There are several places in the Torah where there is a "questionable" Kri / Ktiv anomaly. See Vayikra 18:27 as an example. There, the word is written as האל but there is a note stating that some pronounce it as האלה.

If a Ba'al Kri'ah does pronounce it as האלה, and a Gabai says that he should read it as האל, should the Ba'al Kri'ah make the correction? Is there a ruling such as a shul minhag regarding these types of anomalies and you need to follow the shul minhag?

  • "shul minhag" ??? What kind of shul has a minhag to change the Torah??? – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 18:09
  • @DoubleAA Who said "Changing"? what does "sevirin" mean? It means that some people have the opinion that its should be read a certain way. Why can't there be a shul "minhag" that follows the "sevirin"? – DanF Jun 24 '15 at 18:12
  • I don't think that's what sevirin means. Can you cite any example of two communities who read a sevirin word differently? – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 18:24
  • @DoubleAA I don't know of any. It may exist, anyway. What would be the purpose of saying "sevirin"? Someone at some point must have used the other version, no? – DanF Jun 24 '15 at 18:50
  • No. A Sofer may have thought to self correct the text as he's writing. – Double AA Jun 24 '15 at 19:00

"סבירין" doesn't mean a variant and possibly correct opinion, but a mistaken one. In that sense it's like "sic" in English.

R. Elya Bochur, Masores Hamasores:

דע כי סבירין הוא ענין מחשבה כוזבת, ר"ל שאדם חושב ומדמה בלבו שהוא כן ואינו כן

Know that סבירין means a false thought, meaning that a person thinks and imagines in his heart that it is so but it's not so.

  • Thanks for the interesting source. It seems that this version of Tikkun (which is now considered somewhat "outdated") is the only one I have seen that includes these "sevirin". Do you have any thoughts on why these need to be mentioned at all in view of the explanation in your answer? – DanF Jun 26 '15 at 13:24
  • @DanF probably because that tikkun was meant for sofrim to use too, so they need to be alerted to not "fix" these. Or it could just be because they copied the Masoretic comments wholesale from Mikraos Gedolos or whatever. – Shamiach Jun 26 '15 at 16:21

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