Backwards Letters, the Divine Presence, and the Bible’s Most Mysterious Punctuation

In last week’s Torah reading, a brief passage of merely 85 characters (Numbers 10:35–36) describing the prayer Moses would say before and after transporting the Holy Ark is set apart from the rest of the text on either side by the inverted letter nun. At least, that is how the passage is usually marked in Torah scrolls produced in the past few centuries. Sholom Eisenstat observes the different versions of this notation that have appeared in Jewish manuscripts since ancient times—one of the few variations in a text that has otherwise been preserved with remarkable consistency. He also examines the interpretations rabbis have offered for these markings, in all their forms. One of the most striking is offered by the Zohar, which in typical fashion sees them as symbolizing the Sh’khinah, or the immanent, feminine, manifestation of God: