Shape of the Luchot

Question

According to the Talmud in Bava Batra 14a, the Luchot HabBerit were square. Where did the common "tablet" shape come from, with rectangles and a rounded top? Besides in pictures, I see it in Synagogues all the time. Is there a source for such a shape, or was it borrowed from Christian art? If the latter, should we try to replace them in our synagogues? (As a side note, I have seen correctly-modeled Luchot in the Shteblach of Meah Shearim.)

Answer 1

Indeed, the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l (sicha of Shabbos Parshas Ki Tisa 5741 secs. 55-57) called for them to always be depicted as square, in keeping with the Gemara you mentioned. (And Chabad publications long before that, as far back as 1942 at least, followed the same convention.)

He states that shape with rounded tops was popularized by non-Jewish printers. Wikipedia (lehavdil) traces it to the Middle Ages, when tablets of roughly that shape were in use for writing. (I also used to hear as a child that the non-Jews came up with this shape because it is reminiscent of a tombstone, thus suggesting (ר"ל) the death of Judaism; but I've never seen any written source that says so.)

Answer 2

• The luchot are 1 amah cube of sapphire (6x6x6 tefachim)
• 3x6x6 tefachim individually
• The writing filled each side
  • there are more words in the first 5 commandments, so the letters were a smaller size to fit.
• the letters were carved straight through the luchot
• The commandments were carved on all 6 sides of the cube

Something like this: