אָרִיחַ עַל גַּבֵּי לְבֵנָה

ביטוי (אנגלית)

A tile on top of a brick

הגדרה (אנגלית)

A traditional scribing format found in the Torah for poetic passages, such as the 'Song of the Sea' and 'Song of Deborah'. The arrangement is characterized by a line of text above a space, and a space above a line of text. Another format, typical for lists of disgrace such as the 'Ten Sons of Haman' in the Book of Esther, is called 'a tile on top of a tile'. This latter format features a space above a space and a line above a line. (For 'Song of the Sea' see Exodus 15:1, for the 'Ten Sons of Haman' see Esther 9:7).

(And this is what our sages said: 'a brick on top of a tile, a tile on top of a brick'... And there is no doubt that they had known melodies, which were forgotten from the passage of time and the length of the exiles... lyre and harp and drum and flute, kinds and cymbals, melodies, gittith, sheminith, asor, lyre, dance, and the like... And of this type of song is what is written in the Torah: 'Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well; sing to it. The well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people hollowed out with their scepters and with their staffs.' For it is obvious that the princes did not dig the well with the scribes' quills" – Abravanel, Exodus, Chapter 15)