Dear Rabbi Simon,
It was a very special moment to see the Codex Sassoon while it was on display at Sotheby’s last week. Hopefully, the buyer will enable scholarly access to it for academic research. I suppose time will tell.
To your knowledge, have there been any studies done comparing the various codices (Sassoon, Aleppo, Leningrad & others) for any variances in the text?
I suppose that variances (scribal errors) in the Torah must be minimal due to the stringent and detailed halachot when writing a Sefer Torah. Not to mention that people will interrupt the Baal Koreh when he makes a mistake.
When it comes to Nach [the Prophets and Writings], is there an authoritative text that would have corrected any errors that crept in over time? Particularly for the lesser read/studied books?
Thank you for clarifying.
Best wishes.
Philippe
Dear Philippe,
I agree it was inspiring to view this extraordinary document from 1100 years ago. The remarkable state of preservation and clarity of the writing defies the lapse of years. But to me, the truly amazing thing is that every Jewish schoolchild can read and understand the text written in an ancient and foreign language by a scribe in a distant land, centuries before William the Conqueror, the Crusades, or the Magna Carta. The ubiquity, continuity and consistency of Jewish literacy and practice is astonishing and IMO without parallel anywhere in the world. How many educated adults in the Western World (or anywhere) could read and understand a document written by a 10th-c. scribe in a 4-000-year-old language?
Turning to your question, indeed scholars have taken a keen interest in these ancient codices. While tiny variances have been noted, the consistency among them has defied two centuries of sceptics. In most cases the variances are only with regard to “defective” or “complete” orthography, which will not affect the meaning or pronunciation (although they are sometimes the basis of derash). A scholar who has done much work in this area is Mordechai Breuer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Breuer. Mossad HaRav Kook has published his edition of the Tanakh, based in large part on the Aleppo Codex with reference to other manuscripts. I enjoy regularly using the Torat Hayyim edition of the Torah, which is based on the Breuer version.
Best wishes
Rabbi Rashi Simon