By Sheila Orysiek
SAN DIEGO– In 930 CE, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the city of Tiberias, a scholar, Aaron Ben-Asher, and a scribe, Shlomo Ben-Buya’a, took upon themselves the daunting task of creating the “most perfect copy” of the twenty-four books of the Hebrew Bible. What they produced is now called “The Aleppo Codex” or “The Crown of Aleppo.”
The Codex – a book rather than the usual scroll – found a home with Maimonides in Cairo and he used it in his research. Years later it ended up in the vaults of the Great Synagogue of Aleppo in Syria, where for six hundred years it remained under the care of one of the oldest Jewish communities of the Diaspora.
After the United Nations vote which created the State of Israel in 1948, a riot in protest erupted in Aleppo. The Great Synagogue was burned and the Codex was left lying on the floor. After a daring rescue, it was smuggled out of Syria and next found a home in the Ben Zvi Institute in Israel. But somehow, after having survived the fire largely intact, it was now missing the first five books – the beating heart of the Torah.
Some claimed it had not arrived at the Ben Zvi Institute intact. Others claimed the missing books had been burned in the synagogue fire. Then it seemed that those who rescued it had in fact torn it apart. Author Matti Friedman follows the travels and travails of this magnificent Codex and comes to a startling and heart breaking conclusion as to how, why, where and who tore this precious book asunder after so many had kept it safe for so long.
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Orysiek is a freelance writer specializing in the cultural arts. She may be contacted via sheila.orysiek@sdjewishworld.com