Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] YHWH Pronunciation

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Bearpecs AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] YHWH Pronunciation
  • Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 16:48:01 EDT


In a message dated 7/26/2005 3:09:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
schmuel AT nyc.rr.com writes:

The Leningrad text is just one Masoretic Text, not up to the standards of
the Received Text.
>From this viewpoint, what really counts is the Received Text. And it is
>not
likely to have the annoying small copying errors.


The Leningrad Codex agrees much more with the Aleppo Codex than does Ben
Hayyim. The Aleppo Codex is almost certainly the text which Maimonides
verified
as the very best massoretic text. Both agree more often than Ben Hayyim's
text with statements in massoretic texts that identify specific readings.
Ben Hayyim compiled his text from multiple manuscripts, without clarifying
either which manuscripts he used or how he decided between them when there
were
discrepancies. For such reasons, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel approved
Dotan's edition (based on Leningrad Codex) for use as the official Tanakh of
the
Israeli armed forces.
All of this reasons from logic.

I generally abhor responding to statements on this list which are based on
theology (anyone's; whether or not I agree with it); but since "Inspiration"
(by which I assume is meant "divine" inspiration) was brought up as a
justification for prefering the RT, I need to respond:
First, we have a guideline: "Debate that forces particular faith or
doctrinal perspectives onto a reading of the text is not appropriate subject
matter
for this forum. "
Second, it may be perfectly acceptable for a Christian to believe that the
Ben Hayyim edition is divinely inspired and therefore superior (although I
con't see any more justification for this than believing the same of the
King
James Version). I do NOT, however, believe this is possible for Jews, if
only
because Ben Hayyim later became an apostate. Therefore, given that I do not
expect anyone to give weight to my theological objections to Ben Hayyim, I
hope that no one will expect me to give weight to their theological defenses
of
the Ben Hayyim text.
He does, however, have a nice name.
Hayyim








Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page