Aside from the embellishment of tagin their are also a large number of scribal oddities (for want of a better word) and idiosyncrasies throughout the writings. Most of these have received comments from the sages as to their deep and hidden meanings but many may just be different early scribal errors or customs which have been perpetuated though careful and dutiful copying of exactly what lay before them.

Some are clearly very deliberate, like the brick formation of Shirat Hayam (the song of the Sea), or certain large and small letters. Others, such as the misspelling of a word by omitting (chaser) or including (mal'eh) a vav ) or having a vav where a yud should be, are likely not.

These traditions are often grouped together under the collective heading of  otiyot m’shunot (strange letters) but I often think that sounds a bit derogatory and instead I like to refer to these as visual midrash in that they tell a story over and above the simple meaning of the text merely through special adornment of the letters on the page. There are a number of books that refer to these. Chief amongst these are Sefer Tagin, the Machzor Vitri, Torah Sh’lemah, Mishnat Avraham, Kiryat Sefer and the Ba-al HaTurim. They record these  oddities in detail and often seek to give the reasons for them. These books have formed the basis of much of my study over the years, and it is an area that I particularly specialise in. Indeed I am now doing a PhD at Cambridge University (FAMES) on the subject. I have  checked and repaired many Sifrey Torah over the years. In so doing, I have had the privilege of seeing several which have been quite old (often over 200-300 years) and as such many contain examples of these visual midrashim.

This page will eventually link to rebuilt pages on all the special sections. However in the meantime I was asked to put back up the special page on the otiyot nakud (dotted letters) and a special link to a free educational resource. All those details on the dotted letters are below on this page. I've also put back the page on the vav k'tia (broken vav) . I've also put up a new page on the kuf d'vukah (joined kuf). There's also a new page on a tradition that is not well known, or generally accepted, involving a vav in the word Aharon. I've also put back the page on large letters (otiyot rabati) in the Torah (rather than the Tanach) but largely without explanations at present because I reference it in a double video podcast and I didn't want anyone coming here and not finding the page! I've also added a short page on the inverted letters nun that bracket Sefer Binsoa. I've also had the good fortune to publish a new academic monograph on Sefer Tagin concentrating on fragments found in the famous Cairo Genizah.