The Dotted Kiss of Esau — Genesis 33:4
וַיִּשָּׁקֵהוּ
What to look for
When Esau runs to meet Jacob, every letter of 'and he kissed him' carries a dot above it.
What it is
The most famous dotted word: the only one where the entire word is dotted, letter by letter.
Why it matters
Was the kiss sincere? The dots hold the whole question — twenty years of stolen blessing, fear, and wrestling compressed into six marked letters.
How it has been understood
The tradition splits beautifully: one voice says the dots show the kiss was hollow, Esau's old hatred underneath; another (Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai) says precisely the opposite — that in that one moment Esau's compassion was real, and the dots mark the exception. The scribes preserved both possibilities above a single embrace.