Study Shabbat folio 104A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
עלויי קא מעלי ליה, דאמר רב חסדא: מ״ם וסמ״ך שבלוחות בנס היו עומדין. אלא סתום ועשאו פתוח — גרועי קא מגרע ליה, דאמר רבי ירמיה, ואיתימא רבי חייא בר אבא: מנצפך צופים אמרום.
he elevates its status, as Rav Ḥisda said: The letters mem and samekh that were in the tablets were standing miraculously. Each letter was chiseled all the way through the tablets. In that case, the segment of the tablets at the center of the samekh and final mem, letters that are completely closed, should have fallen. Miraculously, they remained in place. Consequently, rendering an open mem closed elevates its status. However, if one rendered a closed letter open, he diminishes its status, as R' Yirmeya said, and some say that it was R' Ḥiyya bar Abba who said: The prophets instituted the difference between the open and closed forms of the letters mem, nun, tzadi, peh, kaf. Since the closed letters date back to the 10 Commandments, apparently the prophets introduced the open versions of the letters, which are therefore less significant.
ותיסברא?! והכתיב: ״אלה המצות״ — שאין הנביא רשאי לחדש דבר מעתה! אלא מיהוה הואי, מידע לא הוה ידעין הי באמצע תיבה הי בסוף תיבה, ואתו צופים תקנינהו. ואכתי ״אלה המצות״ — שאין הנביא רשאי לחדש דבר מעתה! אלא, שכחום וחזרו ויסדום.
The Talmud rejects this: And is that reasonable? Isn’t it written: “These are the commandments that YHWH commanded Moses to tell the children of Israel at Mount Sinai” (Leviticus 27:34). The word “these” underscores that a prophet is not permitted to introduce any new element related to the Torah and its mitzvot from here on. Rather, the prophets did not innovate these forms. Both the open and closed versions existed before then. However, people did not know which form appeared in the middle of a word and which form at the end of a word. And the prophets came and instituted their set positions. The Talmud asks: And still the question remains: Didn’t the rabbis derive from the verse: “These are the commandments,” that a prophet is not permitted to introduce any new element from here on? How could they institute the position of the letters? Rather, over the course of time, the people forgot their positions in the words and the prophets then reestablished their positions. Apparently, closed letters are no more significant than the open ones.