Is there a copy of the Torah in Ktav Ivri (Paleo-Hebrew)?
If so, is there a copy online? If not, where might I find it in print?
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5Just change the font to a paleo hebrew font, like bibleplaces.com/paleo_hebrew_fonts– Double AA ♦Nov 8 at 19:37
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3I can't imagine you would. I can't recall exactly where, but Chazal say that Ksav Ashuri was always used for religious items, and eventually became the standard ksav as Ksav Ivri eventually fell out of use.– YehudaNov 8 at 19:40
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2 Answers
In (my own) basehasefer.com, there's an option to view the pesukim in כתב עברי in the Tanach Viewer and Parsha Viewer features (see Help screens here and here on how to accomplish this). Another way to display the words with this font: when one views search results, click the "plus" sign on the right of the results grid. This will expand to a detailed word by word view of the pasuk where one of the columns will contain the כתב עברי for each word.
My site uses this font, but there are other suitable fonts for this purpose too if you browse around here.
Rav Menachem M. Kasher in כתב התורה ואותיותיה פרק יד (appearing just before פרשת תזריע in his תורה שלמה) has pointed out that looking at the כתב עברי of words can sometimes help understand drashos chazal. He suggests a list of instances where חז"ל are דורש from similar looking letters, that the similarities are actually between the כתב עברי letters.
I don't believe that there's a consensus on a single way to represent the exact form of these letters. See this and this for further reading.
https://archive.org/details/IsraeliteSamaritanTorah/mode/2up
Here is a copy of the Samaritan Torah in their form of Hebrew. Maybe this will interest you.
Talmud Sanhedrin 21B shares the view that the Torah was possibly written originally in Samaritan or "ivrit" script:
"Mar Zutra says, and some say that it is Mar Ukva who says: Initially, the Torah was given to the Jewish people in Ivrit script, the original form of the written language, and the sacred tongue, Hebrew. It was given to them again in the days of Ezra in Ashurit script and the Aramaic tongue. The Jewish people selected Ashurit script and the sacred tongue for the Torah scroll and left Ivrit script and the Aramaic tongue for the commoners." The Gemara asks: Who are these commoners? Rav Ḥisda said: The Samaritans [Kutim]. The Gemara asks: What is Ivrit script? Rav Ḥisda says: Libona’a script."