אותיות משונות בתורה

UNUSUAL LETTERS ETC. IN TORAH
(AND AN EXPLANATION ON פרשת תולדות)

We are all aware that a Sefer Torah is written with every letter in a special shape. This is in accordance with the tradition handed down to משה רבנו when he received the Torah and reiterated by Ezra, the famous leader of the Bnei Yisroel at the commencement of Second Temple. Some letters have on them what are called Tagim. These are either crowns or small lines written above certain letters. All this also in accordance with the original tradition received by משה רבנו.


Many people know that there are certain letters that are traditionally written in Torah enlarged, for example, the ב of בראשית. There are also letters for which we have a tradition, קבלה, also handed down from משה רבנו, that they are written small, for example the א of ויקרא. Less well known is the fact that there are occasional letters which have dots above them. For example, when the angels came to Avrohom and asked “Where is Soroh?” the posek tells us ויאמרו אליו “And they said to him” on the three letters א י ו of אליו there is a dot above in each case. Rashi quotes our חז''ל that they also asked Soroh where Avrohom was.

In each case that there are these “abnormalities” we find explanations given and numerous דרשות.

What is less known is that there is a קבלה, a tradition, that in certain places in Torah letters are written not in the normal manner but in a special type of way.

I reproduce hereunder a page from the Machzor Vitri written by Rebbenu Simcha a pupil of Rashi (following page 799 in the Nuremburg print of תרפ''ג).

In addition the Meiri wrote a sefer, קרית ספר, which also quotes traditions of these unusual letters and different Taggim in certain places in Torah.

The Rambam, in the 7th chapter of the laws of mezuzah, 5th halocho, states as follows,ויזהר באותיות הגדולות ובאותיות קטנות ובאותיות הנקודות ואותיות משונות כגון הפאי''ן הלפופות והאותיות העקומות כמו שהעתיקו הסופרים איש מפי איש ויזהר בתגין וכו'.
(Free translation) “A Sofer when writing a Sefer Torah should take care with writing correctly the larger letters, the smaller letters, letters with dots, unusual letters for example the פ which has a small פ inside and twisted letters as the scribes received a tradition, generation by generation, and he should also be careful with all the Tagim etc.”

The Rabbenu Bechai, one of the early commentators on Torah (lived approximately 750 years ago in Spain) at the end of Noach, on the last word of the sedra that is, חרן, which Rashi says has a הפוכה נון turned round, also discussed these “abnormalities”. Rabbenu Bechai states as follows הנה זה משלימות התורה ומן הרמזים הצפונים באותיותיה כי על כן באו בתורה אותיות הפוכות ותלויות וכן עקומות ולפופות וכן גדולות וקטנות וכן מנומרות ומנוקדות יתגלו מתוכם חמשים שערי בינה שנגלו למשה. (Free translation) “This is part of the completeness of Torah and of the allusions, Ramozim, hidden in its letters. Because of this, in Torah, we have letters which are written “inverted”, sometimes hanging above or below line, written at some unusual angle, small letters inside large, large and small and other unusual shapes. From these can be revealed the 50 gates of understanding which were revealed to Moshe Rabbenu.”

I have also had the privilege of seeing a very old hand written Tikun called the Tittled Bible which the then Sephardi Chacham Gaster published some 80 years ago which has numerous such letters and Tagim and is now in the British Museum.

The last Sifrei Torah which appear to have been written with such traditions incorporated, were in Moravia, the Czech Republic until approximately 250 years ago and I have seen two such Sifrei Torah owned by my dear friend Dr M N Rosenfeld נ''י

A study of these letters is, indeed, fascinating and there is a whole section in the monumental and encyclopaedic production by Rabbi Mendel Kasher known as תורה שלימה where before Tazria a volume in excess of 200 page was produced by him. This includes background into the precise tradition and also shows numerous letters going through the whole א-ב as gleaned not only from the sources I have mentioned above but also some Yemenite old texts etc. I show below a few of the letters so that one can, at least, get a flavour of what is being discussed.

