Englishman – What Gedolim say is in absolutely no way any kind of proof whatsoever. For example, many Chasidishe Gedolim do not differentiate between mil’ra and mil’eil which is crucial in Loshon Hakodesh (the classic example being booh and booh…). As much as you may like to think differently, not all Gedolim are masters of dikduk, and, like other people, simply speak how they were brought up speaking, even during davening. The fact that these Gedolim were brought up saying ‘oy’ does not preclude the fact that it is, historically speaking, a recent invention. Their upbringing is no more of a raya than anybody else’s. The fact is that somehow this pronunciation became quite widespread and some people who then learned this havoro had children who became Gedolim. And davening is not a raya anyway as one can daven b’chol loshon…
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