The Large Lamed of Exile — Deuteronomy 29:27 (29:28 in English Bibles)
וַיַּשְׁלִכֵם
What to look for
The lamed in vayashlichem — 'and He cast them into another land' — is enlarged.
What it is
An enlarged letter in the covenant warnings, in the verse describing exile from the land.
Why it matters
The tallest letter of the alphabet stands even taller in the word of casting-out, as if the text raises its voice at the covenant's most sobering moment.
How it has been understood
Lamed is the only letter that reaches above the top line of the script — tradition calls it the letter that looks upward. Its enlargement in the exile verse has been read as a seed of hope: even in being cast out, Israel is marked with the letter that points toward heaven and toward return.