Mesorat%20hashas for Menachot 59:18

נזדמנה לו תיבה בת חמש אותיות לא יכתוב שתים בתוך הדף ושלש חוץ לדף

for the eyes would wander;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the length of the line in each column would he unduly large and the eyes would stray so that the reader would be in doubt as to which line he must read next. ofh,ujpank');">¹⁷</span> but [the width of the column should equal] the word lemishpehothekem written three times.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' . I.e., thirty letters.');">¹⁸</span> If a man happened to possess a sheet with nine columns, he should not divide it [into two sheets of] three and six columns, but [into sheets of] four and five columns.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So as to make the sheets as far as is possible of similar width.');">¹⁹</span> These rules apply only [to sheets] at the beginning [or in the middle] of the scroll, but at the end of the scroll even one verse or one column [may take up the whole sheet]. One verse! Surely you cannot mean that!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since it is necessary to end at the foot of the column, how is it conceivable to fill the whole sheet with one verse?');">²⁰</span> - Say rather: One verse in one column.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the column may be made very narrow, perhaps with only one word on each line, or even enlarging the script, so as to fill up the whole column. ohanuj');">²¹</span> The width of the margin below shall be one handbreadth, above three fingerbreadths, and between one column and the other the space of two fingerbreadths. In books of the Law<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' , also written in scroll form but not intended to be used for the Synagogue service.');">²²</span> the margin below shall be three fingerbreadths, above two fingerbreadths, and between one column and the other the space of a thumb-breadth. Between each line there must be the space of a line, between each word the width of a letter, and between each letter a hairbreadth. A man should not reduce the size of the script on account of the margin above or below,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The size of the script should be uniform in the column and should not be reduced on the first or last lines so as to obtain the proper marginal space above or below.');">²³</span> or on account of the space between one line and another, or the requisite space between one section and another. If [when almost at the end of a line] he has to write a word of five letters he must not write two letters in the column and three outside,

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