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Tropes - The key to chanting Torah and

Haftarah
In English sentences, punctuation marks help the reader interpret the meaning of a sentence and where
the sentence ends. Changes in punctuation can make huge changes to the meaning of a sentence. Take
the following example of a translation of a portion of the verse 31:1 from !euteronom":
#$nd the %ord said unto &oses: 'ehold, (our da"s approach that "ou must die.#
compared to:
#$nd the %ord said unto &oses: 'ehold "our da"s; $pproach that "ou must die.#
The first warns &oses that his da"s are coming to an end. That)s how the verse is meant to *e read. The
second wa" of punctuating commands &oses to review his life and then approach so that he can
immediatel" die. This would *e a mistaken understanding of the verse. &ove the punctuation mark and
change it from a comma to a semicolon and "ou dramaticall" change the sense of the sentence. In the
same wa", missing or improper punctuation can change the meaning of a verse of Torah. +ince Torah is
a written expression of the word of ,od, it is tremendousl" important to read verses of Torah so that
the" have the correct meaning as passed to &oses on +inai, and as the &asoretes captured in writing in
the tropes that we are stud"ing.
-e*rew has no inherent punctuation and no capital letters. In the times of *oth the .irst and +econd
Temple in /erusalem, the %evites were the musicians 0along with their other tasks1. The" maintained
and taught the tradition regarding #punctuation# and chanting of *i*lical texts. !uring readings, an
expert would inform the reader how to chant text using a s"stem of hand signals called chironomy.
Each hand signal specified a particular musical melod". +ome time after the destruction of the +econd
Temple in 23 C.E., the hand signals were transcri*ed onto parchment using a series of s"m*ols called
Ta'amei Hanegina or Ta'amei Hamikra or the ,reek word Trope. In the earl" 4th centur" C.E., $aron
*en $sher s"stemati5ed and transcri*ed the trope s"m*ols in the form we currentl" know it.
The trope s"m*ols are found in *i*lical manuscripts of Torah, 6eviim 07rophets1, Tehillim 07salms1,
and the five Megillot (Esther, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Ruth. Trope s"m*ols
serve as punctuation to assure proper interpretation of verses. In addition, each tropes has its own
melod", indicating to the reader how to chant the verse.
7unctuation marks in English serve to separate phrases from one another. In most languages,
punctuation marks are used 8ust once or twice in a t"pical sentence. In *i*ilical -e*rew, ever" word has
at least one punctuation mark99a trope accent. +ince ever" word has one or more tropes, onl" some
tropes act to separate words into phrases. The rest are used to *ind the words of phrases together. The
scholars call the separating tropes %ords 0or dis8unctives99separators1 and the *inding tropes +ervants
0con8unctives 99 connectors1.
In English, we know that when we get to a period at the end of a sentence we pause *efore sa" the next
word. $ semicolon *asicall" divides a sentence into two sentences. :hen we come to a semicolon we
pause a *it less than we do for a period. $ comma divides two thoughts that are part of one sentence.
:hen we come to a comma, we pause even less than we do for a semicolon.
In *i*lical -e*rew texts, we find similar levels of division and pause. +cholars of -e*rew grammar
have given the names to these levels *ased on their power to divide and instruct the reader to pause.
The scholars use the language of court roles 0lords, servants, emperors, counts, dukes, etc.1 to descri*e
trope rank. This is *ecause lower9ranking tropes help higher ranking tropes *uild phrases, and the
higher9ranking tropes act to divide *i*lical verses.
