(Author: Simon Berg, Vol. 65 #1, Pesach 2010)
One of the most significant outcomes of Dead Sea Scrolls research over a period of approximately forty years was that many of the biblical scrolls that were found differed in content, length and wording from the Hebrew Bible – Tanach – which was finally established and redacted about two thousand years ago. Approximately two hundred and thirty scrolls, from almost one thousand in various stages of completion, were biblical. These represented copies of all of the books of the Tanach except the Book of Esther, and only a very small section of the books of Ezra-Nehemiah. Furthermore, they also represented the variant scriptural, i.e. biblical, writings used by the many different Jewish groups or sects during the Second Temple era, up to the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.
The years 1946-1947 saw the beginning of an almost ten year period of discovery of these scrolls in a total of eleven caves in the Dead Sea region. These caves, incidentally, were part of the Kingdom of Jordan. They were considered to be hiding and storage places to protect Jewish works and scripture from impending destruction by the occupying Roman forces.
Qumran, set on a plateau-like region overlooking the Dead Sea, is the site of the ruins believed to have been the domain of the Essenes. Within the ‘standard theory’, these probably composed or copied some of these scrolls. Many of the Essenes were regarded as former Sadducees of the priestly class who broke away from what they regarded as a defilement of Temple ritual. The latter was thereafter performed by the predominantly Sadducean and Hasmonaean priesthood that remained.
Eight hundred years later there emerged in Babylonia, under the leadership of Anan Ben-David, a (probable) off-shoot of these Sadducean/Essenes, practicing their interpretation of Judaism which was devoid of the ‘Oral Law’. This Jewish sect furthered their belief and practice, becoming known as Karaite Jews. The Karaites originated in Mesopotamia from various Jewish groups in the region of Iraq, and became formally established in the 9th Century. They have survived to this day, and although not accepted by rabbinic Judaism, have their own synagogues and communities both in Israel and in parts of the Diaspora.
It is with this introduction that the reader will appreciate the significance and importance of the subject of the Aleppo Codex discussed in this article.
In 1890, in a synagogue in Fostat (or Fustat), a suburb in Cairo, the Talmudic scholar Solomon Schechter of Cambridge University came across a voluminous quantity of writings and documents dating back 1000 years. The discovery was made in a synagogue storage room for old religious books known as a genizah. The synagogue was at first considered to be an exclusively Karaite synagogue, this being further reinforced by the discovery there of two related documents dating back to the Tenth and Twelfth Centuries. Fifty years later, these documents (which were named ‘Tzadokite
Fragments’) were found to be very closely related to copies of an important and famous Essene (Dead Sea Scroll) scroll known as the ‘Damascus Document,’ dating from the first century BCE.
The Fostat synagogue (which can still be visited) was in fact a traditional Jewish synagogue that was shared by the Karaite Jews. The latter also married into the Jewish community, were buried in the Jewish cemetery and, importantly, used the facilities of its now famous genizah.
What later became particularly attributed to the Karaites (from the Hebrew word karah “to read”) was their ability to establish formal Hebrew grammar (at which they were masters), and subsequently the final and absolute Masoretic text, together with the spelling, pronunciation and structure of the Hebrew Bible around 850 CE. Today, we also use the term masoretic to imply that a biblical text being read, or in print, is the “original, divinely inspired, received, traditional, directly transmitted” text. The term Masoretic, per se, is also in itself controversial, and has been open to interpretation in recent decades by biblical scholars. I would like to cover this topic in a future edition of this journal.
The Karaites scholars, who became involved in the development and preservation of the correct biblical text and all it encompassed, were known as ‘Masoretes’. Others sages, also referred to as Masoretes, originated from a suburb in Tiberias, Israel, and were known as Tiberian Masoretes. They lived in the first half of the Tenth Century, and competed with one another over their interpretations. There were also Masoretes outside of Eretz Israel, in Babylonia. Thus, differences between the East and Eretz Israel also existed.
My focus is on this particular sect of Jews, the Karaites: the greatest work having proliferated from them, and which was referred to and recognized by the Rambam (Maimonides) himself. This work, or rather Tanach, is famously known as the Aleppo Codex.
