What is the Aleppo Codex?

Answer

The Aleppo Codex is an ancient, bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, written by scribes known as Masoretes in Tiberias, Israel, around AD 930. The Masoretes were Jewish rabbis who dedicated themselves to correcting the errors that had entered the text of the Old Testament during the Babylonian captivity and to preventing any future alterations. The Aleppo Codex is named so because, for many years, the book was housed in a synagogue in Aleppo, Syria.

Being a Masoretic manuscript, the Aleppo Codex is inscribed in Hebrew that includes vowel marks, cantillation signs (to aid in pronunciation when chanting the text), and explanatory marginal notes. Initially, the Aleppo Codex encompassed the entire Hebrew Bible, but nearly 200 pages (approximately 40 percent of the total) are currently missing. Each page, comprising three columns of text, is crafted from parchment (dried animal hide); the ink utilized was a mixture of powdered tree galls (a tannin source) combined with soot and iron sulfate. The Aleppo Codex is recognized as the oldest Hebrew Bible in existence. While the Dead Sea Scrolls precede the Aleppo Codex, those scrolls were not compiled into a single volume.

Another manuscript of the Hebrew Bible from the same era as the Aleppo Codex is the Leningrad Codex, housed in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, Russia. Scholars regard the Aleppo Codex as superior to the Leningrad Codex. The Aleppo Codex demonstrates remarkable precision and meticulousness, earning it the moniker “the Crown of Aleppo,” and causing many to view it as the most authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible. However, due to a section of the Aleppo Codex being lost, scholars have looked to the Leningrad Codex for creating modern editions of the Hebrew text such as the Biblia Hebraica.

Several significant editions of the Hebrew Bible are rooted in the Aleppo Codex: the Breuer edition (1977 – 1982), the Horev edition (1996), and the KeterYerushalayim, published by the Hebrew University (2000). Partial editions based on the Aleppo Codex have been published by the Hebrew University Bible Project and Bar-Ilan University Press.

The Aleppo Codex is significant as a historical world treasure. Furthermore, it vividly demonstrates the meticulous care and precision that were employed in copying and preserving God’s Word. The Masoretic Text has been fundamental to most English translations of the Bible, and the Aleppo Codex is regarded as the prime example of the Masoretic text.

Anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo in 1947 led to the smuggling of the Aleppo Codex out of Syria, and the codex eventually arrived in Israel approximately 10 years later. During this process, around 200 pages of the codex went missing and are presumed to have been destroyed. The Aleppo Codex is currently housed in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Since 2011, the complete Aleppo Codex—or at least its surviving sections—is also accessible for online viewing.