Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

I haven't really been following this thread or formulated an opinion on the
arguments being presented but for the benefit of the list members Yitzhak is
here touching on areas of digital reconstruction of text which is far from
an exact science.

James Christian

On 11 May 2010 14:32, Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 11:27 AM, K Randolph wrote:
> > Randall and Yitzhak:
> >
> > On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 6:35 PM, Randall Buth <randallbuth AT gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >> >
> >> > Karl apparently doesn't see that the Waw connects with the Aleph
> >> > and is therefore longer.  Note that the Aleph's left leg has a "serif"
> >> > going to the right and down, unlike all other Alephs...
> >>
> >
> > I have a .pdf file from Tim Hegg with a photograph of the scrap. I
> noticed
> > that the writer did not have the most even of hand writing, but that his
> > waws were noticeably longer than his yods, and in the verse in question,
> > that the yod stops short of reaching the aleph. In other words, there is
> a
> > noticeable gap between the yod and the aleph.
>
> I assume you are speaking of this pdf file:
> http://www.torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/Ps22.16.pdf
>
> This is the same photo as the second one of the Nahal Hever Psalms
> scroll in the link I posted.
>
> If you will view the photo under magnification, you will see that a few
> darker
> pixels of the upper portion of the Waw and the Aleph touch each other.  It
> is
> only a few pixels, and the lighter pixels around them mean that under low
> magnification the display averages them up as a gap, but the darker pixels
> do connect both parts.
>
> However, more to the point, the Aleph's leg at the point twists at an
> angle.
> In all other Alephs, the leg is a straight line, but here the twist
> comes exactly
> at the point where the Waw's line would be expected to continue.  This is
> an
> important clue that there is indeed a Waw.  The Waw may not be visible
> as a straight dark line due to various factors -- the ink may have
> worn out, the
> lighting arrangement used for the photo may be deceiving, etc.  This is why
> it is important to take all clues into consideration when trying to
> decipher a
> text, and also why it is important to see the text firsthand and to compare
> several photos (done with different lighting arrangements) for the
> best results.
> Naturally, it may be hard to actually see the text firsthand, but this only
> underscores the importance of taking all other clues and using as many
> photos as possible.  In the end, the twist in the Aleph's leg is best
> explained
> as the lower portion of the Waw.
>
> In addition, the publication of these fragments often includes a detailed
> discussion of the paleography and it is important to read these comments
> by people who did have the opportunity to inspect the fragment directly.
>
> > Are you taking post-Biblical Hebrew and applying it to Biblical Hebrew,
> > again?
>
> Actually, Karl, I think your reading here of yr)y is taking English and
> applying it to Biblical Hebrew, again.
>
> Yitzhak Sapir
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