You may have noticed that certain letters in the Sefer Torah script are ornamented with tiny  “crowns” like this:

The Letter "Shin" - Note the three-pronged crown on the leftmost head

The halacha (law) is that the Hebrew letters shin (ש), ayin (ע), tes (ט), nun (נ), zayin (ז), gimel (ג), tzaddi (ץ) all must be crowned with taggim.  These letters are known by the mnemonic שעטנ”ז ג”ץ ,  sha’atnez getz.  Both the basic and final forms of the nun and the tzaddi require taggim.

The source for this unique requirement is Menachos 29b:

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: בשעה שעלה משה למרום, מצאו להקב״ה שיושב וקושר כתרים לאותיות, אמר לפניו: רבש״ע, מי מעכב על ידך? אמר לו: אדם אחד יש שעתיד להיות בסוף כמה דורות ועקיבא בן יוסף שמו, שעתיד לדרוש על כל קוץ וקוץ תילין תילין של הלכות

…

אמר רבא: שבעה אותיות צריכות שלשה זיונין, ואלו הן: שעטנ״ז ג״ץ

…

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: “When Moshe ascended to the heavens he    found the Holy One, Blessed is He, sitting and binding taggim, crowns, to letters.

Moshe said before him: ‘Master of the World, who is holding you back from giving the Torah just as it is?’

He replied to Moshe: ‘There is a certain man who will exist in the future, at the end of many generations, Akiva ben Yosef  [Rabbi Akiva] is his name, who will expound mountains of halachos from each and every point…’” …

… Said Rava: “Seven letters require three ziyunin [taggim] each.  And they are: Sha’atnez Getz”

See more here…

There are a number of fascinating points that jump out from this Gemora, but let’s start with the obvious:  “What are taggim?”  The Beis Yosef 32 & 36 define taggim as three lines, of a hair’s breadth each, connected to the leftmost head of the letters שעטנ”ז ג”ץ,  forming a crown.

Yet, note that Rava’s statement uses the term “ziyunin” to refer to taggim.  The word ziyunin literally means “zayins” as in the letter zayin.  Read as such, Rava is telling us that we must affix three zayins to each of these seven particular letters.

From this fact, the Rambam in Hilchos Tefillin 7:8, the Agor,  and other Rishonim learn that the taggim should ideally have the form of small zayins, meaning that each tag should be a line with a head centered and sitting atop it, much like the letter zayin (I’ll mention here that there is a second interpretation of Rava’s “ziyunin” that we will save for later…)

Ayin with three taggim on its left head

Tes with its taggim

Nun with its taggim

Zayin with taggim

Gimmel with taggim

Tzaddi with its taggim

While there is no shiur, or size requirement for the height of these “sha’atnez getz” taggim,  the Mishna Berurah writes that the taggim should be “small and thin, like a hair’s breadth.”  The Sefer Kesiva Tamah is more specific, suggesting that the height of the taggim be like the height of the tip of the quill.   Note that these suggestions are merely aesthetic and practical in nature, not halachic (legal).

In the next post, we are going to take a closer look at our gemora from Menachos and ask:

What is the law if one leaves out or forgets the taggim?

Can taggim be added to other letters besides sha’atnez getz?

Are the alternative forms of the taggim?

Must one write the taggim as he goes along, or may one write his mezuza/tefillin/Torah and add the taggim in later?

What is the true purpose of the taggim and what do they really mean?

2 Comments »

1. 

   Hi Rabbi Blumenstiel,
   It’s your good friend from Baltimore! This is a very interesting and commendable project. Hatzlacha rabbah. Is there a connection between the halacha of shatnez and why that nmemonic happens to be used in this context? Is there an email I can contact you by?

   Comment by Yerachmiel — October 13, 2009 @ 10:04 pm

2. 

   Not a connection that I know of. The Sefer Iggres ha-Tiyul quoted in the MB explains that the letters of Shaatnez Ge”tz actually spell the names of two destructive melachim and that adding taggim to the letters of their names “saves” us from the full brunt of their destructive power.

   Comment by Rabbi Avraham Chaim Bloomenstiel, Sofer — October 29, 2009 @ 11:10 pm

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