HEBREW: THE RULES OF SHEVA NA AND SHEVA NACH FOR CANTOR AND TORAH READERS

RULES OF SHEVA NA AND SHEVA NACH ATTRIBUTED TO RABBI ELIYAHU HALEVI BACHUR

R. Eliyahu Halevi Ashkenazi (1468-1549), also known as Elias Levita or Eliyahu Bachur, was a fascinating but controversial scholar, enigmatic mystic and master grammarian who emerged during the Renaissance. He was a father of Hebrew grammar.

PREFACE

Hebrew vowels and cantillation marks were first introduced to Hebrew Scriptures during the Tiberian Period in 750 C.E. to 950 C.E. led by Aharon Ben Asher. The Aleppo Codex was written in Tiberia but smuggled to Alexandria, Egypt and from there to Aleppo, Syria. People were losing more and more of the knowledge of the pronunciation and cantillation of the Bible as time went on. So the Tiberian Scholars decided to address the matter and this was a monumental task. It was already difficult enough to manually copy all of the Holy Scriptures but adding the vowels and cantillation marks was a daunting task. The were 2 or 3 set of vowels with two distinct pronunciation but shared the same visual representation. But they did not have the ability with hand copying to resolve the issue. Rabbi Bachur according to my knowledge formulated the rules but it was only with modern computer typography that we can properly distinguish visually the variations of the vowels. The two vertical dots on the far right are the Sheva Nach or “Resting Sheva” and it is silent. The one on the left which is bolder is the “Sheva Na” or “Moving Sheva” which is vocalized and sounds like the “i” in “big”.

NOTE:

This is a very advanced Hebrew topic and really only intended fro very advanced Hebrew scholars and those who read Torah and prayers before Jewish congregations in synagogues and want to get their pronunciation perfect.

In the following rules the default is Sheva Nach or silent unless one of the criteria is met.

1. Sheva is under the first letter of a word it must be Sheva Na and is pronounced. On the other hand if it falls under the last letter of a word it is Sheva Nach and not pronounced.

2. If there are two successive Shevas in a row the first one is Sheva Nach and not pronounced and the second one is Sheva Na and is pronounced.

3. If there are two successive instances of the same letter in a row with the Sheva under the first of the two letters then this Sheva is Sheva Na and must be pronounced.

4. If there is a dagesh or dot in the letter above the Sheva then the Sheva must be a Sheva Na and is pronounced.

5. When the letter with the Sheva comes after a Tnuah Ketana (minor movement) that is not stressed then the Sheva is a Sheva Na and is pronounced. This also incorporates the law of twos. The law of twos helps us identify the vowels with 2 parts to trigger the identification of the Sheva Na. This is the Cholam, Shuruk, tsereh, Qamatz but not Qamatz Kattan because that is stressed, and the Sheva again although we already took care of it with number 2 above. And there are two outliers of the Cholam Haser which is essentially another cholam but missing and when you have a chirik for one and followed by a yod for two. See each of the examples in the right focusing on the vowel before the Sheva Na.

ANOTHER POINT FOR THE MOST ADVANCED TORAH READERS THAT BOTHERS ME AND FEW PEOPLE DO THIS CORRECTLY – RAFEH OR WEAK WITH SHEVA NACH

This is the case with the definitive not followed by a letter with a dagesh. This is called the “Rafeh” or weak. In all of the following examples on the right there is no dagesh in the letter with the sheva nach and therefore the sheva must be silent.

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HEBREW: THE RULES OF SHEVA NA AND SHEVA NACH FOR CANTOR AND TORAH READERS

HEBREW: THE RULES OF SHEVA NA AND SHEVA NACH FOR CANTOR AND TORAH READERS

RULES OF SHEVA NA AND SHEVA NACH ATTRIBUTED TO RABBI ELIYAHU HALEVI BACHUR

PREFACE

ANOTHER POINT FOR THE MOST ADVANCED TORAH READERS THAT BOTHERS ME AND FEW PEOPLE DO THIS CORRECTLY – RAFEH OR WEAK WITH SHEVA NACH