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<font size=3>Micha Berger wrote:<br><br>
> The first luach, that with the 5 mitzvos BALM, had far more words
on<br>
> it than the second luach and its list of 5 mitzvos BALC. Assuming
each<br>
> text was written to fill the space, this means that the letters on
the<br>
> second luach were far larger and could be read from a further
disance<br>
> than those on the first.<br><br>
Zev Sero responded<br><br>
Why would we make that assumption? Surely it's more
straightforward<br>
to assume the writing was the same size throughout.<br><br>
</font>In his commentary of Shemos 32 <br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>15
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Now Moshe turned and went
down from the mountain with the two Tablets of the Testimony in his hand,
tablets inscribed on both<br>
their sides; on the one side and on the other side were they
inscribed.<br><br>
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4>16
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>And the tablets were a
work of God, and the writing was God’s writing, cut right through the
tablets.<br><br>
</i></b></font>RSRH writes,<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>The foregoing offers insight into
the various opinions cited in<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yerushalmi Shekalim
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>6:1 regarding the
Tablets. According to one opinion,<br>
all ten commandments were written on each of the two tablets.<br>
According to another opinion, twice ten were written on each tablet
—<br>
ten on each side. According to yet another opinion, even four times<br>
ten: on the front, on the back, and on each side. Thus, from the
beginning,<br>
there were two copies of the Commandments, and each of the<br>
Tablets was inscribed on all sides. The Tablets of the Testimony
thereby<br>
demonstrated that the Torah is to be spread among the people
throughout<br>
all its ranks, and that Moshe had no exclusive or excluding position<br>
as regards the Torah.<br><br>
So it is not at all clear to me what was written where and in what size
on the Luchos. <br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Yitzchok Levine</font></body>
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