Saturday, October 29, 2011

משיב הרוח ומוריד Ha-what?

Do we say Mashiv haruach umorid hagOshem with a komotz under the gimmel or hagEshem with a segol under the gimmel??

There is actually a WEALTH of literature on this tpoic. One gentlemen penned a tome called "Birkos Chaim" proving that it MUST be said with a segol - hageshem. Otherwise one must burn [I made the last part up. He didn't mention the burning:-)]. Another gentlemen answered with something called "Mashiv Haruach" where he claimed hagoshem is the way of G-d. The first gentlemen answered back. It was fierce.

And the fight continues. Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky, the recently niftar Rav Menashe Klein and Rav Nosson Geshtetner opine with hageshem. Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Yisrael Yaakov Fisher [the head of the Badatz who was asked and refused to give a haskomo to the aforementioned "Birkos Chaim" because he didn't agree with the contents] assert that one should say hagoshem. Rav Solovietchik is on the hageshem side. I say hageshem because I can't decide who to follow and I like the way hageshem sounds more than hagoshem. Isn't that silly?

The best answer I saw is from Rav Ephraim Greenblatt of Memphis/Har Nof - either way is fine and follow your minhag.

The bottom line - Hashem should send us RAIN no matter how we pronounce it!!

Note: Jews love Hashem. We are so keen on pronouncing every word correctly and will spend valuable minutes of our lives trying to determine the truth on a seemingly insignificant shyla.