Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio

We have learned so many special notes for Torah reading.

Actually, you might be surprised to learn that the answer is no! Some words don’t get their own notes. Instead, they get attached to nearby words and just “hitch a ride.” Check out this phrase from our parashah:

There are five words there, but only three notes! But you can’t really have a word without a note, so we join the words without notes to ones with notes with a special dash, called a makaf. The makaf tells you that the word before just gets sung together with the word as if they are one. Here is an example of four words on a single note from earlier in the Torah (it might be familiar from Kiddush on Shabbat afternoon):

So next time you see a word without a note, don’t feel too bad for it. Look for the makaf—it’s kind of like the next word offering a helping hand and welcoming that first word in, to come sing together.

-------------------

Click here to return to the Table of Contents for Parashat Re'eh from Devash

-------------------