Milel, Milra, George Bush, and a Dropped Sefer Torah
There have been a number of recent posts which discuss questions of Torah reading cantillation, טעמי המקרא, and Hebrew grammar, specifically the question of whether a word is accented on the ultimate syllable (מלרע), or on the penultimate (second before last) syllable (מלעיל). See this post by Lion of Zion, and this one by Rav Tzair. For a short explanation of the interplay between טעמי המקרא and the accentuation of syllables, see these comments by, I am not kidding, George Bush. Here is the title page of his book.
Rav Tzair also has a post about what happens when a Sefer Torah falls. In addition to his discussion and this responsum to which he links, see this responsum by R. David Golinkin.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:16 am
The current president is actually related to him albeit distantly.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
“Two independent genealogies show Reverend Bush was the cousin of Obadiah Bush, who was the great-great-great grandfather of the current president. This makes the Reverend Bush a distant relative of the current president, five generations removed, but NOT his direct ancestor”
http://englishhebraica.blogspot.com/2007/02/nyus-hebrew-professor-george-bush-1796.html