In the introduction to his siddur (down the bottom of the linked page), Rabbi Yaakov Emden emphasises the strict importance of a proper Hebrew pronunciation when davening. In particular, he remonstrates against the Ashkenazi pronunciation of consonants (eg: "לא כמו שאנו האשכנזים עושים בקריאת תי״ו רפויה כסמ״ך לבשתינו"), but also against the Sephardi pronunciation of vowels (eg: "לא כספרדים שאינם מבדילים בין קמץ לפתח").
My question is, if one were to carefully differentiate between every consonant (say, in the manner of certain "Sephardim" - certain of the edot mizrach, for example) and to carefully differentiate between every vowel, one would be adopting a pronunciation of Hebrew that has no precedent, and is perhaps even of his own invention.
Am I correct in supposing that this is effectively what R' Yaakov of Emden recommends? If not, is there a specific problem with doing this? Sourced answers only, please.
No comments:
Post a Comment