The Problem: One may wonder how may we derive the lesson of Rashi from the Posuk. Why do we assume that it is referring to a reward for those dogs that remained silent during the plague?

The Rule: Loshon Hakodesh is a very economical language. Many times one vowel will take the place of an entire word of English. The letter Lamed precedes a word when it wants to say to something. If it is general not pointing to any specific known place it has as it's vowel sound a Shva. The letter Heh precedes a word when it wishes to be specific "The" for this purpose the Heh will have a Patach as it's vowel sound. This is called a "Heh Hayedeyah." When one wishes to say "To the" pointing to a specific place or thing then we can write LEHA a Lamed with a Shva followed with a Heh with a Patach. But alas, Loshon Hakodesh is economical it many times drops the Heh and places a Patach under the Lamed to mean "To the."

The Solution: Since the vowel under the Lamed of Lakelev is a Patach this would seem to point to a specific Kelev or dog that is getting rewarded with the Treife meat. Since it is referring to a specific dog which dog could possibly be more worthy of this reward than the dogs that were silent by the plague of the killing of the first born. This may be the basis of the Drash that we derive from this Posuk that Hashem does not hold back reward from any living creature.

From the Loshon Chaim on Dikduk

Rabbi Mordecai Terebelo can be reached at MTEREBELO@juno.com

Rabbi Terebelo is Rav of Young Israel of Lawrenceville
5th-6th grade Rebbi at Bezalel Hebrew Day School of Lakewood NJ
Member Kollel of Beth Medrash Govoha
and Director of Partners in Torah Program of Lawrenceville NJ