Tag (Hebrew writing)
A tag (Aramaic: , plural , ) is a decoration drawn over some Hebrew letters in the Jewish scrolls of Sifrei Torah, Tefillin, Mezuzot and the Five Megillot. The Hebrew name for this scribal feature is (). Both and mean 'crown' in Aramaic and Hebrew respectively. Placement. In modern practice, the letters Beth, Daleth, He, Heth, Yud and Quf have one tag (Mnemonic: BeDeQ-ChaYaH ). The letters Gimel, Zayin, Tet, Nun, Ayin, Tzadi and Shin, as far back as Talmudic times, have 3 tags (Mnemonic: Sha´ATNeZ-GaTz ). Some manuscripts feature embellished on the top line of each column and some also  on all occurrences of the Tetragrammaton other than those prefixed with a lamed. Sefer Tagin. About the 2nd century CE, a work called "Sefer Tagin" ( or ) emerged attributed to Rabbi Akiva which laid out the 1960 places where modified tagin or letter forms occur in a Torah scroll. In it, the locations of letters which receive a number of tagin which differs from the "sha'atnez gatz" tradition, e.g. the initial "beit" of "bereshith" in having 4 tagin as opposed to the usual 1 and the instances of aleph which bear 7 tagin apiece. According to this work, each occurrence of  each letter is to be written with between 0 and 7 tagin, as delineated in the lists contained therein. Maimonides. This tradition, predating the versification of the Torah text, contains some instruction wherein it is difficult to know what verses are being referenced, thus in the 12th century, Maimonides ruled that though a scribe should do his utmost to incorporate all of the elements of this tradition, called "otiyyot meshunot" (strange letters), if they are omitted, whether in full or in part, the scroll would not be ruled as "pasul" (invalid). Interpretation. The Talmud states that was originally added to  the text by God at Mount Sinai, and that Rabbi Akiva would use their presence in order to derive laws. In kabbalistic thought, each has special significance and meaning.