One of o'doxy's sacred cows that I've had to shecht over the past year or so is that "that the entire Torah that we now have is that which was given to Moses" (to quote item #8 from Maimonides' 13 principles).
Both we and the Israelite Samaritans claim that the other's version of the Torah is suspect and unreliable. I have discovered our notion of tikunei sofrim and done some research.
Look at the Rashi on Genesis 18:22.
What is a "scribal emendation" or, to use the Hebrew (singular), a tikun soferim?
Read here & here.
Just like our Sages played fast and loose with calendar (fixing it so that, ferinstance, Yom Kippur will not fall on a Friday or Sunday; for the SIsraelite amaritans, if Yom Kippur falls on a Friday or Sunday, that's that and they deal with it), they have also, apparently, played fast and loose with the text of the Torah itself both in regard to "scribal emendations" and to the alphabet itself.
(...)
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