Dear Vadim, >To begin with, haburah is a different word from havurah, since otherwise you >cannot account for hatef (ex-kamatz) in havurah. HH: The hatef is there because of the 3ms pronominal suffix that has been added to XBRH in Isa 53:5. When you add a pronoun suffix, it often reduces the first vowel of the noun. Yours, Harold Holmyard