From about the Seventh Century, the need arose for the recognition of a universally acceptable and accurate biblical text in its written format. From amongst these scribes and scholars, the Masorete group developed. Their prime purpose was to guard and preserve the text of the Hebrew Bible, ensuring that it would be correctly transmitted throughout the ensuing generations. Their works were also known for the scholarly notations made in the margins of a text.
The concept of preserving the original biblical text originated during and after the Babylonian exile. This Masoretic Text was required to be accurate in every way, encompassing the spelling and layout in the Torah, Prophets and Writings, and had to be rigidly adhered to. During the Seventh, and up to the Eleventh Centuries, Masorites working in both Tiberius and Jerusalem, compiled systems of pronunciation and grammatical rules that would also ensure the correct interpretation. Furthermore, the verse divisions and structure of the columns became more fixed. Yet the text of the Torah still lacked absolute finality in the way that words were to be pronounced and hence impact on their exact meaning.
It was particularly in this area that the Masoretes excelled. They developed the system of vowel markings (nekudot) to bring absolute clarity to the pronunciation and meaning of certain words. The recognized ‘giant’ contributor to the final establishment of our Masoretic Tanach was the ‘swift scribe,’ Shlomo Ben Buya’a, who wrote the most accurate version of the Tanach, circa 920. This was in the form of a codex; composed of pages that were written on both sides, as opposed to lengthy scrolls that were wound around two end staves of wood. According to halachah (Jewish religious law), a Bible in codex form is not acceptable for public reading in the synagogue. For that purpose, (Torah) scrolls are used. The first completed and printed Hebrew Bible book appeared in 1488 in the town of Soncino, Italy.
The next step in the finalization of this particular Tanach was the inspection and validation of the text, and subsequent addition of a system of vowels developed and provided by the Masorete, Aaron Ben Asher, a famous grammarian and scribe of the 10th century. The Dead Sea Scrolls used the Hebrew letters, yud, hey and vav also as vowels. Ben Asher developed the system of cantillation or the musical ‘trop’, which further accentuated the importance of certain words in the Torah or Nach when sung.
It is widely accepted that this very book was used by the Rambam himself, and was accredited with the most venerable title of ‘Ha Keter Hagadol,’ or ‘The Great Crown,’ because of its unique authority. At first, the Codex remained the property of Ben Asher himself. His name, written in his own hand, does not appear on the first pages, nor does that of the scribe Ben Boya’a.
Only after one hundred years, when it was sold by the descendants of the sage Aharon Ben Asher of Tiberias to Yisrael Ben Simcha of Basra, Iraq, did the latter write in a dedication, thus naming the scribe and Ben Asher as being responsible for the work. Ben Simcha recorded in the last page of the Codex, that he dedicated the Aleppo Codex to the Karaite community of Jerusalem.
Today, all Torah scrolls are written in accordance with the standard set by the Aleppo Codex, including precisely how the words, sentences and spacing are aligned. The balance of the Hebrew bible was also part of, and included in, this most authoritative text in Judaism. There were periods when it was permitted to make manuscript copies by other scribes, and at other times, access was denied. The Karaites allowed access to both Karaite and Rabbinic scholars (including the Rambam) to this codex. In the mid-Eleventh Century, the Keter arrived in Jerusalem, where it was used as an authorized source by both Karaites and rabbinical Jews. In 1099, the Codex was seized by the Crusader conquerors of Jerusalem and ransomed to the Jews of Cairo. Thus it came to be kept in the Cairo synagogue of Fustat, where it remained for some three hundred years. It was during this period that the Rambam had access to it when he wrote his great work, Hilchot Sefer Torah, also known as the Mishnah Torah. It was directly due to the Rambam’s usage of that codex that its authority became established. The Rambam ruled that the divisions of a Torah scroll should follow the example of the Aleppo Codex, and that scribes who copied the scrolls of the Prophets should also follow the same divisions as laid out in it.
In 1375, the Codex was transported by a direct descendent of the Rambam, Rabbi David Ben Yehoshua, who travelled through Palestine to Aram Tzovah (Tzovah was the district, and Aram the name for Syria in Tanach) and placed it in trust with the ancient Jewish community of that city. News of the whereabouts of the Codex became known in the second half of the 15th Century, when it was established that it was permanently stored in the (Great) Aleppo Synagogue; which at that time was known for being one of the Jewish world’s most important centres. It was then that this codex became referred to as the ‘Aleppo Codex’ or ‘Keter Aram Tzovah’ (Crown of Aram Tzovah). Today in Arabic, it is called Haleb, from the word for ‘milk,’ as it was here that Abram (Abraham) gave milk from his sheep to the poor in the area.
