Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Oldest MSS for creation account?
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:53:19 -0500
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)?
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)
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