Sunday, September 14, 2008

DESPERATELY SEEKING THE ALEPPO CODEX. Or at least the substantial portions that are still missing.
Help Sought to Find the Aleppo Codex

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Washington, DC, United States, 09/13/2008 - An important historic document in pieces for decades is slowly coming together. We are looking for pieces of the Aleppo Codex: the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible.

Do you (or someone you know) have a fragment (or a page) of the Aleppo Codex, the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible? The precious document was considered the most authoritative text in Judaism before it was ripped apart and partially burned by Arab mobs in 1947 in protest when the United Nations passed the resolution creating the state of Israel.

Known in Hebrew as the "Crown," the Aleppo Codex was completely missing for a decade. Then, in 1957, nearly 300 pages (out of almost 500) showed up in Jerusalem. Rumors of other surviving parts continue to circulate. Occasionally a part of a page or a page fragment surfaces. In a comprehensive article in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Professor Yosef Ofer of Bar-Ilan University in Israel recounts the travails of the codex. He calls for help to locate still-missing pages, as does the Biblical Archaeology Society.

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The BAR article is posted in full online here.

Background here.