(a) The question presupposes that the Torah was written in Kesav Ashuris (our present Sifrei Torah script) and that there was no period in history during which all Sifrei Torah disappeared. Neither of these assumptions is as valid as may seem to us at first glance.

The relevant Gemara is in Sanhedrin 21b, where Mar Zutra states that the Torah was given in Kesav Ivri, and it was only at the time of Ezra that it was changed to Kesav Ashuris. On the interpretation of this passage, see Ritva and ha'Kosev (Ein Yakov), beginning of Megilah, Margoliyos ha'Yam in Sanhedrin there, ha'Mikra veha'Mesorah (ch. 9), and the monumental work of Torah Sheleimah, who devotes the whole of volume 29 to this subject. There is also a good discussion written in English by Rabbi Nosson Scherman, shlit'a, in the Appendix to Rabbi Michael Munk's Artscroll publication, "The Wisdom of the Hebrew Alphabet," which is most illuminating and sets out the various opinions succinctly.

However, if we assume that the Torah was given in Kesav Ashuris and remained so, then clearly there must have been a period during which there were no Sifrei Torah accessible. Such a period may well have existed at the time of Amon, son of Menasheh, who is quoted by Tosfos (Megilah 2b, DH v'Od) as having burned the Torah. Alternatively, it may have existed (as the Rashba prefers to explain) after the time of King Yoshiyahu, who removed the Aron Kodesh from the Beis ha'Mikdash and hid it away for posterity.

However, the Yefeh Mar'eh (in Asifas Zekenim) asks a number of strong questions, such as, did they not have Tefilin and Mezuzos in which to see the Kesav? How is it possible that a wicked king could have eradicated thousands of Sifrei Torah? Moreover, if they were not using Kesav Ashuris at all, then why was it that only the "Menatzpach" letters were forgotten and not the remainder of the Alef-Beis?

His novel suggestion is, therefore, that when they were exiled to Babylonia and Persia, they were going to be forced to present the Torah to the tyrannical gentile kings there. In order that the holy Torah not fall into their hands and be profaned, the Chachamim made a unanimous decision to omit any final letters so that this would reduce their Kedushah, while nonetheless not invalidating their Tehilim and Mezuzos b'Di'eved. Eventually, the "Menatzpach" letters became forgotten, until the "Tzofim" (Chaggai, Zecharyah, and Malachi), at the time of the return to Eretz Yisrael (when the second Beis ha'Mikdash was built), reintroduced the correct positioning of the letters.

Another original explanation is suggested by the Ginzei ha'Melech on Megilah there, which is also not without its problems. See also the Pnei Yehoshua (and Rashash) for another explanation which contradicts the foregoing.

In conclusion, this is not a new problem, but it has received the attention of the minds of our greatest commentators who have come up with a variety of solutions, some of which we have mentioned above.

Joseph Pearlman

(b) The Targum of the Torah printed under Yonasan ben Uzi'el's name is actually a Targum Yerushalmi. (See Rav Kasher, in his extensive appendix on the Targumim printed in Torah Sheleimah.)

The Rashba writes that the Targum of Kesuvim was written by a Tana who lived after Yonasan ben Uzi'el.

M. Kornfeld