Obadja Sforno

Classic Jewish commentator. His best know work is the one on the Torah (Chumash - Five Books of Moses). It is one of the "standard" commentaries included in most Mikaroth Gedoloth editions of the Chumash. Mossad Harav Kook publised a superior stand-alone edition, which incorporates several manuscript editions. Artscroll publishes an English translation of that edition, with additional explanatory notes.

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Obadja is an esoteric spelling the Hebrew name "Ovadia." In somme Sephardic pronunciations, the soft "bet" sound is a unique sound, neither "B" nor "V." To produce this sound, tighten the opening of the lips as in producing a W, hold it there, and let air out slowly so that the lips vibrate slightly. To an untrained ear, the sound is close to a B.

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In Ashkenazic pronunciation, and in many Eastern pronunications, the soft bet is a V sound (the letter is pronounced vet, or vais/veyz). Moving Ashkenazic V to Sephardic B-V, onoe moves from Ovadia to Obadia.

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In addition, classic German transliterations use a J to represent a Y (as in Y) sound. Phonetically, Ovadia is O-vad-ya, so the German transliteration would be Ovadja.

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Combining the two, one gets Obadja. On the face of it, this spelling is weird, because Germanic transliteration is by definition an Ashkenazic one, so Obadja is a mish-mash of odd Ashkenazic-German and incorrectly-heard-Sephardic.

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