Re: Cantillation: r'vii or geresh

[Cantor Neil & Katie Schwartz <schwartz...>]

In article <4ca7b7$b52 (at) news(dot)infi(dot)net>, samwit (at) infi(dot)net 
(Sam Wittenberg) wrote:

> Rabbi Mordecai Terebelo (mirrorib (at) aol(dot)com) email'd the following to 
> me on 
> 12/31/95:
> 
> >Does anyone have any information on the proper
> >cantillation on the word Katonti in Bereishis 32:11 some Chumashim have 
>  a
> >revii others have a Azla Geresh does anyone have any rules regarding 
> this
> >
> >Rabbi Mordecai Terebelo
> >Rabbi of Young Israel of Lawrenceville New Jersey and Ba'al Koreh 
> >
> >
> I would be interested in this myself.  Of the chumashim I have, they 
> print the cantillation for Katonti (first word of the verse Gen 32:11) 
> as:
> R'vii - The Jerusalem Bible (Koren).
> Azla geresh - Russian-Hebrew Chumash from Mossad Harav Kook, the Soncino 
> Chumach (older edition ed by Rev Dr A Cohen), another chumash published 
> in Mea Shearim, the Ktav Tikkun, and the Hertz chumash.
> 
> This is not the only time this occurs:  Parshat Va'era, Gen 21:12, the 
> word vatelech is cantillated variously azla geresh or r'vii as well.
> 
> The only item of substance I can add to this is a quote from an entry 
> "Accents in Hebrew" in the Jewish Encyclopedia:  "The Accents in the 
> ordinary editions of the Bible are fequently unreliable.  Baer's and 
> Ginsburg's Bible editions (where also important variants are noted) are 
> indispensable to one interested in Biblical accentuation."  This 
> statement seemed rather extreme to me when I first read it.  Can anyone 
> else comment on this?
> 
> 
> Sam Wittenberg
> Virginia Beach, Va
> samwit (at) infi(dot)net

Shalom.  The Koren edition is usually considered to be definitive for
trope and vowels nowadays.  I do have a comment on the name of the
diamond-shaped trope, however.  The word "R'vi'i" is an ordinal number
meaning "fourth", like "sheni", "sh'lishi", etc. (see the Bantam-Megiddo
Hebrew/English Dictionary, pg.xxi).  The proper name for this trope
according to both Rosowsky and Binder is "R'vi'a", despite what you will
find in many other sources (see Rosowsky "Cantillation of the Bible"
pg.6).
                                                       Cantor Neil Schwartz