----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
>
...>
> You haven't looked at very many, then.
You're right, I haven't seen very many. Those that I have
seen tend to teach towards and ideal, which is often
transgressed in practice.
> All the ones I have seen, including
> the ones I base my teaching on, explain what the points are and how to use
> them cautiously, but they also explain something that you don't seem to
> grasp: as far as we can tell, the pronunciation tradition that the points
> preserve goes back MUCH further than the Masoretes themselves,
I keep saying that the Masoretic points represent a
snapshot on a tradition going back a thousand years
earlier. How much longer do you want?
However, they are a snapshot on an evolving tradition,
where some now question if we correctly understand
and pronounce those points.
> and can tell
> us much about how the generations going back to who knows when pronounced
> the
> text. And there are plenty of us who don't see reading without points as a
> "graduation." You assume this is a better way because it's the way you
> chose, but I have yet to see an adequate justification for it. From what I
> have seen over the past several months or so, your "graduation" has brought
> you to absurd readings, unlikely definitions, and thorough befuddlement.
> I'll pass, thank you.
>
> --
> Dave Washburn
>http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> "Maybe I'll trade it for a new hat."
You attribute to my not reading with points conclusions
that I have come to when I was still reading the text with
points. I have explicitly stated those conclusions apart
from any mention of points. That you confuse those issues
sounds like an example of ... well, I won't go there.
Karl W. Randolph.
--
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