Tifcha ( he, טִפְחָ֖א, also spelled ''Tifkha'', ''Tipcha'' and other variant English spellings) is a
cantillation
Cantillation is the ritual chanting of prayers and responses. It often specifically refers to Jewish Hebrew cantillation. Cantillation sometimes refers to diacritics used in texts that are to be chanted in liturgy.
Cantillation includes:
* Chant
...
mark commonly found in the
Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
,
Haftarah
The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Pro ...
, and other books that are chanted. In Sephardic and Oriental traditions, it is called Tarcha, meaning "dragging" or "effort".
The Tifcha is found in both the
Etnachta group as the second member of that group, and in the
Sof passuk
The ''sof passuk'' (Hebrew: , ''end of verse'', also spelled sof pasuq and other variant English spellings, and sometimes called סילוק silluq) is the cantillation mark that occurs on the last word of every verse, or '' passuk'', in the Tanak ...
group, though the melody varies slightly in each. While it is a weak sound, it is considered to be stronger than a
Tevir
The Hebrew word טִפְחָ֖א translates into English as ''diagonal''. It is related to the word
tefach
Biblical and Talmudic units of measurement were used primarily by ancient Israelites and appear frequently within the Hebrew Bible as well as in later rabbinic writings, such as the Mishnah and Talmud. These units of measurement continue to be use ...
(''טפח'', measurement of the palm). The tifcha does not have a separating value of its own, as it is in the middle of a set of words.
Tifcha occurs in the Torah 11,285 times, more than any other trope sound. Tifcha is the only trope sound to appear more than 10,000 times in the Torah.
[
The first word of the Torah בראשית (''Bereshit'') is on a Tifcha.
]
Total occurrences
Melodies
Melodies for tifcha, as for all other cantillation marks, is different in different traditions. The diagrams below show the Polish-Lithuanian tradition.
In Ethnachta group
In Sof Passuk group
Occurrence rules
In the Etnachta group, the tifcha will always occur, regardless of whether or not there is a Mercha. Before a Sof Passuk, the Tifcha can only occur in conjunction with a Mercha.[''An easy, practical Hebrew grammar: with exercises for translation ...'', Volume 2 By Ph Mason, Herman Hedwig Bernard, page 240]
References
Cantillation marks
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