D-0003 · A book's birth — said, or written?
When a book was said at one time and written down at another, which date is the book's?
Both dates are stored, and the date it was written is the book's primary date; the date it was said stays beside it.
| Status | Ruled by the owner |
| Set | 20 Tishrei 5787 · 2026-10-01 13:11 |
| Recorded in | held 68460f79 |
| Rests on | D-0001, D-0002 |
| Affects | the direction of links inside Tanach, and between Tanach and later books |
| Would change if | A Daas Torah ruling otherwise. |
The options on the table
- When it was said
- When it was written
- Both stored; written is primary (chosen)
- Both stored; said is primary
Why it is a question
Even within tradition, many books have two dates. Shlomo said Mishlei (2924–2964); Chizkiyahu's generation wrote it (~3228 and after). Yechezkel prophesied 3332–3354; the Anshei Knesses HaGedolah wrote the book ~3408–3442. A link's direction can depend on which of the two counts as the book's birth.
Why written is primary
A link between two books is an act of writing: one text points at another. Ordering books by when they were written is the stricter of the two checks — it can only flag more, never less — and the date it was said is kept beside it, so a link that is fine by the said date but early by the written date is shown, not lost.
The evidence: experiments/2026-10-01-tanach-dates (finding 2 — a book has two clocks even in tradition).
What rests on this
- D-0007 · Where the dates of the later books come from
- D-0008 · When one book counts as before another
- D-0009 · The Zohar's date
- D-0014 · Which source is "primary"
Generated from the register (docs/decisions/0003-book-birth.md). A changed value is recorded as a new entry; the old one is never overwritten.