Talmud zu Bamidbar 10:35

One writes Torah and Prophets together, the words of Rebbi Meïr. But the Sages are saying, one does not write Torah and Prophets together, but one may write Torah, Prophets, and Hagiographs together⁴²While the sanctity of Torah is greater than that of the other parts of the Bible, one may write an entire Bible together, but not a Torah together with the portions of the prophets read as weekly Haftarah. Babli Bava Batra13b.. Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac: Torah and Ḥumashim have the same sanctity. One does not split a Torah into Ḥumashim, but one turns Ḥumashim into a Torah. Rebbi Yose said, this implies that a Torah which was split into Ḥumashim remains in its sanctity⁴³Since the Ḥumashim may be put together to form a complete Torah, they could not have lost their sanctity by being split.. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: One does not read in public from an incomplete Torah⁴⁴Babli Giṭtin60a.. But was it not stated: ⁴⁵This indicates how deficient a book may be and still be used in public. It is permitted to read in public in Genesis up to the deluge, in Leviticus up to it was on the eighth day⁴⁶Lev. 9:1., in Numbers up to it was when the Ark travelled⁴⁷Num. 10:35.? This Ursicinus⁴⁸Legate of the Emperor Gallus. set fire to the Torah of the Sennabarites⁴⁹From a place near Tiberias.. They came and asked Rebbi Jonah and Rebbi Yose, whether one may read from the scroll in public. They told them, it is forbidden. Not that it is forbidden but since they will feel so badly they will buy another one.

A scribe must provide a distinguishing mark¹The traditional mark is an inverted nun. for the section²So GRA. V reads ‘a prescribed space at the opening’. beginning And it came to pass when the ark set forward,³Num. 10, 35. The section consists of the two verses, ibid. 35f. both at its beginning and at its end, because it is a book on its own. Others maintain that its proper place is in the section of the setting forward of the standards.⁴Num. 2.

Rav Shesha the son of Rav Ḥananel said, one has to write ה below the knee joint of the ל, so you want to repay to the Eternal? In this way you want to repay to the Eternal³²⁸In Deut. 32:6 one has to write ה לי֙י, an enlarged he of which, however, the horizontal bar has to be aligned with the horizontal bar of the following lamed. The larger size will appear at the bottom where the vertical bars of this he are longer than those of the following Name.? The Mezuzah. There are Tannaim who state, open; there are Tannaim who state, closed³²⁹Paragraphs in the Hebrew Bible are either ending in a blank space of a third of a line, with the next paragraph starting on the same line on which the previous paragraph ended, this is called a closed paragraph. The other possibility is that the remainder of the last line remains empty; this is called open paragraph. Both paragraphs written in a Mezuzah, Deut. 6:4–9, 11:13–21, are closed in a Torah scroll; the first one follows an open paragraph, the second a closed one.. Samuel bar Shilat in the name of Rav: Practice follows him who said open, since that is not its place³³⁰The Babli disagrees (Menaḥot 32a).. Open at the start is closed. Open at the bottom is open. Open on both sides is closed³³¹“Open at the start” means that the writing of the first paragraph starts only in the middle of the line. This is normal for paragraphs following a closed paragraph. Open at the bottom means that the remainder of the last line of the paragraph remains empty; this is the definition of an open paragraph. Open on both sides implies open at the start.. If in error he omitted one verse, if it is two or three lines one repairs and reads from it; four one does not read from it³³²The scroll may not be used for public readings.. Rebbi Ze`ira in the name of Rav Ḥananel, the same holds for a tear<sup>333</sup>A tear in the parchment damaging up to three lines may be fixed by sewing the tear. If it is greater the page has to be removed and buried.. It was stated, a scroll in which there are [two or three errors on every page one fixes and reads from it. Four one does not read from it. But was it not stated, a scroll in which there are]<sup>334</sup>It seems that the corrector’s addition is necessary from the statements following. 85 errors, as the paragraph it was when the Ark travelled<sup>335</sup>Num. 10:35–36 is a separate text and contains exactly 85 letters., one repairs and reads from it? Rebbi Shammai said, here in a large scroll, there in a small scroll<sup>336</sup>A small scroll is one of 28 colums, which may exhibit 3 errors on each column and not reach 85. A large scroll has more columns; one has to check each column for the number of errors.. Rebbi Ze`ira in the name of Rav Ḥananel, if he found in it one page which is whole, it saves everything. How? Whole in that there are (no) [not three]³³⁷The later text shows clearly that the corrector’s text has to be deleted. errors? Or whole that there are no four? Ḥagra the brother of Rebbi Abba bar Bina gave a Torah scroll to Rav Ḥananel who checked it. He said to him, this your Torah scroll needs prayer³³⁸There are so many errors that the scribe clearly sinned when writing the scroll.. At the end he found in it a page which was whole, which saved everything. How? Whole in that there are no errors? Or whole that there are no four³³⁹Since no answer is given, in praxi one requires a column totally without error. Babli Mehaḥot 29b.?

Two signs [two Hebrew letters nun inverted] are given in the Torah to mark off a small section. What is this section? “And when the Ark would travel…” (Numbers 10:35–36). Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel would say: It would be more appropriate to take this section out from where it is, and have it written in a different place. There is a similar sign in the verse (Judges 18:30), “And Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Menashe.” Was Gershom the son of Menashe? No, he was the son of Moses. But his actions were not like those of Moses his father, so they added a nun to connect him to Menashe instead.¹In Hebrew, the name Moses is spelled mem-shin-hei, while the name Menashe is spelled mem-nun-shin-hei.
A similar exegesis was applied to the verse (Zechariah 4:14), “These are the two sons of the pure oil, who serve the Master of all the Earth.” These are Aaron and the Messiah. I would not be able to tell which of them was the more beloved, except that it says [with regard to the Messiah], “The Eternal has sworn and will not change His mind; you will be a priest forever, [the rightful king that I have chosen]” (Psalms 110:4). From this verse we know that the messianic king is even more beloved than a rightful priest.
See, it says (Psalms 80:14), “A wild boar from the forest [hazir miya’ar] will gnaw at it.” Shouldn’t it say: A hippopotamus from the river [hazir miye’or]²This is a double play-on-words. The Hebrew word ya’ar, spelled yod-ayin-reish, means forest, while ye’or, spelled yod-aleph-reish, means river. Likewise, hazir ya’ar is a wild boar, while hazir ye’or is a hippopotamus. will gnaw at it? But it says “from the forest,” because when Israel does not do the will of God, then the gentiles will come upon them like a wild boar from the forest. Just as a wild boar from the forest will kill people and injure other animals, and is a torment to people, so whenever Israel does not do the will of God, the gentiles will come and kill them, torture them, and injure them. But when Israel does the will of God, the gentiles do not rule over them, and are like a hippopotamus from the river. Just as a hippopotamus does not kill people, and causes no injury to other creatures, so whenever Israel does the will of God, no foreign nation will kill, injure, or torture them. And then it will be written as: From the river [i.e., miye’or, with an aleph, instead of miya’ar, with an ayin].