The Blogs: The Dot That Bears Witness

On Shemini Atzeret, we began adding to the Amidah the words:

מַשִּׁיב הָרוּחַ וּמוֹרִיד הַגֶּשֶׁם

“[You, God] cause the wind to blow and the rain to fall.”

What’s the root of the first word, mashiv?

If you answered נ.ש.ב (N-SH-V) – you’re a Hebrew grammar maven. But where did the ‘nun’ (נ) go?

In the simple pa’al verb category, it’s there, black on white:

הָרוּחַ נוֹשֶׁבֶת. (Ha-ruach noshevet)

which means, ‘the wind is blowing.’

But in Hebrew, some roots beginning with ‘nun’ undergo a transformation in the hif’il form—when A is doing the action on B. When that happens, the ‘nun’ drops out.

In the prayer, it’s God (A) causing the wind (B) to blow. Therefore, the ‘nun’ falls away.

But it leaves behind a clue: a small dot, the dagesh, inserted neatly inside the next letter, in our case, inside the ‘shin’ – מַשִּׁיב.

From this, we can draw a mussar lesson:

In a world where truth is often silenced or erased, we must be the dagesh, the mark that bears witness—insisting on exposing the truth, demanding justice, and holding leaders accountable.