Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: [The alternative forms of the letters] Mem, nun, tzadi, peh, kaf,40These letters have different forms depending on whether they appear in the beginning or middle of a word, or at its end. the prophets said them, though it was a halakha transmitted to Moses at Sinai.41The existence of these alternative forms was transmitted to Moses, forgotten, and the prophets restored them.
Rabbi Yirmeya said in the name of Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba: What the prophets instituted.42The letters are not listed in the order they appear in the alphabet, and the list can be read as min tzofakh – from your prophets. It once happened that there was a stormy day and the Sages could not gather at the house of assembly,43The bet midrash, where the Torah was expounded. but there were some children there.
They said: ‘Let us make our own house of assembly.’ They said: ‘What is the reason that it is written mem mem,44Why are there two forms with which to write mem, and so on. nun nun, tzadi tzadi, peh peh, kaf kaf? It is for this reason: [To allude to the fact that the Torah was transmitted] from utterance [ma’amar] to utterance, from a faithful one [ne’eman] to a faithful one, from a righteous one [tzadik] to a righteous one, from mouth [peh] to mouth, from hand [kaf] to hand.
From utterance to utterance – from the utterance of the Holy One blessed be He to the utterance of Moses; from a faithful one to a faithful one – from the Holy One blessed be He, who is called ‘God, faithful King’ – to Moses who is called faithful, as it is written: “In all My house he is faithful” (Numbers 12:7); from a righteous one to a righteous one – from the Holy One blessed be He, who is called righteous, as it is written: “Righteous is the Lord in all His ways” (Psalms 145:17), to Moses, who was called righteous, as it is written: “He performed the righteousness of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 33:21); from mouth to mouth – from the mouth of the Holy One blessed be He, to the mouth of Moses; from hand to hand – from the hand of the Holy One blessed be He, to the hand of Moses.’
They [the Sages] took note of them [the children], and [ultimately] great sages in Israel emerged from among them. Some say they were Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva. And they applied to them the verse: “Even a boy is recognized through his deeds, if his action is pure or upright” (Proverbs 20:11). anokhi of Rabbi Meir…>45These words are a scribal error and should be deleted (Matnot Kehuna).