+ome words in -e*rew *i*lical texts are phrases *" themselves. .or example:
meaning #-e said,# is a phrase that *egins verse 1;:2 in ,enesis. $n" trope that can *e used on a
single9word phrase such as the one a*ove is considered an #owner# of a phrase. 0The tropes that can *e
owners of a phrase are: +of 7asuk, Etnachta, <akef ,adol, <akef =aton, +egol, Tevir, >evii, Telisha
,edola, 7a5er, $5la, ,eresh, ,ersha"im and =arne .arah.1 $ll other tropes are found on words that
*uild up a phrase. (ou can alwa"s tell when a phrase ends 99 the last word in the phrase has one of the
#owner# tropes. (ou don)t have to memori5e the names of owner tropes now 99 the" form the titles of
chapters that follow as we discuss the kinds of tropes that *uild up each of these t"pes of phrases. In the
chart *elow, we mark with an asterisk 0?1 which tropes are phrase owners.
.or practical purposes of these lessons, we will divide lord tropes into a group of ma8or lords shown in
red, and minor lords shown in am*er. $ll of the ma8or lords, and most of the minor lords are phrase9
ending owner tropes.
In the chart *elow, we show all of the tropes divided into categories of lords and servants. (ou can refer
*ack to this chart to help "ou understand wh" certain tropes go together. .or purposes of chanting
*i*lical texts, knowing which tropes are ma8or lords, which are minor lords, and which are servants is
enough.
(Note that the names of the tropes are shown with their Ashkenazi names. TropeTrainer(tm)
software shows you the names of the tropes in the stye and regiona !ariation of your choice")
#ords$
&a8or lords shown in red. $ll are followed *" some amount of ma8or pause.
&inor lords shown in orange. &ost are followed *" a slight pause. 0Tipcha *" a longer pause 99 see
*elow1.
+ervants shown in green to show no pause *etween its word and the next word.
#-e*rew# @ Trope name is a -e*rew word
#$ramaic# @ Trope 6ame is an $ramaic word
%mperors
? +of 7asuk 0-e*rew: End of verse1
? Etnachta 0$ramaic: >ester1
&ings
? <akef9=aton 0-e*rew: &inor raising1
? <akef9,adol 0-e*rew: &a8or raising1
? >evia 0or >evii1 0$ramaic: +Auare1
? +egol 0-e*rew: 'unch1
? +halshelet 0-e*rew: Chain1
Tipcha 0$ramaic: -and9*readth1 99 06ote: Tipcha is shown in
orange *ecause it is not an owner trope. It alwa"s acts as a
helper to the emperors +of 7asuk and Etnachta. Its orange
color would lead "ou to *elieve that it has a ver" slight pause.
'ecause it is a =ing, its pause is a *it longer than that of the
orange colored !ukes and Counts *elow, *ut shorter than the
pause of the other =ings.1
'ukes
? ,eresh 0-e*rew: Expulsion1
? $5la 0$ramaic: ,oing on1
? ,ersha"im 0$ramaic: !ou*le geresh1
? Tevir 0$ramaic: 'roken1
<arka 0$ramaic: +catterer1990<arka is not an
owner trope. It alwa"s acts as a helper to the
king +egol.1
7ashta 0$ramaic: +tretcher1 99 07ashta is not
an owner trope. It alwa"s acts as a helper to
king <akef =aton.1
(etiv 0$ramaic: +ta"ing1 99 0(etiv is not an
owner trope. It alwa"s acts as a replacement to
7ashta.1
(ounts
? 7a5er 0-e*rew: !ispersed1
? Telisha ,edolah 0-e*rew: !rawing out1
? =arne .arah 0-e*rew: -eifer)s horns1 99
0.ound once in Torah: &asei96um3;:;, and
once in &egillas Esther B:4 1
)etty ord
&unach %egarmeh 0Independant munach1
*er!ants
&unach 0-e*rew: >esting1
&apach 0-e*rew: >eversed1
!arga 0-e*rew: +tep1
&ercha 0$ramaic: %engthener1
&ercha Chefulah 0!ou*le mercha1 990.ound
occasionall" in Torah and once in the -aftarah
for 'eha)aloscha and the first +ha**at
Chanukah 9 <ec 3:31
=adma 0$ramaic: 7receding1
Telisha =etana 0%ittle telisha1
(erach *en (omo 0-e*rew: da" old moon1 99
0.ound once in Torah: &asei96um3;:;, and
once in &egillas Esther B:41
Not a trope, +ut specifies a pause

7aseik 0$ramaic: >estraining1

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