Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

Aleppo codex was burned and the creation account of Genesis is surely
missing.

James Christian

2009/10/20 The Egyptian Chronicles <the_egyptian_chronicles AT comcast.net>

> James  Christian wrote:
>
> ...does anybody know which manuscript or fragment is the oldest  that
> contains
> the creation account in Hebrew (and any other languages for  that matter)?
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Dear James,
>
> Your best bet would be the following sources:
>
> The Aleppo Codex was written in the 10th century CE. It is considered the
> most authoritative document in the masorah.  It is especially valuable
> witness to the early Masoretic textual tradition associated with Rabbi Aaron
> Ben Asher, a famous grammarian and scribe of the tenth century. It was
> written around A.D. 920 in Palestine, probably in the vicinity of Tiberias.
> It is seen as the most authoritative source document for both the original
> biblical text and its vocalization.
>
> In this respect, you can consult: The Aleppo Codex Online homepage (which
> is at times erratic, therefore requires some patience, but the pictures are
> worth the aggravation)
>
> http://www.aleppocodex.org/
>
>
> See  also Moshe H. Goshen-Gottstein, ed., The Aleppo Codex. Jerusalem:
> Hebrew University Bible Project, 1976. Photographic facsimile edited by
> Moshe H. Goshen-Gottstein, Introduction in Hebrew and English.
>
> And Mordechai Breuer et al., Jerusalem Crown. The Bible of the Hebrew
> University of Jerusalem. Pentateuch, Prophets and Writings, According to the
> Text and Masorah of the Aleppo Codex and Related Manuscripts, Following the
> Methods of Rabbi Mordechai Breuer. Basel, Switzerland: Karger, 2000
>
>
> Last, but not least, I highly recommend Saadia Gaon's (Sa?id bin Yusuf
> al-Fayyumiy b. Egypt 882/892, d. Baghdad 942) Commentary on the Book of
> Creation.
>
> Background:
>
> In the 10th century AD Saadia Gaon wrote a Tafsir, an Arabic translation of
> the Tanakh with a lengthy commentary. These were written in Hebrew
> characters (Judaeo-Arabic).. Unfortunately, because of its size, it has not
> come down to us in complete form. Professor Moshe Zucker spent many
> thousands of hours searching for fragments of this lost work among the
> hundreds of thousands of torn pages of the Cairo Geniza, and published a
> large part of the Gaon's commentary on Genesis, both in Judaeo-Arabic and in
> Hebrew translation.
>
> It has fallen to Michael Linetsky, to undertake the task of presenting this
> commentary in English.
>
> See Rabbi Saadiah Gaon's Commentary on the Book of Creation by Saadia Gaon,
> Saadia, Michael Linetsky (Translator) . ISBN-13: 9780300044904
>
>
>
> http://www.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/noresults.asp?PT=BK&UID=EO1z0UbKnb&CRVSIZE=5&CRVSTART=1&ISBN=9780765760876&ERN=210
>
>
> Michael Linetsky was born in the former USSR and came to the United States
> in 1978. He resides in New Jersey and attends Yeshiva University.
>
> His work is the first comprehensive translation into English of Rabbi
> Saadia's commentary on a significant portion of the Book of Genesis.
>
>
> Good luck with your research.
>
> Best regards
>
>
> Ishinan Ishibashi
>