Some Comma Considerations

A comma can drastically change the meaning of a sentence. Consider the following anecdote:

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons.

“Why?” asks a surviving waiter as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

“Well, I’m a panda,” he says, at the door. “Look it up.”

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. “Panda: Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”

Businesses in particular have to be careful about misplaced commas in contracts. The placement of a single comma in a contract between Canadian telephone company Bell Aliant and Rogers Communications allowed Bell Aliant to terminate an agreement early. The termination meant the loss of $2 million for Rogers Communications. Despite Rogers Communications’ arguments about the intent of the contract, Canada’s telecommunications regulator cited rules of punctuation when ruling in Bell Aliant’s favor in 2006.

In davening as well, the placement of a comma can affect the meaning of a sentence. The 17th blessing of Shemoneh Esreih is: “Be favorable, Hashem, our G-d, toward Your people Israel and their prayer and restore the service to the Holy of Holies of Your Temple and Ishei Yisrael and their prayer accept with love and favor.”

Are we asking that the Ishei Yisrael be restored together with the Temple service, or are we asking that Hashem accept Ishei Yisrael together with our prayers with love and favor? In other words, is the comma after “Ishei Yisrael” or after “Your Temple”?

The answer depends on what “Ishei Yisrael” means. The Mishnah Berurah (220:1) offers varying explanations. Typically, Ishei Yisrael means the fire-offerings of K’lal Yisrael, the ritual sacrifices. The Vilna Gaon opines that this meaning is intended in our berachah as well. Therefore, the berachah should be understood as follows: “Restore the service to the Holy of Holies of Your Temple together with Israel’s sacrifices, and their prayers accept with love.” The Tur disagrees and states that Ishei Yisrael in the context of this berachah is a synonym for prayer. Nowadays, we no longer have sacrifices. Prayers take the place of sacrifices. Therefore, the 17th berachah is to be understood differently. After asking Hashem to restore the service to the Beis HaMikdash, we ask Hashem to accept right now our prayers that are in the place of sacrifices and our additional prayers as well.

These two variant explanations lead to a conundrum. Where does one put the comma when he is praying, before or after Ishei Yisrael? My friend Rav Chaim, who wishes to remain mostly anonymous, says that he leaves out the comma altogether. He reads the berachah as one long sentence. This way, the words Ishei Yisrael can be understood either way. He says that we find a precedent for this approach. Hashem tells Moshe, “Behold, you will lie with your forefathers and this nation will arise and go astray after the foreign gods of the land . . .” This is the simple understanding of the verse.

However, the Gemara in Sanhedrin explains that the word v’kam, “and arise,” is actually referring to Moshe Rabbeinu. The verse is to be understood as follows: “Behold, you will lie with your forefathers and rise. This nation will go astray after the foreign gods of the land . . .” Moshe will arise together with the rest of K’lal Yisrael during techiyas ha’meisim. Is the Gemara eschewing the simple understanding of the verse, or just offering an additional hidden insight? The Acharonim advise that when reading the verse, one should not pause before or after the word v’kam. This way the reading of the verse will not eliminate either possibility.

A similar dilemma can be found in the Shabbos zemer of ki eshmerah Shabbos keil yishmereini. It was written by Rav Avrohom ibn Ezra. One stanza is as follows: “Rasham bdas hakeil chok el sganav, bo laaroch lechem panim bfanav, al kein lhisanos bo al pi nevonav asur, lvad miYom Kippur avoni.” He inscribed in the G-dly law a decree for his priests that on it [the day of Shabbos] they prepare showbread before him. Therefore it is forbidden to fast on it by order of his understanding sages except for the day when my sins are atoned (translation courtesy of ArtScroll).

The 12 loaves of lechem ha’panim stayed on the Shulchan from Shabbos to Shabbos. On Shabbos the old batch would be removed and a new batch put on. The kohanim were then commanded to eat the old batch. Hence, they couldn’t fast on Shabbos because then they would be derelict in their fulfillment of the mitzvah of eating the lechem ha’panim. The exception was when Yom Kippur fell out on Shabbos. That Shabbos they were not allowed to eat the showbread.

This song would seem to fit with the opinion of the Rambam. The Rambam in his commentary on the Mishnah writes that the kohanim were permitted to eat the showbread only on Shabbos day. Consequently, if there was some bread left over on motzaei Shabbos it was forbidden for them to eat it. The kohanim couldn’t fast Shabbos day, because that was the only time available for eating the lechem ha’panim.

The Toldos Yitzchak therefore says that the song is intended to be understood as follows: “Therefore it is forbidden to fast on it even by order of his understanding sages.” The kohanim have a biblical commandment to eat so the rabbis would not decree a fast. The comma should be placed after the word nevonav, before the word asur.

However, other Rishonim disagree with the Rambam. They say that the lechem ha’panim followed the same laws as other kodshai kodshim (sacrificial food). The time allowed for consumption of the lechem ha’panim was therefore Shabbos day and motzaei Shabbos. However, even they agree that any bread left over for Sunday morning was not allowed to be eaten. Some texts of the Mishnah in Meilah (9a) record that the lechem ha’panim are invalidated with “linah.” Rabbeinu Gershom explains that the intent is that lechem ha’panim not consumed in its allotted time is forbidden. Seemingly, that could fit with either the Rambam or his opponents.

According to the Rishonim that differ with the Rambam, even if the kohanim fasted Shabbos day, they could still eat the lechem ha’panim on motzaei Shabbos. So why does the song state that the kohanim couldn’t fast because of the lechem ha’panim? Does the Ibn Ezra follow the shitah of the Rambam? The Mishnas Chayim says that possibly even according to the other Rishonim the preferable time to eat the lechem ha’panim was Shabbos day. Only if that was not possible should it be left over for motzaei Shabbos. Zerizim makdimin lmitzvos. Why wait until the last minute?

So even according to those Rishonim, the kohanim couldn’t fast on Shabbos because then they would not be able to eat the lechem ha’panim in the preferred time. However, biblically they could fast on Shabbos day since they could eat the lechem ha’panim at night. Therefore we can understand the song as the original translation offered by ArtScroll. “Therefore it is forbidden to fast on it by order of his understanding sages.” It is only the rabbis who forbade the kohanim to fast to fulfill the dictum of zrizim makdimin l’mitzvos. The words nevonav and assur should be read without a comma between them. However, many zemiros were composed with poetic license with little regard for grammar anyway.

Next time you daven and you skip a comma, I hope this article gives you pause.