Tanakh Manuscripts

Image: Khirbet Qumran [Wikipedia]

Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea scrolls consist of roughly 900 documents, including texts from the Tanakh, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea.

The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include some of the only known surviving copies of Biblical documents made before 100 CE, and preserve evidence of considerable diversity of belief and practice within late Second Temple Judaism. They are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus.4 The manuscripts generally date between 150 BCE and 70 CE.5 The scrolls are most commonly identified with the ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes, but recent scholarship has challenged their association with the scrolls.6

In 1947, young Bedouin shepherds entered a long-untouched limestone cave and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. That initial discovery by the Bedouins yielded seven scrolls and began a search that lasted nearly a decade and eventually produced thousands of scroll fragments from eleven caves. During those same years, archaeologists excavated the Qumran ruin, a complex of structures located on a barren terrace between the cliffs where the caves are found and the Dead Sea. Historical, paleographic, and linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the third century BCE to 68 CE – during the late Second Temple Period – the scrolls are older than any other surviving biblical manuscripts by almost one thousand years.

The Dead Sea Scrolls texts are identified by a number and letter combination, indicating the cave from which they were recovered. This initial code is followed by either a second number (the catalog file number assigned to each fragment as it was archived) or by a few letters that abbreviate an alternative name given to a fragment by researchers, usually the supposed title of the text.

Generally speaking the manuscripts fall into one or more of the following genres:  Biblical texts, Pentateuch stories and commentaries; legal and ritual texts; prophets stories and commentaries; psalms and poetry; wisdom literature; prophecy and visions; sectarian literature; and “miscellaneous things that don’t fit anywhere else.”  Some texts can be assigned to several categories depending on the subjective reading of the interpreter.

Scrolls Discovered in the Caves7
Cave 1: Manual of Discipline, War of Sons of Light, Thanksgiving Scroll, Isaiah, Genesis Apocryphon and Habakkuk Pesher.
Cave 2: 300 fragments of other scrolls, including Jubilees and the Wisdom of Ben-Sirach
Cave 3: Copper Scroll
Cave 4: 122 biblical scrolls (or fragments)
Caves 5-6: Modest finds
Cave 7: Fragments written in Greek
Caves 8-9: Fragments
Cave 10: Psalms, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Genesis, and various fragments
Cave 11: Thirty scrolls were found including Leviticus and the Temple Scroll

The significance of the scrolls relates in a large part to the field of textual criticism. Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible were Masoretic texts dating to the 9th century. The biblical manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls push that date back to the 2nd century BCE. Before this discovery, the earliest extant manuscripts of the Old Testament were in Greek in manuscripts such as Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus.8

Prior to 1967, the Scrolls were housed in the Rockefeller Museum (formerly known as the Palestine Archaeological Museum) in Jerusalem. After the Six Day War, the Scrolls were moved to the Shrine of the Book, at the Israel Museum.

Some of the documents were published early. All the writings in Cave 1 appeared in print between 1950 and 1956, those from eight other caves were released in 1963, and 1965 saw the publication of the Psalms Scroll from Cave 11. Their translations into English soon followed.9

An exception was the contents of Cave 4, representing 40% of the total. Their publication had been entrusted to “The International Team” led by Father Roland de Vaux, a member of the Dominican Order in Jerusalem. This group published the first volume of the material entrusted to them in 1968, but spent much of their energies defending their theories regarding the materials, instead of publishing them. Geza Vermes, who had been involved from the start in the project, blamed the delay—and eventual failure—on de Vaux’s selection of a team poorly suited to the work, as well as de Vaux’s vain reliance on “his personal, quasi-patriarchal authority” to ensure its prompt completion.

Thus a large portion of the finds in Cave 4 were not released for years. Access to the scrolls was governed by a “secrecy rule” which allowed only the original International Team or their designees to view the original materials. After de Vaux’s death in 1971, his successors repeatedly refused to allow the publication even of photographs of these materials, preventing other scholars from making their own judgments. This rule was eventually broken, first by Ben Zion Wacholder’s publication in the fall of 1991 of 17 documents reconstructed from a concordance that had been made in 1988 and had come into the hands of scholars outside of the International Team; next, in the same month, by the discovery and publication of a complete set of facsimiles of the Cave 4 materials at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, which were not covered by the “secrecy rule.” After further delays, these photographs were published by Robert Eisenman and James Robinson as A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. As a result, the “secrecy rule” was lifted.

