָׁה; וְנִכְרַתָּ, לְעוֹלָם.	10 For the violence done to thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

and in Yerushalmi (Peah perek 1) they read מִקָּטֶל מֵחֲמַס אָחִיךָ יַעֲקֹב. And so too in the West {=Eretz Yisrael} they divided this verse into three verses: {Shemot 19:9, in Yitro}

ט וַיֹּאמֶר ה אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי בָּא אֵלֶיךָ בְּעַב הֶעָנָן, בַּעֲבוּר יִשְׁמַע הָעָם בְּדַבְּרִי עִמָּךְ, וְגַם-בְּךָ יַאֲמִינוּ לְעוֹלָם; וַיַּגֵּד מֹשֶׁה אֶת-דִּבְרֵי הָעָם, אֶל-ה.

9 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee for ever.' And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.

and even so, the masters of nikkud only made it a single verse. And more than this, we find in the Mechilta that they would read {in Shemot 15:8, in Beshalach}

ח וּבְרוּחַ {ר} אַפֶּיךָ נֶעֶרְמוּ מַיִם, {ס} נִצְּבוּ כְמוֹ-נֹד {ר} נֹזְלִים; {ס} קָפְאוּ תְהֹמֹת, בְּלֶב-יָם. {ס}

8 And with the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were piled up--the floods stood upright as a heap; the deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.

{reading nod} and the masters of nikkud made the vowel points neid with a tzeirei.

And also in Torat Kohanim they attached {in Vayikra 15:23, in Metzorah} בְּנָגְעוֹ-בוֹ יִטְמָא עַד-הָעָרֶב and the masters of trup separated בְּנָגְעוֹ-בוֹ with an etnachta.

{That pasuk is:

כג וְאִם עַל-הַמִּשְׁכָּב הוּא, אוֹ עַל-הַכְּלִי אֲשֶׁר-הִוא יֹשֶׁבֶת-עָלָיו--בְּנָגְעוֹ-בוֹ: יִטְמָא, עַד-הָעָרֶב.

23 And if he be on the bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.

}