Shabbos Bulletin Parshas Bo 5779

l’kovod the Bar-Mitzvah of Nochi Gruen

 

K’ri’as HaTorah was designed to serve as a learning experience for the tzibbur. The “specialist” who qualifies as the one able to read each word properly and to phrase them correctly is of course the “ba’al korei”.He makes the Torah reading enjoyable and meaningful by virtue of his knowledge of the text, dikduk, and of course, the melody and phrasing of the “trop”. The trop provides both a beautiful melody, and also actually serves as punctuation to indicate the proper phrasing of the possuk. The Hebrew word “ta’am” can also mean flavor, reason, taste, and meaning. The trop properly sung gives flavor and meaning to the true understanding of the possuk. The trop were given to Moshe Rabbeinu at Har Sinai. We can therefore safely assume that they are an indispensable aid to proper understanding of the Torah.