Yerach ben yomo ( he, יֵרֶח בֶּן יוֹמ֪וֹ, with variant English spellings, also known as ''Galgal''), 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 that appears only one time in the entire

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 s ...

(

Numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

35:5), and once in the

Book of Esther The Book of Esther ( he, מְגִלַּת אֶסְתֵּר, Megillat Esther), also known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as "the Scroll" ("the wikt:מגילה, Megillah"), is a book in the third section (, "Writings") of the Judaism, Jewish ''Tanak ...

. In these occurrences, it is followed immediately by a Karne parah, another mark that is found only once in the entire Torah. The symbol for this trope is an upside-down Etnachta.Chanting the Hebrew Bible By Joshua R. Jacobson, page 76 The Hebrew words translate into English as ''day-old moon''. Its alternate name translates into English as ''sphere''.

In the Torah

The rare trope sound in the Torah appears in on the word ''Alpayim'' (, ''two-thousand''), which is followed by an equally exclusive Karne Parah on the word B'amah (, ''cubit''), in the first of four occurrences of this phrase in the verse. In each of the phrase's four appearances, a different set of trope. The Yerach ben yomo followed by the Karne Parah is found on the first of these four instances. On the other three, respectively, are a

Kadma Kadma may refer to one of a number of articles: * Kadma (Jamshedpur), a neighbourhood in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India * Kadma (trope), Torah cantillation mark * Kadma, Khunti, a village in Jharkhand, India *Kadma, Hazaribagh Kadma (referred to ...

V'Azla, a

Munach The Munach (Hebrew: , also spelled ''Munah'' or ''Munakh''), translating to English as ''"to rest,"'' is a common cantillation sound. In Sephardi and Oriental traditions it is often called Shofar holekh. It is marked with a right angle below the co ...

Rivi'i, and a

Mercha Mercha (Hebrew: , also spelled Merkha and other variant English spellings) is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books that are chanted. Mercha is found in several trope groups, though the melody varies from one u ...

Tipcha Tifcha ( he, טִפְחָ֖א, also spelled ''Tifkha'', ''Tipcha'' and other variant English spellings) is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books that are chanted. In Sephardic and Oriental traditions, it is cal ...

. This is representative of the way

mitzvot In its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (; he, מִצְוָה, ''mīṣvā'' , plural ''mīṣvōt'' ; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discus ...

are performed in real life. When one first performs a mitzvah, being a new experience, it is performed with great enthusiasm. The unusual trope signify the one-time occurrence of the mitzvah being a new experience. The second instance is on a Kadma-V'Azla, a note that is recited highly, showing that the high is still alive. The third is on a Munach-Rivi'i, a note that is going downward, showing that enthusiasm is going down. The fourth and final occurrence being on a Mercha-Tipcha, a common set that are recited in a lazy mode as if they are basically being recited without a melody, show the monotony of performing a mitzvah after performing it so many times. Altogether, this verse shows the importance of performing a mitzvah that must be performed regularly, despite its monotony. It is an encouragement to bring new light into each time one performs a mitzvah in order to renew the excitement, and even when one cannot do so, to perform the mitzvah regardless.

In the Book of Esther

There is a lesser-known occurrence of the Yerach ben yomo in the

, at . This is found on

Haman Haman ( ; also known as Haman the Agagite or Haman the evil) is the main antagonist in the Book of Esther, who according to the Hebrew Bible was an official in the court of the Persian empire under King Ahasuerus, commonly identified as Xerxes I ...

. In

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

tradition, the Book of Esther is read twice on

Purim Purim (; , ; see Name below) is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jews, Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Boo ...

, and parsha of

Masei Masei, Mas'ei, or Masse ( — Hebrew for "journeys," the second word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 43rd weekly Torah portion (, ''parashah'') in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the 10th and last in the Boo ...

which includes verse 35:5 is read only once per year, so the recitation of the Yerach ben yomo in Esther therefore is read more often.

Total occurrences

The yerach ben yomo + karne para phrase occurs a total of 16 times according to the Leningrad Codex. They are:Weisberg, David. “The Rare Accents of the Twenty-One Books.” The Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. 56, no. 4, ser. 2, 1966, p. 321 * אלפים באמה * ויהושע בן–נון * היו בן–שאול * ואשר על–העיר * הארץ הזאת * ואמרו אליך * ולאחזת העיר * אשר–עשה המן * לאלה שמיא * ועיניך פתוחות * ינער האלהים * היו לפנים * ועמסים על–החמרים * המשרתים את–המלך * לערי יהודה * לבני העם

In the Torah

In the Book of Esther

Total occurrences

Melody

External links

References