Monday, June 02, 2008

Naso: The Trup on Umichsei HaTachash

In the beginning of parshat Naso, besides counting the tribe of Levi, we receive details of each of their burdens. One pasuk states:
כה וְנָשְׂאוּ אֶת-יְרִיעֹת הַמִּשְׁכָּן, וְאֶת-אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, מִכְסֵהוּ, וּמִכְסֵה הַתַּחַשׁ אֲשֶׁר-עָלָיו מִלְמָעְלָה; וְאֶת-מָסַךְ--פֶּתַח, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד. 25 they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of sealskin that is above upon it, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting;
The trup of that pasuk is:
וְנָ֨שְׂא֜וּ אֶת־יְרִיעֹ֤ת הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ וְאֶת־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד מִכְסֵ֕הוּ וּמִכְסֵ֛ה הַתַּ֥חַשׁ אֲשֶׁר־עָלָ֖יו מִלְמָ֑עְלָה וְאֶ֨ת־מָסַ֔ךְ פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃

and Shadal notes that
ומכסה התחש : הטעמים הפוכים, וצ"ל מרכא תביר: ומכסה התחש.
and I would have to say that he is, with little doubt, correct. After all, the zakef on moed, the zakef on michseihu, and the tipcha on alav each are disjunctive accents which divide the first half of the pasuk, one after the other. Thus, וּמִכְסֵה הַתַּחַשׁ אֲשֶׁר-עָלָיו is a phrase. And logically, and grammatically, it seems that וּמִכְסֵה הַתַּחַשׁ is one unit, the covering made of sealskin. It would not make much sense to divide it there. It should be:

and the covering of sealskin that is above upon it

becoming:

and the covering of sealskin that is above
upon it

becoming:

and the covering of sealskin
that is above

as written without Shadal's correction, the dichotomy would be:
and the covering of
sealskin that is above

Graphically, the distinction is as follows:
As written:






and with Shadal's correction:



There is a very fine distinction, which you can see by clicking on each image. To keep words together, I use periods, so the latter has umichsei.hatachash while the former has umichsei to the left then a space, and hatachash.asher.alav to the right.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, in line with the JPS translation of "the covering of the dolphin skin that is on top of it", I would have expected:
munah, zaqef, tifha, etnachta

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that a slight alteration to the JPS test would make the translation conform to the trup as written:
and the covering of (=formed by) the dolphin skins that were on top of it

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