Publication accelerated with the appointment of the respected Dutch-Israeli textual scholar Emanuel Tov as editor-in-chief in 1990. Publication of the Cave 4 documents soon commenced, with five volumes in print by 1995. As of March 2009 volume XXXII remains to be completed, with the whole series, Discoveries in the Judean Desert, running to thirty nine volumes in total.

Targumim
Targum Onkelos is the Babylonian Targum to the Torah. The work has been identified with Aquila of Sinope. Some believe that the name “Onkelos” originally referred to Aquilla but was applied to the Aramaic translation instead of the Greek translation. However, we may never know who the author was since the author takes great pains to avoid any type of personification or identification. Since Talmudic times, the Yemenite communities recite the Targum Onkelos alternately with the Hebrew verses of the Torah in the synagogue.

Targum Yonatan is the Babylonian Targum to the Nevi’im [Prophets] section of the Tanakh. Talmudic tradition attributes its authorship to Yonatan ben Uzziel. It is similar in style to the Targum Onkelos. Since Talmudic times, the Yemenite communities recite the Targum Yonatan alternately with the Hebrew Haftorah verses of the Nevi’im in the synagogue. The Talmud in Berachot 8b states:  “The Gemara says that if [one] reads the Parshah twice each week and its Targum once, ‘his days and years are lengthened.’”10 Many people believe that this Targum refers to Targum Yonatan as well as to Targum Onkelos.

Aleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex – also known as the Keter Aram Tzova (כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא‎) – is a medieval bound manuscript of the Tanakh written in the tenth century CE.11 It is considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah [tradition] by which the Tanakh has been preserved from generation to generation.

The Codex was purchased by the Karaite community of Jerusalem about one hundred years after it was written. During the First Crusade, the synagogue was plundered and the Codex was transferred to Egypt after the Jews paid a high price to ransom it. The Codex was preserved in the Rabbinic synagogue in Cairo where Maimonides (Rambam) described it as a text trusted by all Jewish scholars.11 The Aleppo Codex was the manuscript used by Maimonides when he set down his rules in his Mishneh Torah in the book Hichot Sefer Torah.

“Since I have seen great confusion about these matters in all the scrolls I have seen, and similarly, the masters of the tradition who have written down and composed [texts] to make it known [which passages] are p’tuchot and which are s’tumot are divided with regard to the scrolls on which to rely, I saw fit to write down the entire list of all the passages in the Torah that are s’tumot and p’tuchot, and also the form of the songs. In this manner, all the scrolls can be corrected and checked against these [principles].

The scroll on which I relied on for [clarification of] these matters was a scroll renowned in Egypt, which includes all the 24 books [of the Bible]. It was kept in Jerusalem for many years so that scrolls could be checked from it. Everyone relies upon it because it was corrected by ben Asher, who spent many years writing it precisely, and [afterward] checked it many times.

I relied [on this scroll] when I wrote a Torah scroll according to law.”12

In 1375, a descendant of Maimonides brought the Codex to Aleppo, Syria which led to its present name.8 The Codex remained in Aleppo for 500 years until riots in 1947 led to the destruction of the synagogue where it was kept. It was assumed at first that the Codex had been completely destroyed but it turned out that the Codex had been saved and kept in a secret hiding place. In 1958, the Codex was smuggled out of Syria and brought to Jerusalem where it was delivered to the president of Israel, Yitzak ben-Zvi.13

In its current condition, the Aleppo Codex contains only 295 pages out of the original 491 pages. The missing or destroyed parts include:

  • The first seven pages which included the Masoretic grammatical commentary.
  • One hundred and eighteen pages containing the Torah (up to Deuteronomy 28:17).
  • Three pages from Melakhim Beit (14:21-18:13).
  • Three pages from Yirmiyahu (29:9-31:34).
  • Three pages from the Trei Asar [12 Prophets] (Amos 8:13 to Micah 5:1 and the entirety of Ovadiah and Yonah).
  • Four pages from the end of the Trei Asar (the end of Zephaniah to Zechariah 9:17 and the entirety of Chaggai).
  • Two pages from Tehillim (15:1-25:1).
  • Thirty-six pages from the Ketuvim [Writings] (Shir HaShirim 3:11 until the end of the Ketuvim-including the entirety of Kohelet, Eichah, Ester, Dani’el, Ezra, and Nechemiah).
  • One page containing the dedication of the Aleppo Codex.
  • Twenty pages at the end of the Aleppo Codex containing the Masoretic annotations.14

