“What makes these five codexes so important are their dates and their similarity to the Aleppo Codex,” emphasized Gordon.

4445, Leningrad Codex, Cairo Codex of the Prophets, and the Damascus Crown. The five key codexes (or: codices), which scholars compare to the Aleppo Codex are the Sassoon Codex, British Library Or. Unfortunately, about one-third of the Aleppo Codex - including most of the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) - is now missing, making comparisons with other manuscripts critical to filling out the missing portions. Scribes used the Aleppo Codex to precisely reproduce every letter, dot, and dash of the Hebrew text and to proofread their manuscripts. Written around 925 CE in Tiberias by the master scribe Aaron Ben Asher, the Aleppo Codex was considered the definitive version of the Hebrew Bible for over 1,000 years. The Aleppo Codex is considered by scholars to be the most accurate surviving manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. Gordon’s Institute for Hebrew Bible Manuscript Research also created the first, easy-to-navigate high-resolution photo index by Bible verse of the nearly 800-page manuscript, providing scholars and laypersons with a simple way to research one of the most significant religious texts.Ĭomparing the Aleppo Codex & the Sassoon Codex Gordon used special techniques to recover lost text, not visible to the naked eye, including a 50x microscope to examine codex details under visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet light. If you want to know what is in the original Hebrew text of the Bible, as preserved by the Jewish People, this is one of the main manuscripts you have to consult.”ĭr. “It is one of six key manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, identified by scholars as the basis for reconstructing the ‘Masoretic Text,’ the received text of the Hebrew Bible.

“The Sassoon Codex is immensely important,” Dr. Neria Klein for four days in Geneva, Switzerland studying the Sassoon Codex, the first scholars to physically examine the codex since it was purchased by the current owner, Jaqui E. Gordon joined Professor Yosef Ofer of Bar-Ilan University and Dr. Nehemia Gordon, executive director of the Institute for Hebrew Bible Manuscript Research (IHBMR) of Bedford, Texas, played a key role in uncovering hidden text in the Sassoon Codex. It is expected to fetch between $30 million and $50 million at auction, potentially the most expensive book ever sold.ĭr. The Sassoon Codex is the earliest surviving manuscript in private hands to have originally contained all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible with vowels and accents. BEDFORD, Texas-( BUSINESS WIRE)-The 1,100-year-old Sassoon Codex, the oldest, most complete Hebrew Bible in private hands, is scheduled for auction at Sotheby’s on May 17, 2023.

Hebrew manuscripts forsale