Comments on: To Correct Or Not To Correct The Baal Koreh

By: pray4all

pray4all — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:27:40 +0000

when I first started laining as a teenager I decided if someone corrects me even if I said it right I will just say it again. I no longer lain regularly but I daven in a minyan where people are afraid to correct even when there is a real mistake. I therefore correct on real mistakes but try to use a tone of helping rather than gotcha.Perhaps more people can try to be gentle.

By: Yente

Yente — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 16:10:41 +0000

I like this article. I like the comments even more. I’m a Baal Kriah myself and I don’t mind people correcting me. Not that I lain without any mistakes, the opposite is true. I would actually prefer people listening and correcting. Sometimes I feel I can read the wrong pasha and no one will notice.

By: twisted

twisted — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 13:45:03 +0000

As a Koreh I made great efforts to be fluent in dikduk and accurate in trop. I also worked on the midah of humility that corrections did not faze me, and I also would slow down from my generally slow place if errors were cropping up. On the other hand, when I was right and the corrector wrong I could throw a “hush” in the direction of the corrector, or bang the table with the yad. In case of safek, the rav knew what to do when I gave him the nod for his opinion. And a correct corrector would always get a yasher koach from me after the reading. This fostered mutual respect and ahavas yisroel, and the elevation of emes to it’s proper place.

By: amputee

amputee — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 07:46:38 +0000

Actually, MDG, the term can be a noun as well as in Boreh – which is either a verb or the creator. The term Baal Koreh and Baal Kriah is used inter-changeably by the Gedolei HaPoskim, but most overwhelmingly use Baal Koreh. Rav Moshe used both but also mostly Baal Koreh. Your note would thus qualify as a correction that was un-neccessary and may have embarrassed the writer.

By: MDG

MDG — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 03:56:19 +0000

After the word “baal” should come a noun. “Koreh” means read and is a verb. The correct term in Baal Kriah, unless you are building a sukkah and you are the person with the wood beams OR you are the one who is in charge of the hearts of palm.

By: rabbi kiskatom

rabbi kiskatom — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 02:37:07 +0000

many people wait for parshas Vayakhel to jump at the reader by es & eis when it makes no difference in meaning so go explain

By: Yanky55

Yanky55 — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 19:58:12 +0000

The Rav in my shul frequently tries to get people to give up this “sport” known as correcting the ba’al koreh, especially if a Bar Mitzvah boy is involved. The gabbaim should be the only ones making corrections.

As a gabbai and ba’al koreh, I can tell you that very often people will call out a correction simply b/c they have no knowledge of what needs to be corrected and what does not. For example, if the ba’al koreh reads “shemesh” instead of “shumesh”, no poseik would say it should be corrected. It is a purely technical dikduk issue that a segol becomes a kumatz when the trope is an esnachta or sof pasuk (and occasionaly a tipcha i.e. “V’ya’asu bnei Yisrael es haPUsach b’moado” vs haPEsach).

By: jew yorker

jew yorker — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 19:50:57 +0000

Well written article by y hoffman. I have a hunch if any of these ideas were actually implemented, nobody would pay attention to laining anymore. A lot of people follow, davka so they can scream out corrections. Sad but true. Before the ywn haters attack and say I’m projecting, and in the interest of full disclosure, I am a shul gabbai charged with correcting the ba’al koreh.

By: chassidicinctown

chassidicinctown — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 19:07:20 +0000

Excellent article – As a baal koreh I can say one must have a thick skin but it took me a while to develop it. To not want to lein without mistakes is like l’chatchila buying an ugly esrog.

Regarding the trop – there is a wonderful bulletin that goes out from Eretz Yisroel called Toras Hakoreh – see this link
http://www.ladaat.info/Gilionot/20131221/724%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%aa_%d7%94%d7%a7%d7%95%d7%a8%d7%90_%d7%a9%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%aa.pdf

I particular like when he shows how emphasizing the “tvir” more than the “tipcha” (I used to do it – naturally) changes the mashmoas of the passuk – interesting one can be found in the above link page 4 – 3rd bolded line “Vayomer Eylav”

By: yizz

yizz — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 17:27:37 +0000

This reminds of the time when I was a guest in a prominent shul in Monsey. There was a fellow in the minyan who was shouting out trop corrections every few psukim. At one moment during the kriah, the bal koreh just lost it and turns around at the guy and shouts “Would you shut up already?”. After this, the rest of the kriah was smooth sailing without any corrections. While this is extreme, this incident and other similar embarrassments can be easily avoided by designating gabboim for all corrections.