0235 - Tzadik or Tzadi

00:01 I remember once, I think it was in the end of the Chof's, that Merkaz gave out like a chart made of cardboard with the Aleph Beis, I guess to teach children. So it had one page of the chart, the letters of the Aleph Beis were in the Kudus, and on the other side they had the letters, and next to each letter was written out, printed out, the way you pronounce the letter. So there was an Aleph, and next to the Aleph it said Aleph, Lamed, Fe, with Nekudes, which means Aleph. Then the next one was a Beis, and it said next to it, Beis, Yud, Sof, with the Nekudes, Beis, Yud, Sof. And that's how it went on throughout all the letters. Then it came to Tzadik. They had a letter Tzadik, and next to it it said Tzadik, Dalet, Yud, Kuf, a Patach under the Tzadik, and a Chirik under the Dalet, Tzadik. But it was strange that the letters Tzadik, Dalet, Yud were the regular print. The Kuf looked a little bit different. It looked as if it was added by the hand to make it Tzadik. So what we heard then, what happened was, and I think, I don't remember whom I heard it from, but I think it was definitely from a Par Samcha that knew the inside of what was going on, that when Merkaz printed it, we know that the letter is called Tzadi. It's not called Tzadik. It could be that the letter is Tzadi. The reason people

01:17 call it Tzadik, because when you say the letters, you say Tzadi, Kuf. So when you say Tzadik and then Kuf, it sounds like Tzadik. But really it's Tzadi and then Kuf. So when they printed it, they wrote Tzadik, Dalet, Yud as the name of the letter. They gave it into the Rebbe. The Rebbe told them to add a Kuf. It should be called Tzadik. But it was already typeset, so they added it by hand, and that's how they printed it. Now it seems the Pshat is that even though really it's Tzadi, but because it became known as Tzadik, it's Kedai to call it Tzadik, and that's how they printed it, even though they had to end it by hand.