We have spent the last few weeks mastering the first two clauses of trope, אתנחתא Etnachtah and סוף פסוק Sof-Pasuk.  Today we added סוף סוף פסוק ‘Sof’ Sof-Pasuk.  סוף סוף פסוק ‘Sof’ Sof-Pasuk is a special melody used for סוף פסוק Sof-Pasuk clause to aurally indicate the end of an aliya (reading of Torah).  To further our practice and mastery, we looked at a brief reading of Torah in class today, from Numbers 34:24-28.  We began by identifying the trope used in each verse, and discovered that each verse is identical.  We also identified similarities in each phrase, such as the opening word and a few additional words throughout each verse are identical.  The students then determined that the only part of the verses they needed to decode where the names of the people being announced as heads of their tribes.

For homework, I asked the students to practice chanting these 5 verses in Hebrew using trope.  Using the strategies listed above, this should not be too much of a challenge.  The assignment is posted here: Num 34 24-28  Please complete the assignment by Sunday, October 18.