Symmetrically Designed Sifrei Torah: A Quantitative Analysis - Hakirah

Analysis
Symmetrically Designed Sifrei Torah: A Quantitative Analysis : 173
verses are the verses of the Sefer Torah; Tehillim has eight more;
Divrei Hayamim has eight fewer.
1. Rishonim and Soferim
לפיכך נקראו ראשונים סופרים שהיו סופרים כל האותיות שבתורה.‏
רשי ד״ה לפיכך.‏ מלתא באפי נפשה היא.‏
ד״ה נקראו ראשונים סופרים.‏ כדכתיב ‏(דברי הימים א׃ב׃נה)‏ ומשפחת
סופרים יושבי יעבץ.‏
Rashi first addresses the apparent lack of relationship between this
Gemara and the previous sugya that recommended that a person divide
his time equally (i.e. 1/3 each) between Mikrah, Mishna and Talmud.
Rashi asserts that the two Gemaras are indeed not connected and that
this is the start of a new discussion. Generally speaking it is not the
norm for the Gemara to abruptly transition from one topic to another
without some common element to link them. Rashi next explains the
reference to “rishonim soferim.” The use of the designation rishonim is
certainly justified according to Rashi, as the people being referenced
in the text he cites are early settlers of Eretz Israel not long after the
Exodus. The meaning of סופרים (in the question) is less clear. Even-
Shoshan’s concordance has 54 references for all variations of סופר in
דברים (it never appears in Chumash) of which he translates 47 as נך
The remaining 7 citations all appear in Ezra and are ‏.מזכיר ‏,כותב
translated as “a scholar who copies Sifrei Torah.” Thus according to
Even-Shoshan, the verse Rashi cites for sofer means “a clerk or
someone who writes down words,” with no apparent reference to
“scholar.” It would therefore appear according to Rashi that the
soferim we are talking about are scribal practitioners with no special
claim to scholarship, whose job is to accurately transcribe what has
been written or said.
Tosfos cites Rashi and comments:
ובירושלמי מפרש שעשו כל התורה כולה מספרות כגון
ארבעים חסר אחת וארבעה אבות נזיקין וכיוצא בהם.‏
מלאכות אבות