Crown of Aleppo: The Mystery of the Oldest Hebrew Bible Codex - Hardcover

Tawil, Hayim; Schneider, Bernard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0827608950 ISBN 13: 9780827608955

Publisher: JEWISH PUBLICATON SOCIETY, 2010

Synopsis

Thanks to this generous donor for making the publication of this book possible:
Jack B. Dweck.

The history and dramatic rescue of the oldest Hebrew Bible in book form

In Crown of Aleppo, Hayim Tawil and Bernard Schneider tell the incredible story of the survival, against all odds, of the Aleppo Codex—one of the most authoritative and accurate traditional Masoretic texts of the Bible.

Completed circa 939 in Tiberias, the Crown was created by exacting Tiberian scribes who copied the entire Bible into book form, adding annotations, vowel and cantillation marks, and precise commentary. Praised by Torah scholars for centuries after its writing, the Crown passed through history until the 15th century when it was housed in the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, Syria. When the synagogue was burned in the 1947 pogrom, the codex was thought to be destroyed, lost forever.

That is where its great mystery begins. Miraculously, a significant portion of the Crown of Aleppo survived the fire and was smuggled from the synagogue ruins to an unknown location—presumably within the Aleppan Jewish community. Ten years later, the surviving pages of the codex were secretly brought to Israel and finally moved to their current location in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

This wonderfully rich book contains more than 50 rare photographs and maps, some in full color, including those of the Aleppo Codex, the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, and of the people who played a part in its rescue.

 

About this title

From the Back Cover

Crown of Aleppo: The Mystery of the Oldest Hebrew Bible Codex

by Hayim Tawil and Bernard Schneider

The history and dramatic rescue of the oldest Hebrew Bible in book form

Crown of Aleppo tells the incredible story of the survival, against all odds, of the Aleppo Codex--known to be the most authoritative and accurate traditional Masoretic text of the Bible.

This wonderfully rich book contains over 50 photographs and maps, some in full color, including those of the Aleppo Codex, the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, and of the people who played a part in its rescue.

Praise for Crown of Aleppo:

"[an] enlightening and timeless work ... combining thorough history with page-turning storytelling."
--Richard M. Joel, president, Yeshiva University, New York City

"... the story of the most important ... medieval biblical codex in the world ... [told] with sensitivity to the controversy that still surrounds this priceless manuscript."
--Baruch J. Schwartz, professor of Biblical History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

"... a marvelous study [that] ... explores in an impressive and original manner ... the Jewish community of Aleppo ... and significance of the Crown ... a must read"
--Yosef Tobi, professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University of Haifa, Israel and head of the Center for the Study of the Jews of Yemen, Ben-Zvi Institute, Israel

Hayim Tawil and Bernard Schneider

Known by many simply as "the Crown," the Aleppo Codex is the earliest known codex of the Hebrew Bible. Considered to be the most authoritative and accurate Masoretic biblical text, it is now treasured as one of the most important biblical manuscripts in all of Jewish history.

Completed by about 930, the Crown was created by exacting Tiberian scribes who took years to copy the entire Bible from parchment scrolls into book form, adding vowel and cantillation marks, and precise annotations as they worked.

Praised by Torah scholars for centuries, the Crown passed through many hands until the 15th century, when it found a safe home in the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, Syria. But when the synagogue was burned in the 1947 pogrom, the codex was thought to be destroyed, lost forever.

That is where its great mystery begins. Miraculously, a significant portion of the Crown of Aleppo survived the great fire and was smuggled from the synagogue ruins to an unknown location--presumably in Aleppo. Ten years later, the surviving pages of the codex were secretly brought to Israel and finally moved to their current location in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

This is the story of how, in medieval Israel, this masterpiece came to be, and how, hundreds of years later, it found its way back to its homeland.

Hayim Tawil received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and is professor of Hebrew language and literature at Yeshiva University in New York. Tawil has published numerous articles in comparative Semitic lexicography and he is the author of the recently published An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew (2009). He is also the author of Operation Esther: Opening the door for the Last Jews of Yemen, and in 2001, was nominated for the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights for his work in Yemen.

Bernard Schneider has a J.D. and a LL.M. in Taxation from New York University and a M.I.A. from Columbia University and is a practicing lawyer. He has a long standing interest in the Bible and represented the United States at the International Bible Contest in Jerusalem in 1983 and 1985.

Reviews

In this fascinating and comprehensive investigation into the Aleppo Codex, scholars Tawil and Schneider vividly recreate the history of this rare and eminently significant text and track its intriguing any tragic course through time. Through their analysis of its authorship in then10th century; insights into its association with medieval and modern biblical luminaries; pointed questions regarding its partial destruction; and rare photographs, the authors convey both the spiritual and material significance of what many call simply the Crown. As the most authoritative rendering of the Torah, the Crown's maintenance and survival was vital, yet its transfer from place to place over the centuries has almost always been shrouded in mystery. During its 500-year stay in Aleppo, Syria, under the superstitious and watchful eye of the Jewish community there, only a handful of religious scholars were permitted to view the sacred codex, reflecting an unfortunate reality since pogroms in the 1940s destroyed substantial portions of the text. This highly readable and intriguing account will captivate readers both familiar and unfamiliar with the history of the Crown.
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Edition details

• Publisher: JEWISH PUBLICATON SOCIETY
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0827608950
• ISBN 13: 9780827608955
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 220