Oil out of the Column: Numbers 7:79

 

The above is a "mistake" that would have infuriated Good Rabbi Schiller-Szinessy, as we explored in the last post.  As we can see from this wider image, the scribe of the of the Vienna Scroll left out this word:

Va'semen, in this overall passage:

The square scripture, HUC 968, has this word in the proper place:

So this insertion in the VS, appears to be a scribal oversight, fixed, most likely by the scribe who wrote the text (at the time of the writing, later?)  I recently request enhanced copies of this original scan, and this is how this section looks:

It is difficult to judge if this was written by another hand, as the size is fundamentally smaller - although the word is far clearer in this version.  Unlike Rabbi Schiller-Szinessy, I do not see instances of this as displays of "human ignorance, coupled with impudence."  On the contrary, I see Jews struggling to correct their texts - and largely succeeding.