The rabbis of Aram Tzovah also referred to it as “The Keter of Ezra HaSofer” (Ezra the Scribe), as it was their belief that it was sequentially linked by validated copies to a Torah written by the prophet Ezra himself. It was first placed in the ark of the synagogue, and later transported to a cabinet room known as the Cave of Eliyahu (Elijah) HaNavi. There it was stored in the Aleppo Synagogue’s vault for over 500 years. This synagogue is believed to have first been constructed by King David’s General after his conquest of the city in 950 BCE (see Samuel 2, 8:3-8).
Two days after the State of Israel was officially declared by the UN on 29 November 1947, riots broke out in Syria, and the Great Synagogue was destroyed. Through a series of unknown and ‘mystical’ occurrences, the community was able to save most of the Keter, which was found loose on a pile of ashes and debris, with many pages missing. Ultimately rescued were about two thirds of the pages of the Aleppo Codex, together with some other loose pages and page fragments. All were taken to the Shamash (beadle) of the synagogue, and passed on to the Chief Rabbi at the time. Over the next ten years, it was hidden in various locations. Because of the danger, the details of its survival were originally kept secret, and the world was allowed to believe that it had been destroyed in the fire.
There had been previous attempts to save the Codex (in its entirety), in 1943. This was through the efforts of Judah Magnes, the first president of the Hebrew University, who sent a representative on a mission to persuade the elders of the community to send it to Jerusalem for safekeeping. This was turned down; the elders considered that the Codex’s holiness protected the well-being of the community. A second attempt took place later that year by biblical scholar Professor Moshe Cassuto, also sent from Jerusalem, who spent some time in Aleppo and was allowed to study the Codex. He was the last scholar to see the Codex in its entirety.
When in time this secret became known to the Israeli Government, a letter was issued requesting the delivery of the manuscript into Israeli hands. Finally, the community did give up the known remaining two-thirds, which were smuggled to Israel. The remains of the Codex left with thirty Syrian Jewish refugees, who went via Turkey and sailed from there on 11 December 1957 to Haifa. On its arrival, it was presented to the President of Israel, Ben Tzvi. Out of 490 pages, 294 remain and no satisfactory account has been given for the missing one third. Some fragments are still in the hands of Jews formally from Aleppo and their descendants, most of whom have formed large communities particularly in Israel and America. A few of the original pages of the Aleppo Codex are currently on display at the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book, Jerusalem, together with the main display of a selection of Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Aleppo Codex is the outcome of two momentous influences – the one internal and the other external – on the development of Hebrew manuscripts; the first is primarily the transformation from scrolls to codices; the second is the process which reached its peak with the final codification of the Masoretic text. It has been described as the most revered copy of the Hebrew Bible, and today, all Torah scrolls in Jewish communities everywhere in the world are written in accordance with the standard it set.
A page by page display of the remaining Aleppo Codex, together with enlargement options, can be seen on line at: aleppocodex.org.
Simon Berg, a regional sales manager for a multinational pharmaceutical company, has written and lectured extensively on the Dead Sea Scrolls. His recent book Insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls – A Beginner’s Guide (2009) provides a concise, scholarly skilfully communicated overview of the subject. Copies can be obtained from the author at siroberg@icon.co.za.
NOTES
- ‘ Medieval Karaism’ by Meira Polliak, in Oxford Handbook of Jewish Studies, p304.
- Lawrence Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jewish Publication Society, Doubleday, 1994, p90.
- Mordechai Glatzer, The Book of Books – From Scroll to Codex and into Print (in Jerusalem Crown Companion Volume). Jewish Publication Society, 2002, pp 61-72.
- David Sutton , Aleppo – City of Scholars, Artscroll Sephardic Heritage Series, p35.
- , p34
- , p36
- , p37
- Amnon Shamosh, ‘The Aleppo Codex’ in Israel Museum catalogue, Treasures of the Aleppo Community, p23.
- , p21
- ‘The Shattered Crown. The Aleppo Codex’ in Biblical Archeology Review Sept/Oct, 2008.
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