How were the tablets written? Rebbi Ḥanania ben Gamliel says, five on one tablet each⁴¹This minority opinion is everywhere accepted in depictions of the tablets.. But the rabbis say, ten on each tablet, as it is written⁴²Deut. 4:13.: He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words, ten on each tablet. Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai⁴³The name tradition here is very varied. said, twenty on each tablet, as it is written: He informed you of His covenant which He had commanded you to do, the ten words, twenty on each tablet⁴⁴Ten on the top, ten on the bottom.. Rebbi Simai says, forty on each tablet, as it is written, on each side they were written⁴⁵Ex. 32:15., a square⁴⁶Greek τετράγωνον. He holds that the tablets were cubes, top and bottom empty and identical writing on each of the faces.. Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother, says: Between every two commandments, the details and the letters [of the Torah] were written. Filled with tarsis⁴⁷Cant. 5:14. His hands are golden cylinders, inlaid with tarsis, the cylinders being Torah scrolls (Cant. rabba5:12). The Palestinian Targum to Ex. 28:20, 39:13 translates taršiš by כְּרוֹם יַמָּא רַבָּא ”the color of the Great Sea.“ One may assume that the scribe of the Yerushalmi did not understand the Greek χρω̅μα “color” and shortened it to .כְּ. The Targum to Cant. translates taršiš by the Syriac/Pahlevi word פֵּירוֹזַג (Farsi פירוזה) “turquoise”. The sentence is missing in the Genizah text and in B., like the Great Sea. When Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish had occasion to discuss this verse, he said, Ḥananiah, the son of Rebbi Joshua’s brother, did teach us correctly. Just as in the sea there are small waves between a large wave and the next, so between any two commandments there are the details and the letters of the Torah.

Rebbi Tanḥuma said, I asked before Rebbi Phineas: It is acceptable following Rebbi Jehudah⁴⁹The verse quoted next which implies that the Torah scroll was not in the Ark., it is not acceptable following Rebbi Meןr. What is the reason of Rebbi Jehudah? To take this Torah scroll and put it next to the side of the Ark of the Eternal’s covenant⁵⁰Deut. 31:26., etc In the opinion of Rebbi Jehudah, who said, where the Torah scroll was put? They made for it a kind of case⁵¹Greek γλωσσοκομε̅ι̅ον, τό. outside and the Torah scroll was put into it. What is the reason of Rebbi Meןr? You should put the cover on top of the Ark⁵²Ex. 25:21.. In the opinion of Rebbi Meןr who says that there is no earlier and later in the Torah, in the Ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give to you⁵³Ex. 25:16., and after that, you should put the cover on top of the Ark. Rebbi Phineas in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: ⁵⁴Text of B: The Torah which He gave to Moses was white fire engraved in black fire; it is of fire quarried from fire, born from fire, given into the right hand of the Holy One, praise to Him, at it is said, From His right hand, the fiery law to them. The Torah which the Holy One, Praise to Him, gave to Moses, was white fire engraved in black fire. It was fire mixed with fire; hewn from fire, given from fire: That is what is written⁵⁵Deut33:2.: From His right hand, the fiery law to them.