Monday, May 07, 2012

The trup and parsing of מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ

Summary: Shadal wishes to interpret is against the trup. Read on and see if you can make heads or tails of it. I quite likely messed it up. So, currently, consider this a work in progress.

Post: On the pasuk:

2. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: The Lord's appointed [holy days] that you shall designate as holy occasions. These are My appointed [holy days]:ב. דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם מוֹעֲדֵי ה אֲשֶׁר תִּקְרְאוּ אֹתָם מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ אֵלֶּה הֵם מוֹעֲדָי:
Shadal writes:


"See Yeshaya 1:13:

יג  לֹא תוֹסִיפוּ, הָבִיא מִנְחַת-שָׁוְא--קְטֹרֶת תּוֹעֵבָה הִיא, לִי; חֹדֶשׁ וְשַׁבָּת קְרֹא מִקְרָא, לֹא-אוּכַל אָוֶן וַעֲצָרָה.13 Bring no more vain oblations; it is an offering of abomination unto Me; new moon and sabbath, the holding of convocations--I cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly.
In  Rashi:

Speak to the children of Israel…The Lord’s appointed [holy days]: Designate the [times] of the festivals so that [all of] Israel will become accustomed to them, [meaning] that they should proclaim leap years for [the Jews in] the Diaspora who had uprooted themselves from their place to ascend to [Jerusalem for] the festivals, but who had not yet arrived in Jerusalem. [The leap year would enable them to arrive in time. Consequently, in ensuing years, they would not lose hope of arriving on time and would be encouraged to make the pilgrimage.]- [Torath Kohanim 23:139; Levush Ha’orah. See also Mizrachi , Nachalath Ya’akov , Sefer Hazikkaron , Yosef Hallel , Chavel]דבר אל בני ישראל וגו' מועדי ה': עשה מועדות שיהיו ישראל מלומדין בהם, שמעברים את השנה על גליות שנעקרו ממקומם לעלות לרגל ועדיין לא הגיעו לירושלים:

It appears to me that rather than saying מלומדין, it should say נועדין, see in Toras Kohanim. And in terms of the explanation of the verse, it seems to me (against the trup) that מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ is not connected to {the preceding} אֲשֶׁר תִּקְרְאוּ אֹתָם, but rather with {the following phrase} אֵלֶּה הֵם מוֹעֲדָי. That is to say, the מוֹעֲדֵי ה (the days of gathering for the sake of Hashem) {J: will be defined as the} מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ (days of gathering for holiness) אֲשֶׁר תִּקְרְאוּ (you  establish and announce) אֹתָם; and so is implied below (in pasuk 4)

4. These are the Lord's appointed [holy days], holy occasions, which you shall designate in their appointed time:ד. אֵלֶּה מוֹעֲדֵי ה מִקְרָאֵי קֹדֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר תִּקְרְאוּ אֹתָם בְּמוֹעֲדָם:

"
End quote from Shadal.

It would be good to take a step back and see how this pasuk has been parsed by the trup and by Shadal. The trup is:


The etenachta on the word קדש associates mikraei kodesh with the preceding, rather than with what follows. It then reads as The Lord's appointed [holy days] that you shall designate as holy occasions. || These are My appointed [holy days].

But, if mikraei kodesh were separate, and bound with what follows, then we could get: The moadei Hashem are those which you establish and announce. || These {?} days of gathering for holiness, are my moadim.

Anyway, that is my best attempt at reconstruction, for now.

In his Italian translation of this pasuk, Shadal writes:
"Parla ai figli d'Israel, e di'loro: Le solennita del Signore, cui proclamerete giorni di santa convocazione [ruinione religiosa]; sono queste (dico) le mie solennita."

Which Google translate renders as:
Speak to the children of Israel, and di'loro: The solemnity of the Lord, proclaim that the days of holy convocation [ruinione religious]; are these (I say) my solemnity.

3 comments:

Dan Klein said...

Let me help you out a little with the Italian: "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, 'The solemnities [or, "solemn occasions"] of the Lord, which you will proclaim as days of holy convocation [religious meeting], these are (I say) my solemnities.'"

joshwaxman said...

Thanks! That is quite helpful. I should be able to reconstruct what Shadal is saying from this parse.

joshwaxman said...

Thanks! That is quite helpful. I should be able to reconstruct what Shadal is saying from this parse.

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