Leningrad Codex
The Leningrad Codex (also known as Leningradensis or the Cairo Codex) is the oldest complete Tanakh that is still preserved. This Codex belongs to the group of Hebrew texts known as the Masoretic texts. The Codex was written in 1009 in Cairo, Egypt.15 The person who commissioned the Codex is known as Meborak Ha-Kohen ben-Netan’el (also called Ozdad ha-Kohen) and written by the scribe Shemu’el ben-Ya’aqob.16

In 1863, The Russian National Library acquired the Codex from the Karaite Abraham Firkovich.17 Today it still resides in St. Petersburg, Russia in the Russian National Library where it has been located since the 1800’s. Since the Leningrad Codex is the oldest complete manuscript of the Tanakh within the Masoretic textual tradition of the Ben Asher family, it is used today as the basis for most of the modern-day printed editions of the Tanakh,17 including the Biblia Hebraica (1937) and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (1967/1977).16

The Leningrad Codex is a completely vowelized text. It also contains the te’amim (trop marks) above and below the letters that are used for cantillation marks, markers for the stress in each word, and marks for phrasing and punctuation.15 The te’amim follow the Masoretic traditions – specifically the traditions from the scholars centered in Tiberias. As a product of the Ben Asher scribal tradition (as is the Aleppo Codex), there are also Masoretic textual and marginal notations throughout the Codex.16

There are also indications as to the Medieval Jewish world contained within this Codex. There are two poems – The Adornment of Israel and the Genealogy of the Prophets of Israel. These poems are attributed to Moshe ben-Asher. The Codex is also illuminated with sixteen full carpet pages decorated in gold, red, and blue painted ornaments. These illustrations are attributed to Shemu’el ben-Ya’aqob.17

 

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1Tzvee Zahavy. “Gittin.” halakhah.com. Halkhah.Com, n.d. [http://halakhah.com/pdf/nashim/Gittin.pdf]
2Robert Newman. “The Council of Jamnia and the Old Testament Canon.” ibri.org.  Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute, 1983. [http://www.ibri.org/RRs/RR013/13jamnia.html]
3William Whiston. “The Works of Flavius Josephus.” sacred-texts.com. Sacred Texts, 1737. [http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud//josephus/apion-1.htm]
4Rory McCarthy, From Papyrus to Cyberspace: Israel to Make Dead Sea Scrolls Available Online (The Guardian – 08.27.08) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/27/israel]
5F.F. Bruce, “Chapter 11 – The Last 30 Years” worldinvisible.com. World Invisible, n.d. [http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/kenyon/storyofbible/2ck11.htm]
6Ofri Ilani, Scholar: The Essenes, Dead Sea Scroll ‘Authors’ Never Existed (Haaretz – 03.13.09) [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070797.html]
7BiblePlaces. “Qumran Caves.” bibleplaces.com Bible Places, n.d. [http://www.bibleplaces.com/qumrancaves.htm].
8Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Second Edition (Augsburg Fortress, 2001) [http://books.google.com/]
9Encyclopedia Britannica. “Dead Sea Scrolls.” britannica.com. Encylcopedia Britannica, n.d. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/154274/Dead-Sea-Scrolls]
10Shema Yisrael Torah Network. “Berachos.” shemayisrael.co.il. Shema Yisrael Torah Network, n.d. [http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/dafyomi2/berachos/insites/br-dt-08.htm]
11HaAretz, Fragment of Ancient Parchment from Bible Given to Jerusalem Scholars (11/6/07) [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/920915.html]
12Rabbi Moshe ben-Maimon. “Hilchot Sefer Torah 8:4.” chabad.org. Chabad, n.d. [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/925430/jewish/Chapter-Eight.htm]
13Y. Ofer. “The Aleppo Codex: Introduction.” aleppocodex.org. Aleppo Codex, n.d. [http://www.aleppocodex.org/links/6.html]
14“The Aleppo Codex: The Extant Parts of the Aleppo Codex” aleppocodex.org. Aleppo Codex, n.d. [http://www.aleppocodex.org/links/9.html]
15C. Leviant, A Review of The Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition (1998) [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/reviews/codex.html]
16D.N. Freedman, The Leningrad Codex: A Facsimile Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998) [http://books.google.com]
17West Semitic Research Project. “The Leningrad Codex.” usc.edu. West Semitic Research Project, n.d.  [http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/biblical_manuscripts/LeningradCodex.shtml]