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Ten Commandments
75
their three-dimensional distribution on the Tablets
of the Law.23) One
fold separates the five lines
of each tablet
cutting through the fifth turning-
letter,
which happens to be the Kof in
Poked
Awon Avot "visiting the iniquity
of the fathers"
(Exodus 20, 5 =
Deuteronomy 5, 9). The shape
of the
letter Kof (English "monkey" ) with
its
outstanding tail lends itself
to connecting the
two Tablets of
the Law.24) Standing
at the end
of the first tablet it
should, therefore, be repeated
at the
beginning of the second, bringing
the
number of 319 letters to
a total of 320.25)
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23) See TORAH OF THE
ALPHABET (N. 1) pp. 100–107, and 119.
The tablets were some
four and a half
centimeters
thick (cf. Notes 30
and 33 infra), enough to
write on their
tops.
The three-dimensional structure
of their inscription
on
front, top, and reverse was destroyed
by copying it. The biblical
text is
termed one-dimensional, because
it pays no attention
to
the original ten lines (Devarim or
Sefirot), and might as well
be
written in one long line.
24) The Sefer Yetzirah (chapter 1,
no. 3) distributes five
of the ten
lines without anything (Sefirot
beli Mah) on each
of the two Tablets
of the Law (Luchot ha-Berit) with
the male
sexual organ (Berit
Milah) of the letter
Kof in the middle.
25) In the Sefer Yetzirah (chapter 1,
no. 1) the writing
of the
Tablets of the Law
in lines of 32
letters (Ketivot,
correct for
Netivot) is likened to the
creation of the world.
The
Jewish era of creation shares this
symbolism by beginning
2320 years
before the Exodus, i. e. 2
tablets and 320 letters.
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