Inverted nun

In some earlier printed editions, they are shown as the standard nun upside down or rotated, presumably because the printer did not want to design a new rare character.

In the Torah, the inverted nuns frame the text: Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, "Rise up, Lord!

[7] Rashi's commentary states that the name of the city of Haran at the end of the Torah portion Noach also occurs with an inverted nun, but this is not found in existing texts.

[8] The Babylonian Talmud records in the tractate Shabbath, folio 116a, that the markings surrounding Numbers 10:35–36 were thought to denote that this 85-letter text was not in its proper place.

The 85-letter text found between the nuns 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.

Rabbi [Judah haNasi] said: It was not for this reason, but rather because it is an important book in and of itself.Sifrei explains these "signs": It was marked with points above and below.

According to Rabbi [Judah Hanasi].Bar Kappara is known to have considered the Torah as composed of seven volumes in the Gemara "The seven pillars with which Wisdom built her house (Prov.

Rav Ashi says: "In the section dealing with the disposition of the Israelites according to their banners and their travelling arrangements" (Numbers 1:52-2:34, Shabbath 116a).The Mishnah, in tractate Yadayim, states: A book that became erased yet there remain in it 85 letters, like the section "and it was when the Ark was carried", renders hands impureAccording to Midrash: These verses were incorporated into the Torah from the prophecy of Eldad and Meidad.

Rabbi [Judah haNasi] says because it is a book of its own.Maharshal ruled that the Talmud only mandates the usual break for a parashah section, and Torah scrolls with extra letters are passul (unfit for ritual use).