Editing Masoretic Text (section)

=== Inverted letters ===
In nine passages of the Masoretic Text are found signs usually called [[inverted nun]]s, because they resemble the Hebrew letter [[Nun (letter)|nun]]&nbsp;(&nbsp;נ&nbsp;)<ref name="Jewish"/> written in some inverted fashion. The exact shape varies between different manuscripts and printed editions. In many manuscripts, a reversed nun is found referred to as a ''nun hafucha'' by the masoretes. In some earlier printed editions, they are shown as the standard nun upside down or rotated, because the printer did not want to bother to design a character to be used only nine times. The recent scholarly editions of the Masoretic Text show the reversed nun as described by the masoretes. In some manuscripts, however, other symbols are occasionally found instead. These are sometimes referred to in rabbinical literature as ''simaniyot'' (markers).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing |isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |pages=24–25 |quote=referencing Masechet Sofrim 6:1, Shabbat 115b (also Avot d'Rabi Natan 34:4) |edition=5th}}</ref>

The primary set of inverted nuns is found surrounding the text of Numbers 10:35–36. The Mishna notes that this text is 85&nbsp;letters long and dotted. This demarcation of this text leads to the later use of the inverted nun markings. [[Saul Lieberman]] demonstrated that similar markings can be found in ancient Greek texts where they are also used to denote 'short texts'. During the Medieval period, the inverted nuns were actually inserted into the text of the early Rabbinic Bibles published by Bomberg in the early 16th&nbsp;century. The talmud records that the markings surrounding Numbers 10:35-36<ref>{{bibleverse||Numbers|10:35–36|HE}}</ref> were thought to denote that this 85&nbsp;letter text was not in its proper place.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing |isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |pages=28-33 including references to Shabbat 115b and 116a (also Ba'al Haturim and Chizkuni) |edition=5th}}</ref>

[[Bar Kappara]] considered the Torah known to us as composed of seven volumes in the Gemara "The seven pillars with which Wisdom built her house (Prov. 9:1) are the seven Books of Moses". Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy as we know them but Numbers was really three separate volumes: Numbers 1:1–10:35 followed by Numbers 10:35–36 and the third text from there to the end of Numbers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing |isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |pages=33–35 |quote=including references to Shabbat 115b (also Sifre Bamidbar B'ha'alotcha Piska&nbsp;26 and Midrash Mishley) |edition=5th}}</ref>

The 85&nbsp;letter text is also said to be denoted because it is the model for the fewest letters which constitute a 'text' which one would be required to save from fire due to its holiness.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Michaels |first1=Marc |title=Sefer Binsoa |date=26 August 2010 |publisher=Kulmus Publishing|isbn=978-0-9810947-7-9 |page=34 |quote=referencing Yadayim 3:5 and Sifre Bamidbar B'ha'alotcha Piska&nbsp;26 |edition=5th}}</ref>