The Ashurit Script: Where Did It Come From?

At the beginning of the book, the words of the Zohar are brought up, stating that the language of the Torah and the form of its letters, with which the Torah scrolls are written, are called "Lashon HaKodesh" (the Holy Tongue) because of their divine source. However, many are puzzled by another name for this script: "Ashurit script" (or "Ashurit"). Why is this divine script called by that name? Does this imply that its origin is from ancient Assyria, and if so, have we adopted another's script? Or is there another intention behind the term "Ashurit script"?

Another question arises. Throughout this book, it is extensively explained that for Kabbalists throughout the generations, it was as clear as day that the world was created with the letters of the Ashurit script. This principle is one of the foundations on which the Zohar stands. Is this agreed upon among the sages of the Talmud and the plain interpretation? Let us clarify these issues with Hashem’s help.

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In the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat: "Rav Chisda said: The letters mem and samech on the Tablets stood there miraculously." This means that the letters on the Tablets of the Covenant were not only engraved as we engrave on tombstones today but were carved entirely through to the other side of the tablet. Thus, the internal parts of the letters samech and mem (closed mem) were surrounded by air and stood miraculously. Additionally, in Tractate Menachot: "When Moses ascended to the heavens, he found the Holy One, blessed be He, sitting and tying crowns on the letters [writing crowns over the letters]. He said to Him: Master of the Universe, who is holding You back [who requires You to add these crowns containing secrets, in addition to the letters themselves. And surely no man will be able to understand their secrets properly]? He said to him: There is a man who is destined to live many generations later, and his name is Akiva ben Yosef, who will expound on every point mounds upon mounds of laws." From these statements, it is clear that even according to the Talmudic sages, the Torah was given in the square script called Ashurit, in which the letters samech and mem are closed all around with no opening, and that many secrets are hidden in the shape of the letters of this script, and even in their crowns. For in the ancient Hebrew script, also called "Da'atz" script or "Re'atz" script, the letters mem and samech are not closed, but another letter, the letter ayin, as shown in the attached table. Also, no other script has crowns on its letters, except for the square Ashurit script.

Also mentioned in the Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin: "Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says in the name of [on behalf of] R' Eliezer ben Parta who said in the name of Rabbi Elazar the Modiite: This script [called Ashurit] has never changed at all. As it says: 'They are the pillars of the columns'. Just as the columns have not changed, so too the 'vavs' [pillars] have not changed. And it says: 'To the Jews according to their script and language' [unique to them]. Just as their language has not changed, so too their script has not changed."

In the Jerusalem Talmud, it is further explained: "The Torah was given in the Ashurit script. And why? 'They are the pillars of the columns', that its 'vavs' should be like columns" – meaning the shape of the letter vav is similar to a pillar. And this is the shape of the letter vav in the Ashurit script, which is not the case in the script called Hebrew script.

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However, in the same Talmudic passage in Tractate Sanhedrin, among several statements there, one statement at first glance seems to contradict what has been said.

Here is the language of the Talmud: "Mar Zutra, and some say Mar Ukva, said: Initially, the Torah was given to Israel in Hebrew script [this is the form of the letters], and the Holy Language [the language of the Torah]. It was given again in the days of Ezra in Ashurit script and the Holy Language. They selected for Israel Ashurit script and the Holy Language and left the Hebrew script and the Aramaic language for the commoners." And it explains who the commoners are: "Who are the commoners? The Samaritans." This means the Samaritans whom Sennacherib exiled from their land to the land of Israel, and converted only out of fear of the lions that struck them, as told in the Book of Kings.

At first glance, it seems that, according to the Amora Mar Zutra (or Mar Ukva), the Torah was originally written in the Hebrew script and not in the Ashurit script at its giving. But does this opinion contradict all the other statements in the Talmud mentioned above? Could it be that the entire vast treasure of the Torah's secrets and the universe, the lessons, and hints hidden in the letters and explained in the Torah of Secrets, do not exist according to this opinion?

However, by examining the precise wording of this statement, without immediately focusing only on the initial words and ignoring the continuation of the sentence, one will uncover the answer. It is necessary to understand what the Amora means by "it was given again to them in the days of Ezra." What giving is being discussed, by whom was it given, and for what purpose was it necessary to give a Torah that already exists? If it is for the script change, then the text should have been "and in the days of Ezra, the script was changed to Ashurit." What is the meaning of the wording “giving” found here?

The answer, however, lies in the superfluous word: "Initially, the Torah was given to Israel in Hebrew script." It doesn’t simply say, "Initially, the Torah was given in Hebrew script," as it was surely given to Israel. The word "to Israel" implies that the Torah was given to the common people in Hebrew script. Accordingly, the continuation words: "it was given again to them", means to the people themselves. For initially, the leaders of Israel spread the Torah among the common people in the lower Hebrew script, not in the sacred script in which it was given, to preserve the sacred letters secretly among those worthy of them, as practiced by previous generations, to prevent anyone from the common people from improperly using the exalted letters, in which the secrets of creation are hidden. Thus, the original script in which the Torah was given, and the letters of the Torah scroll that was kept in the Holy Ark in the Temple were preserved only among the spiritual leaders of the people. For this reason, when a hand wrote words in Ashurit script on the wall during Belshazzar’s feast, no one could read it, not even the king’s Jewish advisors. Only Daniel, who was one of the great Torah sages and leaders of the generation, recognized the divine letters and knew how to read and interpret the writing. This event may have been among the factors leading to the revelation of the existence of the sacred script in which the Torah was given to the common people, culminating in Ezra's decision to spread it throughout Israel due to the Samaritans. Only after returning to the land of Israel from the Babylonian exile, during Ezra’s time, when it became clear that the Torah scrolls in the land of Israel, in the hands of the Samaritans and other sects, and written in the Hebrew script (as was common among the common people both in and outside the land), had been copied by them with numerous distortions in the Torah verses, to this day, more and more proofs of even deliberate distortions in their books continue to emerge. For example, the Samaritans added to their Torah the words "opposite Shechem" in the Book of Deuteronomy (11:30): "And you shall put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal, are they not beyond the Jordan, after the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites, that dwell in the plain over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh." They added: "...over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh opposite Shechem." They did this to "move" the original Mount Gerizim (today known as "Jabel Kabir") to the mountain sacred to them and considered by them as Mount Gerizim. Professor Adam Zertal has proven their forgery with his discovery of the altar that Joshua son of Nun built on Mount Ebal, which is opposite the true Mount Gerizim. See this extensively in the book "A Nation is Born" by Professor Zertal. The leaders of the people decided to publicize and spread the Torah scroll in Israel with the authentic and sacred script in which the Torah was given, so that from now on, they could distinguish between the true and original version of the Torah and the distorted one held by others (there are additional reasons for this: A. To elevate the people returning to their land – the Holy Land – and connect them to the original Holy Torah. B. To distinguish the people and distance them from the Samaritans who appear Jewish. See further in the words of the Ritva). And that is the meaning of the words "They selected for Israel Ashurit script". As a person selects and takes what is superior from what is inferior. Thus, from among the forms of scripts, they took the best, the original, and spread it among Israel.

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