Saturday, July 20, 2024

Michael Segan and Shemaryahu Talmonz”l on the Importance of the Aleppo Codex (א)

  

The Aleppo Codex (א) is the most important witness to MT, which became the dominant biblical text in Judaism. In comparison with all other extant witnesses, it is the most faithful representative of the Ben-Asher tradition, and therefore is preferred over all other manuscripts as the basis for an edition of the Hebrew Bible according to the Tiberian textus receptus . . . (The Hebrew University Bible: The Twelve Prophets, ed. Michael Segan and Shemaryahu Talmonz”l [Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2024], xiv)

 

In light of the present state of our knowledge, the tenth-century Aleppo Codex, ascribed to the famous masorete Aaron-Ben-Asher, was chosen to serve the basic text of our edition. Maimonides also attributed authority to this manuscript. (Ibid., xiii)