nounced incorrectly, it actually changes
the meaning of the word.
In Numbers 11:32, for example, it
means the difference between saying the
Israelites collected "donkey drivers" vs.
"quails." And in Jonah 1:3, Jonah would
find a "poor woman" instead of a "ship."
The Spark
Sherman-Gold never planned on under-
taking such a huge project. Many peo-
ple aspire to writing a book, she noted.
"I never did. This kind of came to me."
Born in a displaced persons' camp in
Poland, she was 2 when her family
made aliya and moved to a town near
Haifa. But because she was a girl grow-
ing up in a country where most Jews
were either Orthodox or secular,
Sherman-Gold didn't learn to chant
Torah for a bat mitzvah.
Instead, she followed the sciences.
She earned a bachelor's in chemistry and
a master's in biophysics and physiology
— both from the Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology in Haifa.
She went on to earn her doctorate in
physiology from the Weizmann
Institute of Science in Rehovot. And
then in 1982 she moved to California to
work on a post-doctoral fellowship at
Stanford University.
She is director of business develop-
ment at Abgenix, a biotech firm in
Fremont.
For Sherman-Gold, the inspiration
for her project actually started about 15
years ago when her son was preparing
for his bar mitzvah.
A wife and mother of two, Sherman-
Gold started attending Shabbat services
at Kol Emeth, a highly participatory
synagogue where both men and women
chant Torah and haftorah and lead
prayers.
She found herself inspired. "I said, 'If
they can do it, I can do it.'"
From Chanting To Writing
She began chanting Torah at Kol
Emeth and later taught Hebrew and
religion classes there and also at north-
ern California's Congregation Beth
David in Saratoga and Congregation
Beth Am in Los Altos Hills.
At the same time, Sherman-Gold
realized that Torah readers were at times
mispronouncing the kamatz katan. And
that bothered her. When she told peo-
ple, they either didn't know what she
was talking about or said it must not be
important because no one had ever
taught them about it.
Eventually, Sherman-Gold decided
to compile a list of words with their
correct pronunciations. The list
turned into a huge research project
and finally her book.
She decided to publish the book her-
self after getting turned down by a few
publishers. They said the audience
would be small for the book and it
would be expensive to produce because
it includes both Hebrew and English, as
well as color-coded vowels.
In the end, Sherman-Gold's "very
expensive hobby" was financed in part
by selling some of her Abgenix stock
options and with some help from the
rabbis' discretionary funds at Kol
Emeth, Beth David and Temple Beth
Jacob in Redwood City.
You are a very special
Spreading Interest
About 1,000 copies of the book were
printed in the first run. More than 150
synagogues and educational institutions
have purchased it so far. Yeshiva
University in New York City, Hebrew
Union College Jewish Institute of
Religion in Cincinnati and the Jewish
Theological Seminary in New York City
have bought copies as well.
Hebrew scholars know when to pro-
nounce the vowels correctly, Sherman-
Gold said, as do adults who study
Hebrew at the university level.
But why doesn't every fifth-grader in
Hebrew school or even most Torah
chanters know about the kamatz katan?
The answer primarily has to do with
the founding of the state of Israel and
the spread of an "Israeli" pronunciation
of Hebrew over the past five decades.
Under traditional Ashkenazi pro-
nunciation of Hebrew — which is
still used, particularly in Orthodox
synagogues — the kamatz katan and
kamatz gadol are always pronounced
the same.
But modern Israeli Hebrew, which
has a Sephardi influence, has been
taught in Hebrew schools across
America over the past several decades.
In speaking "Israeli" Hebrew, the two
vowels must be vocalized differently.
Now Torah chanters who want to
consistently pronounce their "Israeli"
Hebrew correctly can turn to Sherman-
Gold's book to quickly figure out when
the kamatz katan appears in a reading.
"I admire the knowledge level of
most Torah readers I hear," she said.
"I'm actually in awe."
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