(a) Daf 2b, near the end of the Amud -- Why does the Gemara use the lashon "Tzofim" instead of the more clear term "Nevi'im" ?
(b) Daf 3a, top of the Amud -- How could The Jews forget such easily verifiable information as where to place the regular letters of Menatzpa"Ch versus the ottiot sofiot? They could simply looked in their sifrei Torah!? Etmaha!!! Thank you
Stephan Azra, Brooklyn, NY USA
(a) Tosfos (DH v'Od) says that it is a play on the expression Menatzpach, which is under discussion.
(b) The Ritva writes that in their day, every Sefer Torah (except for that of Yoshiyahu; see what the Rashba and Tosfos write about Sefer Yoshiyahu), was written in K'sav Ivri , as we find in Sanhedrin (21a), for only later did they decide to write the Sefer Torah in Kesav Ashuris (the script used today). In Kesav Ivri the end-letters do not differ from the letters when they come in the middle of a word.
All the best,
Mordecai Kornfeld