Oldest Torah Identified

One of the things that speaks to the integrity of the transmission of the Torah i.e., the Pentateuch, or the “Five Books of Moses”, is the manner in which it is copied and preserved. In a synagogue, during the Torah reading, if the reader comes across a smudged letter, it is his obligation to stop reading immediately. The Torah is declared unfit until it is fixed. Another Torah is taken out of the ark and the reading resumes. There is no compromising on scribal errors. As a result, in 1979-80, in Jerusalem when archaeologist Gaby Barkay found a silver amulet inside a Cohen’s grave i.e., the grave of a Hebrew priest, that was inscribed with the Cohen’s benediction or blessing for the people of Israel, it perfectly matched the blessing still recited in synagogues today. And, yet, the amulet dated from around 600 BCE. Here you have a text that may be five centuries older than the Dead Sea Scrolls – the oldest Biblical inscription ever found – and it perfectly corresponds to the blessing that is still recited in synagogues worldwide. This speaks volumes to the integrity of Torah transmission among the Jewish people. The oldest known Torah or “Tanach” i.e., Hebrew Bible, is the so called “Aleppo Codex” from Syria. In 1948, members of Syria’s Jewish community put their lives on the line in order to save it from rioting anti-Semitic Syrians. Matti Friedman has written an excellent book about the Aleppo Codex and the disappearance of the Torah portion from it. The Codex dates from the 10th century CE (AD) and is probably sitting in a private collection as I write. I’m sure that one day it will come back to light. In the meantime, we are fortunate that in Bologna, a Torah has been identified that is only a few hundred years older than the missing Aleppo Codex. I would love to see if there are any variations between the wording on this Torah and the copies we have in synagogues today.

See: http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/05/29/us-italy-torah-idINBRE94S0QZ20130529