Published August 12, 2010
D’varim 16:18 First pasuk in Sho-f’tim:
... LISH-VA- TECHA
V’SHA-F’TU
...
This is tricky. The VET in LISH-VA- TECHA is often pronounced as a FEI, LISH-FA-TECHA (which is wrong - it means “to your judges”, not “to your tribes”, as it is supposed to mean). The reason it might come out wrong is that the SHIN is a voiceless letter and it is more natural that the following letter also be voiceless (like a FEI, rather than a VET). Also, the next word, V’SHA-F’TU has the SHIN FEI sequence, which is more natural.
In D’varim 20:19, we have an example of a word with a MAPID HEI that if it is not properly voiced, the meaning of the word changes. EITZAH (her - the city’s - trees). EITZA, advice.
SHO-F’TIM revisited.
There are many words that fit this topic, but we choose SHO-F’TIM and SHO-T’RIM as the examples, for the obvious reason.
Many people will break these words into syllables, like this: SHOF and TIM and SHOT (rhymes with boat) and RIM. Wrong. Doesn’t change the meaning of the words, but still.
SHIN/CHOLOM is the first syllable of each of these two words. The next letter with a SH’VA begins the second syllable and the SH’VA is NA. F’TIM and T’RIM. Siddurim that mark SH’VA NA are helpful for this kind of word.
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