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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עח:<br />
<strong>Symmetrically</strong> <strong>Designed</strong> <strong>Sifrei</strong> <strong>Torah</strong>: A <strong>Quantitative</strong> <strong>Analysis</strong> : 207<br />
validates 57 all of the calculations and helps accomplish the Gemara’s<br />
objective of getting the highlighted letter, word and verse of interest<br />
on the top of a page.<br />
The significance of the number 46 is not limited to the five<br />
books of the <strong>Torah</strong>. Further evidence of the significance of<br />
תהלים עח׃לח divisibility by 46 is found in the Gemara’s statement that<br />
תהלים fact, is the middle verse of the 2,527 verses. In (והוא רחום (i.e.<br />
which is the 1,264 th verse, is the middle verse, i.e. two verses לו<br />
earlier. However, note that 2,527 is not divisible by 46. If, as we did<br />
in <strong>Torah</strong>, we are looking for pages that contain 46 verses, then the<br />
number of pages to accommodate the 2,527 verses of Tehillim is 55<br />
(since 46*55=2,530). The 55 pages will accommodate 3 more verses<br />
than Tehillim has, according to our count. Thus 2,484 verses will be<br />
on the first 54 pages and 43 verses on the last page. The verse the<br />
Gemara offers as the middle verse, רחום ,והוא is preceded in תהלים by<br />
1,265 verses. Thus, the Gemara’s verse (verse 1,266) starts exactly at<br />
the middle of page 28 and is in fact the middle verse of the complete<br />
2,530 verses that could be accommodated on the 55 pages of<br />
Tehillim. 58,59<br />
We conclude this section with the final statement in the<br />
The back of all standard D”H texts .חסר ממנו דברי הימים שמונה :ברייתא<br />
says it has in total 1,656 verses, but an actual count shows 1,764<br />
verses. 60 Note that 1,656 is divisible by 46 but 1,764 is not.<br />
57 I.e. if in fact there are an extra 43 verses, they must all come in the final<br />
2,806 (35%) of the <strong>Torah</strong>. This is highly unlikely.<br />
58 We are not assuming any extra pages added on one side for the sake of<br />
wrapping around the rest of the Sefer. Maseches Sefer <strong>Torah</strong> 2:5 appears to<br />
say that a S”T requires a single etz chaim and other books require none.<br />
59 The only verse highlighted in the Gemara lacking divisibility by 46 is<br />
Tehillim 80:14, which is said to contain the middle letter of Tehillim, i.e.<br />
the ע of .יער This verse is preceded by 1326 verses. 1326 is not divisible<br />
by 46, and if we divided pages into blocks of 46 verses, Tehillim 80:14<br />
would be 8 verses before the bottom of page 58. We have no<br />
explanation for why this verse was highlighted. However, we wonder<br />
יתר עליו תהלים Baraisa: whether this is the meaning of the end of the<br />
of Tehillim פסוקים Perhaps this 8 is referring not to the excess in .שמונה<br />
over <strong>Torah</strong> but to the midpoint of the letters in Tehillim appearing 8<br />
verses before expected.<br />
60 See footnote 33 for a discussion of the length of Divrei Hayamim.