Day 27 of the Omer

אוֹמְרִים בִּתְפִלָּה: מֶנּוּ מַאֲמָר — מֵ"ם שְׁלִישִׁית קְמוּצָה. כְּיוֹם כוּ' נֶאֱמַר — מֵם פְּתוּחָה. זָכוּר — בִּמְלאוּפם — כִּי עָפָר אֲנָחְנוּ. וּנְטַלְתַּנִי — טֵי"ת פְּתוּחָה, לַמֶד בִּשְׁבָא, תָּיו דְּגוּשָׁה פְתוּחָה. וְאַהֲבָתְךָ לֹא תָסוּר — וְלֹא אַל תָּסִיר.

In the prayer services: In the phrase מנו מאמר כיום,1 the third mem should be vocalized with a kamatz.

In the phrase ושם נאמר,861 the letter mem in the word ne’emar should be vocalized with a patach.2

In the phrase זכור כי עפר אנחנו,3 the letter chaf in the word zachur should be vocalized with a melupum.4

The word ונטלתני,5 should be vocalized as follows: The letter tes with a patach, the lamed with a shva, and the taf with a dagesh and a patach.

In the phrase beginning ואהבתך,6 the wording to be used is ואהבתך לא תסור and not ואהבתך אל תסיר.

Probing Beneath the Surface

[Continued from the above entry:]

Though the Maharash was amazed at the awesome preciseness of the Tzemach Tzedek’s memory, he was more amazed by his father’s knowledge of the works on dikduk. He asked: “Isn’t it a fact that chassidim don’t pay attention to the rules of dikduk when davenen (praying) or reading the Torah?”

The Tzemach Tzedek replied: “Davenen is one thing and reading the Torah is another. With davenen, the main concern is the inner intent…, and the mere moving of the lips constitutes the act [of prayer]. Dikduk there is not so important, except in the Reading of Shema. The Torah, by contrast, must be read according to the rules of dikduk. My grandfather the Alter Rebbe was very careful even with the cantillation — the musical intonation — of the Torah Reading. He usually read the Torah in the synagogue himself. If by chance someone else was reading and made some mistake with the cantillation, he would instruct him to repeat the whole verse.”

The Tzemach Tzedek then gave his young son the requested sum and added another ten silver rubles as a gift for the purchase of even more books.