Талмуд к Дварим 4:13

How were the tablets written? Rebbi Ḥanania ben Gamliel says, five on one tablet each⁴¹This minority opinion is everywhere accepted in depictions of the tablets.. But the rabbis say, ten on each tablet, as it is written⁴²Deut. 4:13.: He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words, ten on each tablet. Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai⁴³The name tradition here is very varied. said, twenty on each tablet, as it is written: He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words, twenty on each tablet⁴⁴Ten on the top, ten on the bottom.. Rebbi Simai says, forty on each tablet, as it is written, on each side they were written⁴⁵Ex. 32:15., a square⁴⁶Greek τετράγωνον. He holds that the tablets were cubes, top and bottom empty and identical writing on each of the faces.. Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother, says: Between every two commandments, the details and the letters [of the Torah] were written. Filled with tarsis⁴⁷Cant. 5:14. His hands are golden cylinders, inlaid with tarsis, the cylinders being Torah scrolls (Cant. rabba5:12). The Palestinian Targum to Ex. 28:20, 39:13 translates taršiš by כְּרוֹם יַמָּא רַבָּא ”the color of the Great Sea.“ One may assume that the scribe of the Yerushalmi did not understand the Greek χρω̅μα “color” and shortened it to .כְּ. The Targum to Cant. translates taršiš by the Syriac/Pahlevi word פֵּירוֹזַג (Farsi פירוזה) “turquoise”. The sentence is missing in the Genizah text and in B., like the Great Sea⁴⁸. When Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish had occasion to discuss this verse, he said, Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother, did teach us correctly. Just as in the sea there are small waves between a large wave and the next, so between any two commandments there are the details and the letters of the Torah.

How were the tablets written¹¹⁶In Ex. rabba 47(10) (a somewhat suspect source), the opinions are attributed to R. Jehudah and R. Neḥemiah. In Mekhilta dR. Ismael (Yitro Masekhta dibeḥodeš 8), Cant. rabba on 5:14, Tanḥuma Eqeb 9, Tanḥuma Buber Ki Tissa 20, Pesiqta rabbati 21(7), the first two opinions given here.? Rebbi Ḥanania ben Gamliel says, five on one tablet each. But the rabbis say, ten on each tablet, as it is written¹¹⁷Deut. 4:13. The verse ends: “He wrote them on two stone tablets.” The emphasis on two tablets is taken to mean that the Ten Commandments were written twice, once on each of the tablets.: “He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words”, ten on each tablet. Rebbi Simeon ben Ioḥai said, twenty on each tablet, as it is written¹¹⁸It is difficult to see what this quote means. A more appropriate quote would have been Ex. 32:15: “The tablets were written on both sides, on each side they were written.”: “He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words”, twenty on each tablet. Rebbi Simai says, forty on each tablet, as it is written, “on each side they were written,” a square¹¹⁹Greek τετράγωνον “a square”. He seems to think that the tablets were cubes, an opinion not found elsewhere. Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother¹²⁰His name was Ḥananiah ben Ḥananiah, which shows that he was a posthumous child. Names indicating this kind of bad luck are usually replaced by circumlocutions; cf. E. und H. Guggenheimer, Etymologisches Lexikon der jüdischen Familiennamen, München 1996, p. xviii; Jewish Family Names and Their Origins, Hoboken 1992, p. xviii., says: Between every two commandments, the details and the letters [of the Torah] were written. “Filled with taršiš¹²¹Cant. 5:14. “His hands are golden cylinders, inlaid with taršiš,” the cylinders being Torah scrolls (Cant. rabba 5:12), cf. Note 108. The Palestinian Targum to Ex. 28:20, 39:13 translates taršiš by כרוֹם יַמָּא רַבָּא “the color of the Great Sea.”. One may assume that the scribe of the Yerushalmi did not understand the Greek כרוֹם χρῶμα “color” and shortened it to כְּ. The Targum to Cant. translates תרשיש by the Syriac/Pahlevi word פֵּירוֹזַג (Farsi فيروزه) “turquoise”.”, like the Great Sea. When Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish had occasion to discuss this verse, he said, Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother, did teach us correctly. Just as in the sea there are small waves between a large wave and the next, so between any two commandments there are the details and the letters of the Torah¹²²In Cant. rabba 5(12), this is a commentary of R. Joḥanan..