The Script of the Torah in Rabbinic Thought (B): Transcriptions and Thorns / על כתב התורה בדברי חז"ל (ב): תעתיקים וקוצים

This article continues an earlier piece with the same title (Lĕšonénu 70 [2008]) that discussed the rabbinic understanding of the holiness of the script of the Torah by examining the rabbinic account of the origin and formation of the so-called Assyrian script. The present article deals with two other aspects of this subject. It first examines the link between holy language and holy script in the holy book through the test case of transcription. It reaches the conclusion that, for the rabbis, it is the script, the Assyrian script, which renders the Torah scroll holy and not the (Hebrew) language. This approach places the emphasis on the physical properties of the book as the carrier of its holiness, rather than on the precise wording of its message. Based on this understanding of the role of the script, the second section attempts to investigate the hermeneutic value that the rabbis may have ascribed to the script as an autonomous representation of the divine message – and its limits. The bulk of this section is devoted to the famous story of Moses and R. Akiva (b. Men. 29b). According to the prevailing reading, the story praises R. Akiva for his stunning ability to interpret even the graphical decorations of the letters ("thorns" or "crowns"). However, close linguistic and literary analysis of the story shows that this reading is erroneous. The section concludes with the claim that the rabbis never considered the graphic shape of the letters as bearing a specific meaning that is retrievable through hermeneutic procedures.