Reference for Sotah 39:17

תניא רבי יהודה אומר אומר היה ר"מ לכל מטילין קנקנתום לתוך הדיו

He told me: 'My son, be careful, because thy work is the work of Heaven; if thou omittest a single letter or addest a single letter, thou dost as a consequence destroy the whole world'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Such an error might turn a phrase into blasphemy. ');">¹³</span> I said to him, 'There is an ingredient which I put into the ink, and its name is vitriol'. He asked me, 'May we put vitriol into the ink? The Torah has said: He shall blot out,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. V, 23. ');">¹⁴</span> i.e., writing which can be blotted out!' What did [R. Ishmael] intend to tell [R. Meir] that the latter answered him in that manner?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By mentioning the use of vitriol. ');">¹⁵</span> — [R. Meir] meant, Obviously, I am skilled in the rules of defective and plene spelling;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the use of vowel letters which are sometimes added and sometimes omitted. ');">¹⁶</span> but I even have no reason to fear lest a fly should come and settle upon the crownlet of the letter D and obliterate it so that it makes it look like the letter R.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Changing, e.g., [H] 'the Lord is one' into [H] 'another.'] ');">¹⁷</span> There is an ingredient which I put into the ink, and its name is vitriol. But it is not so, for it has been taught: R. Meir said: When I studied Torah with R. Ishmael, I used to put vitriol into the ink and he said nothing to me; but when I went to R. Akiba, he forbade it to me! Here is an inconsistency in [the order of the Rabbis upon whom R. Meir] attended, and an inconsistency in [the name of the Rabbi who] forbade it. It is quite right, there is no inconsistency in [the order of the Rabbis upon whom R. Meir] attended; he first went to R. Akiba, but when he was unable [to follow his arguments],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which, through lack of knowledge, were beyond his comprehension. ');">¹⁸</span> he went to R. Ishmael. After having studied<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Lit., 'learned Gemara'. On the term Gemara v. B.M. (Sonc. ed.) p. 206. n. 6. Here it denotes the summary of Tannaitic teachings preserved in early Mishnas and Baraithas; v. Epistle of Sherira Gaon, p. 44.] ');">¹⁹</span> with him, he returned to R. Akiba whose reasoning he was then able to grasp. But there is an inconsistency in [the name of the Rabbi who] forbade it! — That is a difficulty. It has been taught: R. Judah says: R. Meir used to declare that for all [kinds of script] we may put vitriol into the ink

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