The oldest known nearly complete Hebrew Bible was presented to the press on Wednesday in Tel Aviv, where it will be on public display for a week before its May auction in New York.
The Codex Sassoon, named after its most famous owner, David Solomon Sassoon (died 1942), dates to the tenth century of the Christian era or even the late ninth, according to Sotheby’s, which will continue sales.
This bound manuscript (codex) contains the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or “Tanach,” the Hebrew acronym for Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible), prophets (“Neviim” in Hebrew), and other writings (“Ketuvim” ). Only 12 leaves are missing. It is on display at the Museum of the Jewish People on Tel Aviv University’s campus as of Thursday.
“This is one of the greatest moments of my life as a curator,” said Orit Shaham Gover, director of the museum, for whom “this ancient Bible reflects the history of the Jewish people from ancient times to the present day.”
This Hebrew Bible also contains passages in Greek and Aramaic and is in a visibly exceptional state of preservation.
She had disappeared for more than 500 years after the destruction of the synagogue in Makisin (now Markada, northeastern Syria) where she was housed, before reappearing in 1929, said Sharon Mintz, a scholar of Judaism at Sotheby’s.
According to carbon-14 dating, the Sassoon Codex is older and more complete than the Aleppo Codex, which was written in Galilee in the 10th century and brought back to Israel in the 1950s after being found in that Syrian city.
The manuscript is also believed to predate the Leningrad Codex, the earliest surviving copy of the entire Hebrew Bible text, and to date to the early 11th century.
Shown to the public only once decades ago, the Codex Sassoon is now on display before being auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York for around $30-50 million, making it possibly the most expensive manuscript ever sold at auction. The auction house said in a statement.
The sale is set to take place in May, during the classic spring sales season organized by the industry giants in New York.