Let us now turn to the sedra תולדות and the first few verses. Yitzchok and Rivka had not had children, they had been married for 20 years. They then prayed very hard to Hashem and were blessed with Rivka expecting twins. The posek continues,ויתרצצו הבנים בקרבה and Rashi says as follows,
על כרחך המקרא הזה אומר דרשוני שסתם מה היא רציצה זו, וכתב אם כן למה זה אנכי
“I am forced to explain this verse by a way of drash (not peshat) because what the jostling between the children was about has to be explained and why did Rivka say “למה זה אנכי” “What am I here for” Then Rashi goes on to comment that our Rabbis explain that this ריצה, jostling or running was, that when Rivka went by the Yeshiva of Shem and Eiver, Yaakov tried to get out. When she went past an עבודה זרה, place of idol worship, Eisav tried to get out. One has to understand what causes Rashi to make such comments. After all, every baby in the womb moved around and if there are twins, there is even more movement. Secondly what does Rashi mean by the words, וכתב אם כן למה זה אנכי.

Thirdly, Rashi changes things from the wording in the medrash quoted by him. Whilst Rashi says that Yaakov tried to go out, the medrash only says that Eisav tried to run out from his mother’s womb (Yaakov is not mentioned).

One can also ask why was it that such a Tzaddik and Tzaddaikes as Yitzchok and Rivka should have a son like Eisav.

In order to understand this, it is very instructive to know that on the word ויתרצצו there are three letters which are “unusual”. The י and צ and the second צ are all written in an unusual manner. This is mentioned in the Machzor Vitri and no doubt, if Rabbenu Simcha who was a pupil of Rashi knew about it, his teacher, Rashi, also had the same קבלה, tradition. Therefore, one can understand why Rashi starts off by saying that this verse has to be interpreted by way of drash because he knew that letters were written in a special manner and had some hidden significance. In order to explain this, Rashi, therefore, had to go into depth.

One further letter in the next phrase, that is the מ of למה זה אנכי is also written in an unusual manner. Therefore, I think that is why Rashi quotes the few words וכתב אם כן למה זה אנכי , to explain with it what the medrash tells us, namely that Rivka thought that she was expecting one child. She was very worried that that child apparently wanted to get out both when passing a Yeshiva as well as when passing an Avoda Zorah and Rivka was, therefore, saying “why did I have to ask for a child in such circumstances, if I am going to have such a son”.

Turning to why Rashi changed the quote from that of the medrash by not only saying that Eisav tried to רץ, jump out, but also Yaakov tried to jump out, can perhaps be understood by a comment of the Maharal on that posek. He queries as why was it that Eisav tried to go out. We know from a Gomorra in Niddah that the Yetzer Horah does not come to a person until the day of birth. The Maharal answers, that it is true the Yetzer Hora does not try to ensnare the person until actual birth takes place, but the nature of the person is already determined beforehand and, therefore, Eisav wanted to go to that which attracted him, namely Avoda Zorah. In the same way Yaakov was attracted, due to his latent nature, to the Torah.

But the Gomorra also quotes in the same place in Niddah, that, before a child is born, an angel comes and learns with the foetus. No doubt, this happened to Yaakov and Eisav. However, Eisav refused, whereas Yaakov accepted it with love and willingly. That is why Rashi adds that Yaakov wanted to jump out because he wanted to sit in the yeshiva and learn, not just have an angel learning with him.

I mentioned above that the י and צ and the second צ of ויתרצצו are written in an unusual manner. May I suggest that these letters were particularly highlighted because they are also in the name of Yitzchok, יצחק. The י is the first letter and the צ can be explained in two ways. When Avrohom heard that he was going to have a son the Torah says ויצחק and he laughed, and Rashi explained because of his great joy he was smiling and full of laughter, but he believed what he had been told. However, when Soroh heard, it also says ותצחק שרה Soroh laughed but hers was a laugh of disbelief. Could one perhaps explain the allusion here as being that the two different reactions and the צ in each case led to two children, one who believed, namely Yaakov and one who made fun, Eisav. (The root of the word is צחק, which commences with a צ).

In any event, the point I am trying to make is that our Torah is much deeper than appears on the surface and the, almost forgotten, use of these special and unusual letters needs to be looked into, explained and highlighted.

I hope that in the future from time to time I will be able to throw light on other such “anomalies” בע''ה.

ר''ח כסלו תשס''ט