What is the purpose of a dot (Mapik) in a Heh? What is the difference between ba-shivyah (Deut. 21:11) ('among the captives' - there is no Mapik in the final Heh) and shivyaH (Deut. 21:13) ('her captivity' - there is a Mapik in the final Heh)?
Heh at the beginning or in the middle of a word, is pronounced by parting the vocal cords and passing the air between them with more force than in ordinary breathing. If Heh is to be pronounced at the end of a word the same is true; however, Heh at the end of a word is frequently silent. How do we know whether a particular Heh at the end of a word is to be pronounced or not? The answer is quite simple. That marvelously detailed system called the Mesora, guides us. If the Mesora puts a dot (a Mapik in Hebrew) in the Heh, the Heh is to be pronounced. If there is no Mapik the Heh is silent.
Accordingly, we can distinguish between ba-shivyah (the final Heh has no Mapik, the Heh is silent) and shivyaH (the final Heh has a Mapik, the Heh is to be pronounced).
Although Mapik Heh frequently indicates feminine, this is not always so. Thus, for example in the word gavoaH (Esther 5:14, 7:9) ('high') there is a Mapik Heh and the word is clearly masculine. In that case the third letter of the root of the word is a consonantal Heh that needs to be pronounced. The Mapik indicates that need.
In Aramaic the Mapik functions in the same way as in Hebrew. Thus, in this parasha the Aramaic word for 'him' is leiH (Deut. 21:16) with a Mapik Heh, which if read correctly, is pronounced. Rabbi Tzvi Barzilai has pointed out that as the Heh at the end of the word ShemeiH (in the response to Kaddish) has a Mapik, it follows that one should pronounce the Heh in that word.
