Symmetrically Designed Sifrei Torah: A Quantitative Analysis - Hakirah
Symmetrically Designed Sifrei Torah: A Quantitative Analysis - Hakirah
Symmetrically Designed Sifrei Torah: A Quantitative Analysis - Hakirah
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182 : Hạkirah, the Flatbush Journal of Jewish Law and Thought<br />
5. Verses<br />
והתגלח של פסוקים…בעי רב יוסף והתגלח מהאי גיסא או מהאי גיסא?<br />
א"ל אביי פסוקי מיהא ליתו לימנוי'. בפסוקי נמי לא בקיאינן דכי אתא רב<br />
אחא בר אדא אמר במערבא פסקי ליה להאי קרא לתלתא פסוקי ויאמר ה'<br />
אל משה הנה אנכי בא אליך בעב הענן. תנו רבנן חמשת אלפים ושמונה<br />
מאות ושמונים ושמונה פסוקים הוו פסוקי ס"ת.<br />
The two statements concerning the middle verse and the total<br />
number of verses in the <strong>Torah</strong> are each at odds with the <strong>Torah</strong> we<br />
currently have, as well as inconsistent with each other. Based on the<br />
count of verses as summarized in Table 22 2, there are 5,845 verses in<br />
the <strong>Torah</strong> with verse 2,923 rd ח׃ח , 23 ,ויקרא the true middle verse. The<br />
,ויקרא יג׃לג ,והתגלח middle, verse the soferim identified as being in the<br />
is the 3,082 nd verse. This undercount of 160 verses 24 is almost 5.2%<br />
(i.e. 160 out of 3,082) of the total number of verses. Moreover, the<br />
Gemara’s final total count of 5,888 verses differs from our count of<br />
5,845 and its middle is verse 2,945. When the Gemara says we are not<br />
experts in letters or verses it is saying that over time we have lost part<br />
of our .מסורה As such, a slight error in the count is possible.<br />
However, an error rate of over 5% means that we have a mistake on<br />
the average once every 20 verses. It is difficult to believe that in as<br />
important a document as the <strong>Torah</strong>, where meticulous care is given<br />
to the preservation and transmission of the text, 25 such a high error<br />
22 Table 2 gives the number of verses in each parasha, Chumash and the<br />
entire <strong>Torah</strong> (i.e. 5,845) as given in most standard Chumashim. We have<br />
also supplied the number of verses in each parasha and Chumash based<br />
on an actual count of the verses as they appear in our Chumashim.<br />
Although the actual count has a total of 5,846 verses, without loss of<br />
generality, we will use 5,845 for this paper.<br />
well. as פסוק reports this מנחת שי 23<br />
says we need an extra 160 verses in the 2 nd half of אגרות משה או״ח א׃לה 24<br />
the <strong>Torah</strong> to make והתגלח the correct middle. In fact we need 320 more.<br />
25 When we talk about the preservation of the text and Masorah, there is a<br />
major difference between letters/words and verses. Letters/words<br />
comprise the written text and must be recorded correctly so that the<br />
S”T be permitted to be used. To satisfy any <strong>Torah</strong> reading, in addition<br />
to reading from a text that is properly written, the letters/words must