Q. I have often wondered, the word 'Mesukan,' written in Hebrew, is said on the praises to the Torah, in the Bracha after Kerias Shema every morning. There it is written with a Tav and means fixed or established. If your pronunciation is Sefardi, you would read it as 'Metukan.' If you are not, then the reading of 'Mesukan sounds exactly like danger, which would be a terrible insult to the Torah. How can we recite daily a word that when pronounced has such a terrible contradictory meaning?
A. Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that, you are right. the word in the Ashkenazi pronunciation, does have a parallel very contradictory meaning. Yet the Rov maintains that in such situations, it is not Chas Veshalom an insult to use it, since from the context of the paragraph and adjoining words, you can clearly deduce and establish the intent of what it means, and is therefore permitted.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller, Horav Dovid Pam and Horav Aharon Miller Shlit'a
Important Numbers
