B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

I really wish that we had the fullness of the Aleppo Codex available to us. Where it is extant, I think it should be the base text. I would agree with that. I also prefer Aleppo to Leningrad. I don’t know about him being “a nasty little man,” since I know nothing of his personality or character, but it’s clear that a base text needed to be chosen. I don’t think WLC is terrible, just that Aleppo is better.

Either way, it isn’t something that needs to be argued. I was just curious about your thinking and why you detest the BHS so fully. I’m very happy that we have such a text. Are you also disinclined to use the BHQ on the same basis?

Do you have a copy of the Jerusalem Crown כֶּ֫תֶר יְרוּשָׁלַ֫יִם, by the way? This is my favorite print Bible. I am on my second copy right now, which has the larger print (because I’m getting older). Its text is based, as far as possible, on the Aleppo Codex.

Hallo Jason,

1. I had heard about the Jerusalem crown but had absolutely no idea that there was a book in circulation. I was excited to read your post here actually. So with hurried eagerness I found it on amazon - except ...a two week airBnB bungalow with car hire in my favourite country Greece...Mmm which to choose. I want both!

2. As for the B. Hebraica Quinta, I have little idea about its improvements except what I have read about it and the few critiques that I heard on Youtube. This may appear a negative prejudice, some will think me blindly prejudiced without reasonable cause, but my opinions are based upon the fact that it stems from that same German company, its roots are still Leningrad and involve the Kittels. Not much more to say really. From all the books and Histories that I have read from the 1600's I have come to let a certain ethos prevail in my narrow mindedness, that men and women did rather well and excelled in just as much wisdom and ample knowledge of the Hebrew language long before the so called advanced scholarship and re-hashing of the ancient landmark started to infiltrate in the late 19th and 20th centuries. And then when one realises that the BHS first appeared in 1937, not from his father but from the son - from Gerhard Kittel - I am sorry - but good and honest unadulterated fruit from a rotten toxic tree? I will let others deicides for themselves or research into it.

Chris watts

Chris Watts wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2024 7:22 am Hallo Jason,

1. I had heard about the Jerusalem crown but had absolutely no idea that there was a book in circulation. I was excited to read your post here actually. So with hurried eagerness I found it on amazon - except ...a two week airBnB bungalow with car hire in my favourite country Greece...Mmm which to choose. I want both!

Chris watts

I downloaded the Aleppo Codex from http://www.mechon-mamre.org in a zip file. In my case, I downloaded the version without points, then on my computer I read it in archaic Hebrew font. The files are all html files that can be read by any browser.

There are sites online where one can browse photocopies of the pages themselves.

Karl W. Randolph.

kwrandolph wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2024 9:38 pm I downloaded the Aleppo Codex from http://www.mechon-mamre.org in a zip file. In my case, I downloaded the version without points, then on my computer I read it in archaic Hebrew font. The files are all html files that can be read by any browser.

There are sites online where one can browse photocopies of the pages themselves.

Karl W. Randolph.

Where does Mechon Mamre state that their site presents the text of the Aleppo Codex specifically? Where do they take their copy of the Torah and other missing sections from?

kwrandolph wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2024 9:38 pm
I downloaded the Aleppo Codex from http://www.mechon-mamre.org in a zip file. In my case, I downloaded the version without points, then on my computer I read it in archaic Hebrew font. The files are all html files that can be read by any browser.

There are sites online where one can browse photocopies of the pages themselves.

Karl W. Randolph.

Hi there Karl,

I downloaded from here if you want to take a look: it's nice to see some of the original pages torn, I like that curiously enough. If you need to, just ignore the points, or should I say the 'running grammatical commentary' as you would probably prefer to see them.

https://archive.org/details/aleppo-codex

Favour to ask: Can anyone find Exodus chapter 17 in this Damascus codex. I usually find my way around but this one is infuriating. I have the PDF version with a wonderful index, except that the index is coded very annoyingly with a meaningless Numerical index and I have tried to find this meaningless alpha-numeric list online for clarification. https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl ... 73,0.951,0 I would have attached my PDF version but obviously the BH forum does not allow anything bigger than Pixie Dust to be uploaded..

The best place to access the Aleppo Codex is at mgketer.org because you can get exactly the passage that you’re looking for. Let me know if you want help in how to locate a passage.

I’m also annoyed by the upload limitations on B-Hebrew, but I don’t have control over that.

Jason Hare wrote: Tue Sep 10, 2024 1:36 pm The best place to access the Aleppo Codex is at mgketer.org because you can get exactly the passage that you’re looking for. Let me know if you want help in how to locate a passage.

I’m also annoyed by the upload limitations on B-Hebrew, but I don’t have control over that.

Great site, I will go through this in the coming days, thank you Jason. I do have the Aleppo in PDF, and I also have the Index for it, which is a nice change compared to all the other manuscripts I view. If I have any problem finding my way around this site you linked to I will message you thanks.


On a separate issue regarding Karl's Mechon_mamre site. I do not know what he downloaded but having peaked at the site I do think it follows Leningrad, certainly does not harmonize with the oldest manuscripts anyway. I usually test a site or bible by looking at Exodus 17:16.

I actually read an interesting article last night, that many translators in the early Medieval years and later, both Gentile and Jewish, travelled to Spain to find the most reliable MSS. Remarks from them about the unreliability of MSS in their native countries did not go unnoticed. Interesting I did not know this.

chris watts

Jason Hare wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2024 9:52 pm
Where does Mechon Mamre state that their site presents the text of the Aleppo Codex specifically? Where do they take their copy of the Torah and other missing sections from?

My understanding is that all sites that provide a digital (not scanned) copy of the Aleppo Codex get the missing parts from Leningradensis.

Karl W. Randolph.

kwrandolph wrote: Wed Sep 11, 2024 10:56 pm

Jason Hare wrote: Mon Sep 09, 2024 9:52 pm
Where does Mechon Mamre state that their site presents the text of the Aleppo Codex specifically? Where do they take their copy of the Torah and other missing sections from?

My understanding is that all sites that provide a digital (not scanned) copy of the Aleppo Codex get the missing parts from Leningradensis.

Karl W. Randolph.

That makes sense, but where does Mechon Mamre say that their base text is Aleppo?