A tag (Aramaic: , plural , ) is a decoration drawn over some Hebrew letters in the Jewish scribal practice. The Hebrew name for this scribal feature is (). and mean 'crown' in Aramaic and Hebrew respectively.

Medieval tagin

The Sefer tagin, attributed to Rabbi Akiva but not mentioned until at least the 9th century, lays out 1,960 places where modified tagin or letter forms occur in a Torah scroll. According to this work, each occurrence of a letter is to be written with between 0 and 7 tagin, as delineated in the lists contained therein.Brian Tice, Sefer Tagin (): An Ancient Sofer Manual (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Yiddishkeit 101, 2021). ISBN 979-8-4929-0692-4. Many similar lists exist, representing various traditions, and medieval scrolls and codices may follow any of these or a unique practice. Maimonides ruled that a scribe should do his utmost to incorporate all of the elements of his own tradition; however, if they are omitted, whether in full or in part, the scroll is still kosher.Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam), Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Sefer Torah uMezuzah v'Tefillin 7:8.

Modern practice Scribes no longer use tagin as exceptional marks on individual letters, but in modern parlance the term tagin has been reassigned to represent standard decorative serifs which form part of the torah font. These serifs are found on the letters shin, ayin, nun, Gimel, tsade, teth, and zayin, which the Talmud describes as having a shared three-stroke marking, and the letters beth, daleth, he, heth, yodh and qoph, which share a one-stroke marking. The term tagin can also be used for column embellishments or marks over the tetragrammaton.

Interpretation In a notable story in the Babylonian Talmud, God is seen "tying crowns to letters" at Mount Sinai, and Rabbi Akiva is said to be able to "derive Law from every thorn".Menahot 29b; Shabbat 89a In the Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva, a slightly different version of this story with explicit mention of the tagin: "Moses saw the planet of Rabbi Akiva in the curtain of God, that he was sitting and explaining the letters of the Torah, and that he would derive 365 meanings from each tag and each letter . . ."

In modern kabbalistic thought, each has special significance and meaning.

See also

References

External links

Learning About Tagin (UnderstandingHebrew.com) Sofer (scribal) penmanship for ritual STA"M use of Kulmusim quill Halachic origins in Gemara, the Babylonian Tractate Menachot 29 Conventions in use