Jordan S. Penkower

The Rabbi Dr. Shmuel Belkin Prize of Yeshiva University, New York, 1995. The Aleppo Codex is one of the most important Hebrew Biblical Manuscripts. The Pentateuch text in the Aleppo Codex (aside from the final seven chapters) has not survived, and its lack is sorely felt. The unique innovation of this book is the discovery of an early printed edition of the Pentateuch, with handwritten notes that were added in the sixteenth century – and together they represent an accurate witness to the Pentateuch text in the Aleppo Codex. In a detailed study the author proves that the new source which he discovered indeed reflects the comparison undertaken by the owner of the early printed edition with the Aleppo Codex – text, Songs, and Sections (Exodus through Deuteronomy, missing today in the Aleppo Codex). Furthermore, the author analyses the ramifications of this discovery: the relationship between Maimonides and the Aleppo Codex, the accuracy of the Pentateuch text in the Aleppo Codex, the relationship between the Yemenite biblical manuscripts and the Aleppo Codex. The last chapter discusses recently discovered lists which deal with aspects of the Pentateuch text in the Aleppo Codex.