It’s a puzzle. Every time we read Exodus 15:11 in daily services, how can we not wonder that the first chaf doesn’t have a dot (dagesh) and the second one does: Mi chamocha, and then Mi kamocha. The meaning of both phrases is the same: “Who is like you?”

Here’s the Hebrew:

מִֽי־כָמֹ֤כָה בָּֽאֵלִם֙ יְהוָ֔ה מִ֥י כָּמֹ֖כָה נֶאְדָּ֣ר בַּקֹּ֑דֶשׁ נֹורָ֥א תְהִלֹּ֖ת עֹ֥שֵׂה פֶֽלֶא

The simple answer is that the chaf is one of the “beged kefet” letters; at the beginning of a word, these letters have a dagesh. The first Mi chamocha has a hyphen linking Mi to chamocha; it’s all one word, so the chaf doesn’t begin a word, and so it doesn’t take a dagesh.

But both phrases mean the same; why isn’t the Hebrew the same?

Well, maybe they don’t mean exactly the same. Surely, words are influenced by their context. In the first phrase, the meaning is “Who is like you among the gods, God?” Here, “Who is like you” is an incomplete idea that goes with the next words.  In the second phrase, “Who is like you” is a more complete idea: it parallels the next phrase, “awesome in holiness,” and it recalls the completed idea of the first phrase (“Who is like you among the gods, God?”).

That’s why there’s a hyphen for the first Mi chamocha and not for the second.

The more I roll this explanation around in my mind, the better it gets. Maybe I have it right, maybe I’m letting familiarity justify a bad idea. But that’s the best answer I have.

Thanks to Joel Hoffman’s book, In The Beginning, for pointing out the importance of context for pronunciation (as well as for meaning)! On beged-kefet letters, look at Hoffman’s book, pp. 71 ff, and here’s another resource: http://www.shemayisrael.com/parsha/klarberg/archives/vayera63.htm