Torah notes – Ask the Rabbi
Q. There are dots and dashes around the words in the Chumash. Are these musical instructions?
A. Yes. Known as neginot, te’amim or trop, they indicate how to chant the text.
There are several systems of chanting – the notation is found, for example, for the Chumash, the Haftarot, and the Megillah, but each has a different melody. To complicate the matter, there are also differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardi cantillation, and differences within each. The tradition at the Great Synagogue, Sydney, is that of western Ashkenazim.
The notes also show (with exceptions) on which syllable the accent falls, and how to group the words; they hint at the meaning of the words; and they illustrate the drama of a story with its ups and downs.
