Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
> There is no difference between the Massoretic dots and the consonantal 
> text,
> as far as questioning them.  Both come from the same source, both were
> transmitted by the same people, and both were susceptible to similar
> textual problems, and linguistic developments.


Dear Yitzhak,

I'm surprised by this statement of yours. The consonantal text is the text 
that was written by the "original" authors, and it was the text that was 
passed down and copied (or mis-copied) for centuries. The Masoretic dots are 
a much later Medieval addition to the text, reflecting the tradition that 
the Tiberian Mesoretes had "recieved" about how the text was to be read. 
While I do not share Karl's total disdain of this tradition, there are some 
cases in which the Mesoretes apparently got it wrong. Any proposed 
"correction" of the text that "only" involves changing the vocalization is 
much easier to assume than one which involves unattested changes in the 
consonantal text.


> The fact is that the accuracy of both must be evaluated appropriately
> after a full understanding of what the text conveys in the current
> form is achieved.

Amen to that.

Yigal Levin