Sefer Baal HaTurim

The work called Baal HaTurim is dedicated to explaining words, phrases or even entire verses of the Torah in the realm of remez (allusion), rather than in the realm of peshat (simple meaning of the verse), which is the field of the Peirush HaTur HaAruch.  This Rabbi Yaakov accomplishes through what he refers to as "condiments, which include:

• Gematria (numerical value) - Every Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent called its gematria.
• Roshei Teivot (initial letters) - The initial letters of the words in a phrase or verse (either in their respective order or as an anagram) often spell a word or phrase which may be used as the basis of a remez.
• Sofei Teivot (final letters) - Similar to roshei teivot, except utilizing the final letters of the words for the remez.
• Mispar (count) - An allusion is drawn from the number of words in a verse or the number of times a particular letter appears in a verse.
• Otiot Meshunot (strange letters) - According to scribal traditions recorded in various masoretic and midrashic sources, certain letters of the Torah are written in an unusual fashion that differs from the regular script in either size or shape.  Allusions are often derived from those anomalous forms.  Among the unusual forms are:
  • ot rabati (larger letter) a letter which, although written in its usual shape, is wider and taller than it would ordinarily be.
  • ot zeira (small letter) a letter which, although written in its usual shape, is narrower and shorter than it would ordinarily be.
  • ot kefufah (bent letter) and ot akumah (twisted letter) a letter written in an unusual shape, but in such a way that it remains recognizable as the intended letter.
  • nakud (dotted), although as a general rule a Torah scroll must be free of any letters, vowel points, punctuation marks, cantillation marks, etc., a dot is inscribed above certian letters.
• Tagin (tittles or crownlets) - in the regular Torah script, seven of the twenty-two letters of the alef-beit - shin, ayin, tet, nun, zayin, gimel, and tzade - are adorned with three crownlets or tittles; six letters - bet, daled, kuf, chet, yod and heh - are adorned with one crownlet; and the remaining nine - mem, lamed, alef, chaf, tav, somek, vav, feh,  and resh, have no tagin.  However, certain specific letters are written with more than the usual number of tagin, and those extra tagin indicate that there is an allusion hidden in that word or phrase.
• Chilufei otiot (letter exchanges) - The regular Hebrew alphabet contains twenty-two ordered letters, and is called the alef beit.  However, it is not the only valid arrangement of the Hebrew letters.  Various other ordered forms of the alphabet are used in the realms of remez (allusion) and sod (secret).  these other arrangements consist of the same twenty-two letters as the alef-beit, but in a different sequence.  For the purpose of remez or sod, the first letter of one such arrangement may be exchanged for the letter alef, the second letter for the bet, the third for the gimel, and so on until tav.  Such exchanges form new words which may be used as the basis for allusions.
• Semichut (juxtaposition) - When two seemingly unrelated topics or themes appear in tandem, their juxtaposition may allude to another topic.
• Malei vechaser (full or defective) - The letters vav and yod may function as either vowels or consonants. 
• Keri uchetiv (pronunciation and spelling) - The traditional spllins used in Torah scrolls have been handed down through the generations all the way back sine Sinai.  Likewise, the pronunciation of these unvowelized words has traveled the same route.  On occasion, the keri, pronunciation, of a word is not in accordance with its ketiv, spelling.  Such words are always read with the traditional pronunciation, whether during the public Torah reading, in private study sessions, or in the simple meaning of the verse.  However, the exposition or exegesis of the verse may also follow the ketiv, often as an allusion.
• Taamei Hamassorah (explanations of masoretic notes) - The baalei hamassorah (masoretes) flourished in the post-Talmudic period, mainly in Yerushalayim and Tiberias.  They studied the words of the Tanach, Torah, Prophets, Hagographa, in very close detail, and wrote notes stating exactly how many times a particular word or phrase appears in any one Book of Scriptures or in the entire Tanach; how many and which verses begin and end with the same letter or word; how many and which letters are written in a an unusual form; which words appear exactly one time in the Tanach; which words occur exactly twice, once with a vav prefix, once without; which words appear sometimes vowelized with a kamatz, sometimes with a patach; and many similar listings and classifications.  These notes appear (in many Tanach manuscripts and in some printed editions) as terse marginal comments, often consisting of no more than one letter.  Thus, a circlet may appear over a word and the note (lamed' in the margin; that note means leit (none), i.e., the indicated word does not appear in exactly that form elsewhere in Tanach.  Or the note may read bet', meaning that the word appears two times, or gimel', three times.  Sometimes the note will read bet' betbet' lishnei, two, with two meanings, i.e., although the word appears twice, the two appearances have different translations.  There are thousands of such and similar notes throughout the Tanach.  Secular and non-Jewish Bible scholars look at these masoretic notes as instructions, indications and mnemonics for the scribe, so that he will know which words are spelled in full and which defectively; which words are prefixed; which letters are written in an unusual fashion; etc., etc.  However, although it may be true that those notes served that function, this view does not explain the reason for those masoretic notes which relate to the meanings of the words.

The Torah sages of medieval Germany and France - including, but not limited to, Rabbi Elazar of Worms (the Rokeach), Rabbi Yehudah HaChassid, Rabbi Meir of Tothenburg (the Maharam), Rabbi Asher (the Rosh), Rabbi Chaim Paltiel, Rabbi Ephrayim - understood the masoretic notes in an entirely different manner.  Until the Mishnah and later the Gemara were committed to writing, the study of the Oral Torah (including explanations, interpretations, expositions, exegesis, etc., such as those found in the Talmud and Mishnah) was limited to memorization.  The most anyone was permitted to write was a very brief note, usually a mnemonic, to which he could later refer.  Although when the Talmud was committed to writing, general permission was granted for individuals to write their lessons, many scholars continued writing only brief notes.  This was the purpose and intent of the masoretic notes.  Not only the notes that specify "with two meanings," but every note written by the masoretes, was viewed as a brief, coded message that pointed to a deep insight.  These notes expose the Scriptural roots of many Talmudic teachings which may otherwise seem to be based only on pure logic.  They plumb the depths of the Tanach and come up with Biblical sources for Midrashim otherwise known only through tradition.  And this is the school which produced many of the masoretic interpretations cited by the Baal HaTurim.

In compiling his "condiments," Rabbi Yaakov drew on the works of all the scholars mentioned in previously, plus many more whose works have not come down to us.  Yet, in a manner untypical of his other works, in the Baal HaTurim, Rabbi Yaakov almost never cites his sources.  Perhaps, the study and repetition of these allusions was so widespread (many of the allusio9ns appear in a number of earlier works without attribution) that it was impossible to know with certainty the original source of any comment.

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