This is, then, a modified form of the Talmudic doctrine that God created heaven and earth by means of letters ( Berachot 58a ).

A remark of Samuel, the head of the school of Nehardea, shows that they wore certain badges on their garments to indicate their position ( Shabbat 58a ).

Furthermore, during the Temple period, this loss was most profoundly felt on the fourteenth of Nisan, which was the busiest day of the year for the Temple priests and Levites ( see Pesachim 58a ).