(a) Why are nevuv and boven used instead of real words? And what do they
mean?
(b) And isnt there a medrish that say it was a miracle how every word could be read from both sides the same way so Anochi would be seen from both sides?
Pesach, Brooklyn, NY
The Kollel addressed both of your points in our Insights to the Daf here. Below you will find what we wrote on the subject; it is also availale online at www.dafyomi.co.il/shabbos/insites/sh-dt-104.htm .
Best regards,
Kollel Iyun Hadaf
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1) THE WRITING ON THE TABLETS
OPINIONS: Rav Chisda teaches that the writing on the Luchos could be read "from the inside and from the outside." What does this mean?
(a) RASHI here (DH v'Nikra) explains that the engraved writing on the Luchos went straight through the stone, from one side to the other.
(b) RASHI in the Chumash (Shemos 32:15) appears to explain differently. The letters not only went all the way through the Luchos, but they miraculously were in the proper, readable direction on both sides. (The MAHARAL in GUR ARYEH, however, asserts that Rashi in Shemos means to say the same as he says here in the Gemara.)
(c) According to the Yerushalmi in Shekalim, not only were the letters reversed on the second side (so that they were in the proper, readable direction), but the rest of the word was also miraculously reversed, so that the entire text could be read from either side of the Luchos. (See also SIFSEI CHACHAMIM to Rashi, Shemos 32:15.)
2) EXAMPLES OF WORDS IN REVERSE
QUESTION: When the Gemara explains how the letters could be read from both sides of the Luchos, the Gemara gives three examples of words with their reversed readings -- "Nevuv," "Behar" and "Saru." Why does the Gemara choose these three words over any other words? These words were not even in the Luchos! (TOSFOS DH Nevuv)
ANSWERS:
(a) Perhaps the Gemara's intention is to prove its previous statement, that the letters were carved into the Luchos such that they penetrated to the other side.
When the Jews sinned with the Golden Calf, Hash-m said to Moshe, "Saru Maher Min ha'Derech" -- "They have gone wayward quickly away from the path that I have commanded them..." (Shemos 32:8). The Chachamim relate that when the Jews sinned with the Golden Calf, the letters on the Luchos "flew to the heavens" and no trace of them remained on the Luchos. How did that happen? The letters had no "backs" -- that is, there was no surface at the back of the engraved letter, since it penetrated straight through the Luchos. When the Luchos fell apart, no part of the letters remained -- since they were comprised of hollows in the Luchos rather than actual letters engraved on the Luchos.
This is alluded to by the words the Gemara here chooses. The word "Nevuv" appears in Shemos 27:8 and means "hollow." When the Gemara uses this word as an example of a word and its reverse, it alludes to the Luchos that Moshe Rabeinu was given at Har Sinai that were "hollowed out" (that is, the writing punctured the stone from one side to the other). The hollowed-out letters flew off the Luchos (and left an empty impression, or a "Buvan," the reverse of "Nevuv," from the word "shadow") when the Jews sinned "Behar," while they were still at the mountain (as the Gemara says in Shabbos 88b). (They sinned because their arrogance -- their "Rahav" led them to sin.) The letters then left ("Saru") the Luchos (and the Luchos fell apart into small pieces, "v'Ras," from "Resisin," since every letter that was carved into the Luchos was broken into pieces).
(b) The BEIS HA'LEVI (Derashos, Derush 18) explains that in the first set of Luchos, the entire Torah was written upon the Luchos miraculously. These three words also appeared on the Luchos, since they appear in the Torah. (See Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld's "Torah from the Internet," Parshas Ki Tisa.)