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“

When Moshe arrived in the heavens, he found that G-D had already completed his Sefer Torah.  Does Moshe’s question, “Master of the World, who is holding you back from giving the Torah just as it is?” imply that the Torah was fit to be given even without affixing taggim/crowns to the letters?

See more here…

According to the Rambam, Meiri, and Rabbeinu Yeruchum, this is exactly the case, and the absence of taggim is not an invalidating factor in Safrus.

Similarly, the Yireim understands that there is no fundamental requirement for taggim to be affixed to the letters.   Rather, when Rava says that “Seven letters require three ziyunin each, ” he is speaking about something else altogether.  According to the Yireim, the word ziyunin is related to the word for “corner.”  Thus, the Yireim understands Rava as stating that the heads of the letters Sha’atnez Getz must have at least four well defined corners.  There is no obligation whatsoever for taggim according to his interpretation.

However, Rabbeinu Tam, the Rosh, and the Ravya’h all understand Rava’s requirement for taggim, crowns,  as intrinsic to the kashrus of whatever is being written.  According to them, if one forgot to put taggim on even one of the letters of Sha’atnez Getz, the mezuza/Torah/tefillin at hand is rendered invalid.

The Shulchan Aruch decides in favor of the Rambam, Meiri, and Rabbeinu Yeruchum that omitting taggim from any of the letters of  Sha’atnez Getz does not constitute an invalidation.  However, many of the Acharonim, the Vilna Gaon in particular, are concerned for the strict positions of R’ Tam and the Rosh.  Therefore, the Mishna Berurah requires that any omitted must be corrected.

Another lesson learned from the Talmud here is that the taggim do not need to be written at the time that the letters themselves are written.  After all, we see that G-d was binding the crowns to His sefer Torah only after it was completed.

Indeed a nicer quality of script can usually be produced by writing the taggim in at a later time.   Because of this, many soferim will finish a column and then go back to put in the taggim after the ink has dried.

According to some Ashkenazi poskim, though, it is a hiddur (a beautification,  or a preferable way of writing) to write the taggim concurrently with the letters, lest one forget to do so later or accidentally overlook a letter.    In tefillin and mezuzos, it is a good idea to put the taggim in concurrently for the same reason mentioned by a sefer Torah, but also because the work area is much smaller and there is a greater risk of error when going back to write the taggim.  Errors in tefillin and mezuzos are tricky and usually cannot be corrected, so it is better to try to do everything once and get it right the first time!

Therefore, many Ashkenazi soferim will write the taggim as they go along writing the letters.  However, many Ashkenazi, and most Sephardi soferim will write the letters of a section first and them add in the taggim later.

In the next post I will share some pictures of ornate and unusual taggim.

Please check back soon!

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