Editing Torah (section)

==Divine significance of letters, Jewish mysticism==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2024}}
[[File:2008-09-26 torarolle-jhwh.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Closeup of Torah scroll showing a verse from Numbers with ''[[Tag (Hebrew writing)|tagin]]'' markings decorating letters written in ''[[Ktav Ashuri]]''.]]
{{Further|Kabbalah}}

Kabbalists hold that not only do the words of Torah give a divine message, but they also indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Thus they hold that even as small a mark as a ''kotso shel yod'' ({{lang|hbo|קוצו של יוד}}), the [[serif]] of the Hebrew letter ''[[Yodh|yod]]'' (י), the smallest letter, or decorative markings, or repeated words, were put there by God to teach scores of lessons. This is regardless of whether that yod appears in the phrase "I am the LORD thy God" ({{lang|hbo|אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ}}, Exodus 20:2) or whether it appears in "And God spoke unto Moses saying" ({{lang|hbo|וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה; וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו, אֲנִי יְהוָה.}} Exodus 6:2). In a similar vein, [[Rabbi Akiva]] ({{circa|50|135 CE|lk=no}}), is said to have learned a new law from every ''et'' ({{lang|hbo|את}}) in the Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); the [[grammatical particle|particle]] ''et'' is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark the [[Object (grammar)|direct object]]. In other words, the [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] belief is that even apparently contextual text such as "And God spoke unto Moses saying&nbsp;..." is no less holy and sacred than the actual statement.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}