Ta’amei Hamikra are the special tunes used in synagogues for reading the Torah, the Prophets, and the Five Scrolls. According to the Talmud, these tunes were taught to Moses on Mount Sinai and were subsequently transferred orally from father to son and from teacher to student for many generations. In the 10th century of the Common Era, these tunes were transcribed and are now denoted by little signs that surround the traditional text. Today, you can find these little signs, or ta’amim, in almost every printed Hebrew Bible.
Aside from making the reading more enjoyable to listen to, Ta’amei Hamikra also help us understand and interpret what is written. This is done in three ways:
1. The ta’amim punctuate the verses, letting us know when to slow down, when to pause, and when to stop reading. They are biblical equivalents of punctuation marks like commas, semicolons, and periods.
2. The ta’amim also let us know how to accentuate individual words, telling us which syllables to stress and which not. Since the location of a stress can impact the meaning of a word, careful attention to these marks assures that the proper meaning of the text is conveyed.
3. The ta’amim also indicate words that are vocalized in a way that conveys certain emotions, such as wonder or anger.
Whenever the Torah is read in synagogue, it is read from a Torah scroll with the traditional tunes, Ta’amei Hamikra. It is a widespread custom for Jewish boys to read a portion of the Torah in synagogue on the Shabbat of their Bar Mitzvah.
Aside from Bar Mitzva boys, most synagogues also have someone, often a cantor, read a portion from the Torah every Shabbat. This person too needs to learn the Ta’amei Hamikra before he reads.
First, you need to learn how each individual ta’am, or sign, is vocalized. Then, you study the particular portion, paying attention to the ta’am associated with each word, so that you will know how to properly vocalize the text when reading. Because it is forbidden to write in the Torah scroll anything besides for the words themselves, the vowels and the ta’amim must be committed to memory before reading.
One method that many people find helpful in memorizing the Torah portion is listening to careful readings while following along in the text. With each additional listening, remembering how the text should be properly vocalized becomes successively easier. Eventually, the reader will be able to read the text without aids. At that point, he will be ready to read from the Torah scroll itself.
Our website provides high-quality audio files of the readings of portions of the Torah, the Prophets, and the Five Scrolls that are read in synagogues. The recordings were made of a punctilious reader with a pleasant voice. This enables the public to obtain accurate readings that are easy to listen to.
Additionally, we sell a wonderful book, Darga – The Method for Learning Ta’amei Hamikra, that can be tremendously helpful. This book, which comes with a CD or cassette, aids in learning Ta’amei Hamikra according to a special method we developed for this purpose.
Our method is a simple, graded and exact method for learning Ta’amei Hamikra. It is a method we developed from over a decade of teaching countless students to read from the Torah. The book begins by explaining the simple and common ta’amim and proceeds to explain the more complicated and less common ones.
Each lesson includes:
1. An explanation of the name of the ta’am.
2. Examples of individual words that are read with the particular ta’am; examples of whole verses that contain words that are read with the particular ta’am. These exercises help students learn to read one ta’am at a time, and integrate what they know into actual material.
Our method is based on the principle of “accumulated learning”, wherein each lesson includes material that was taught previously, so that the student progresses with the book and needs not return to earlier lessons.
We believe that Darga can be valuable to a wide range of people:
- Our site helps Bar Mitzva boys learn to read their Torah portion and Haftorah.
- Our site helps people who have never learnt to read the Torah, and those who once learnt and want to learn again.
- Our site helps Bar Mitzva teachers obtain careful readings of the Torah portions, as well as books that help them in teaching students.
- Our site helps professional readers prepare for various readings.
- Our site helps all people who might be interested in hearing accurate and pleasant readings of the Torah, the Prophets, and the Five Scrolls.
Our files can be downloaded and listened to on personal computers with the following specifications:
Windows 98 or above.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or above.
Microsoft Media Player or equivalent.
Problems with sound may be the results of a number of issues. Try checking the following:
1. Check that the Microsoft Media Player or a similar program is installed on your computer. If it is not, try downloading the software and installing it.
2. Check that your speakers are on and that the volume is turned up.
If you still have trouble with the sound, contact us [link] explaining as best as you can the problem. We will try to help you solve the problem as best as we can.
Although we have many, many files, we on not currently offer all of the Torah portions. We are working all the time to add additional files that are still missing. If you don’t find what you need, please contact us [link], letting us know what you want, and we’ll work hard to provide the material as soon as possible.
If you don’t know how to make a purchase on the site, contact us [link] letting us know what is it you’d like to purchase. We’ll contact you as soon as possible, letting you know how you can pay for your order.
If you don’t use a credit card, contact us [link] letting us know what readings you would like. We’ll send you details about how to make a bank deposit to pay for your order. After the deposit is confirmed, we’ll tell you how to download your purchase.
Please feel free to contact us with any issues that might arise. Two options are available. You can contact us by phone on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 972- 02-651-8854. You can also contact us via email at webmaster@darga.org.il. We will do the best we can to respond to you quickly and helpfully.
