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  • From: Raymond de Hoop <rdehoop AT keyaccess.nl>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Ta`am `Elyon of the Decalogue
  • Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2004 19:11:38 +0100

Dear Joseph, Yigal and others,

The Ta`am `Elyon of Exodus 20, which you find in some recent editions and which have Revia at the last word of verse 2 (`avadim) is not the way Codex Leningradensis marks the Ta`am `Elyon. In the Leningradensis and in the Damascus Pentateuch you will find Silluq with Soph Passuq with the last word of verse 2 (`avadim) and indeed a Revia at the end of verse 3 (panay), while the Ta`am Tachton has Atnach at the end of verse 2 (`avadim) and at the end of verse 3 Silluq with Soph Passuq (panay). I checked this in the facsimile editions, but you also may find this in A. Dotan, Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia, Peabody (MA) 2001, pp. 109 (T.Tachton), 1227 (T.`Elyon).

The Revia on `avadim at the end of verse 2 (according to the Ta`am `Elyon), which can be found in many Jewish Bible editions, is in fact a _third_ system of accentuation. Because when you would check your BHS, you won't find Revia at the end of verse 2! This third system is a rather late development, which is not found in manuscripts, but which can be found in Miqra'ot Gedolot, Venice 1526 (my source: M. Breuer, "Division by Verses and Commandments", in: B.Z. Segal, G. Levi (eds.), _The Ten Commandments in History and Tradition_, Jerusalem 1990, pp. 291-330). In fact Revia at the end of verse 2, marking `avadim, is impossible according to the system of Te`amim, because the "Revia-unit" is preceded by a "Zaqeph Qaton-unit" or with a "Atnach-unit", which are both impossible. The other way round (Revia-unit preceding Zaqeph-unit) could be possible, while the "Atnach-unit" belongs to the Ta`am Tachton (otherwise it would preceed a "Sgolta-unit" [at the beginning of verse 5: to`ovdem]), and a second "Atnach-unit" (end verse 5 [l'son'oy]), which is impossible too.
This third system, with Revia at the end of verse 2, represents the tradition of reading the first and second commandment as one, heard directly from the mouth of G-d, and it's traces are only found at the end of the Middle Ages, at the beginning of printed Bible editions. For that reason this tradition seems to be the youngest.

The other two, Ta`am `Elyon and Ta`am Tahton, as found in the Leningradensis and other mss represent two possibilities.
Ta`am Elyon with taking verse 2 as the first davar and verse 3-6 as the second davar, etc.
Ta`am Tachton takes verse 2-3 together as one commandment and verse 4-6 as one commandment.

To make it somewhat more complicated ....
You may note that the text is also divided by means of setumot and petuchot. Verse 2-6 is considered as one "paragraph", which would result in nine commandments; but the final commandment is divided again by a setumah where we find Atnach (re`eka [not shown in BHS, but it is there in the Leningrad Codex; cf. Dotan]). This division also results in ten commandments, be it artificial; probably it is related to the third tradition which has Revia at the end of verse 2?

Kol tuv,
Raymond

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On 15 feb 2004 at 2:23 heeft Joseph I. Lauer wrote the following:

As I noted, page 415 of the ArtScroll Chumash (Stone Edition) has the
Ta'am 'Elyon for Exodus 20:2-14. The First Commandment (v. 2) and the
Second Commandment (vv. 3-6) are combined (that is, there are no colons or
other contemporary punctuation marks dividing the verses). As in other
printings of the Ta'am 'Elyon, the last word of the First Commandment, v. 2
('Avadim), has a Revi'i. In the Second Commandment, the last word of v. 3
(Panai with a Patach at the end of the word, not a Kamatz as in the Ta'am
Tahton) has a Revi'i, as does the last word of v. 4 (LaAretz). The last
word of v. 5 (L'son'oi [I'm trying to indicate a Kamatz at the end of the
word!]) is marked with an Esnahta. The Second Commandment ends (v. 6) in
both versions with a Sof Pasuk.





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