Spending an entire book on the search for a Jewish artifact that possesses ancient scriptures may seem like a sure thing. The large cast of players include countries wanting to hide the document, individuals wanting to increase their wealth by exchanging the codex, and archaeologists. Despite the mystery about whether there are missing pages or if it has been completely destroyed, I was less than involved. I needed to be rooted in actual passages in the book in order to invest my time in the search. A rare revelation dealt with Pharaohs in Egypt trying to recreate the ten plagues upon the Jewish. A major disappointment. ( )

Really good, highly recommend. ( )

The author decided to follow the travels and ultimate destination of a famed book that is considered the most perfect copy of the Hebrew bible-the Aleppo Codex. The book was written in Tiberias in 930 AD by a scribe named Shlomo Ben-Buya'a and directed by the scholar Aaron Ben-Asher. Eventually the book was sent to the Jewish community of Aleppo and housed in a secret compartment in the main synagogue. The book was used as a talisman and very few people could see it. Just after the United nations vote on the creation of the state of Israel in 1947, the Jewish community in Aleppo experienced the destruction of their homes and synagogues. According to stories, the main synagogue was burned along with the Aleppo Codex. The real story that Friedman tracked , was the hiding of the book for a few years before one man left Syria with the book and gifted it to the institute in Israel started by the President of Israel, Ben-Zvi. However, that was not the true story. Friedman writes about the many people who were involved with the codex, including the Israeli secret service, mysterious book collectors and protected thieves. The book did leave Syria intact but by the time it reached Israel , major parts of the manuscript were missing. Friedman traces pages that ended up as talismans owned by Syrian families living in New York and he names suspects who may have stolen parts of the book. Friedman's evidence is well researched and he doesn't make claims that can't be proven. So the mystery concerning the loss of major sections is not solved-there is only information on the possibilities. The story of the inquiries into the journey of the Aleppo Codex was really interesting for me to read. ( )

It's worth noting that it is possible to view all available pages of the Aleppo Codex and information about the book and its history at http://www.aleppocodex.org/homepage.html, a website of the Ben-Zvi Institute.

some quotes:

The Jerusalem trial was an argument over who owned the patrimony of the Diaspora, and thus about the nature of Judaism, exile, and the state of Israel. [p. 117]

The Crown of Aleppo [the Aleppo Codex] was never given to Israel. It was taken. The government may have believed it was serving the interests of its people and of the book itself, but though these circumstances deserve to be noted, they do not alter the ugly mechanics of the story.... [p. 138]

The first page of the Aleppo Codex as it exists today, for the book of Deuteronomy.... [p. 144]

For these men [Yigael Yadin and Itzhak Ben-Zvi], the good of Israel, the good of science, and their own professional prestige were often inextricably muddled; neither hesitated to use the government's power to pursue aims that often conflated the three. [pp. 159-160]

More surprising, perhaps, were the rectangular glue marks that could only have been left by an adhesive from the 1950s or later and that informed Maggen's expert eye that someone under the auspices of the Ben-Zvi Institute had tried to mend one of the world's most precious manuscripts with Scotch tape. [p. 180]

At his home, Shamosh told me he believed most of the pages had been taken by people in Aleppo. Of the Aleppo community, he said, "If it's possible not to tell the truth, why tell the truth? The truth is a dangerous thing." [p. 201] ( )

The Aleppo Codex is a thousand year old manuscript originally created to help Jews properly read the Torah. For the six hundred years prior to 1947, it resided in a synagogue in the Syrian town of Aleppo. In the riots following the vote to create the State of Israel, however, its secure home was breached and the book thought to be destroyed. The good news is that this priceless ancient book actually survived the riots and this books tells us how.

The bad news is that the most important parts of this book, including the entire Pentatuch portion [Genesis through Deuteronomy], went missing. Friedman takes us on an exciting, educational, and ultimately depressing hunt for those missing pages. It is indeed a page-turner but [spoiler alert], the mystery of those missing pages is never solved, although fingers are pointed at convincing targets, the very folks one would hope would never stoop to steal such an important piece of Jewish heritage.

[a:Maggie Anton|79249|Maggie Anton|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1337899260p2/79249.jpg] ( )