History of Hebrew Manuscripts

Because of their devotion to the Torah, also known as the Five Books of Moses

, the Jewish people have been called the People of the Book, with a reputation for lovers of scholarship and learning.

The oldest surviving Hebrew manuscripts that we know of today are the Qumran scrolls also known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, dated as early as circa 250 -150 BCE. These ancient scrolls, written on papyrus and parchment, included biblical manuscripts, commentaries on biblical, apocryphal, juridical, liturgical and hymnal works and even fantasy. These ancient manuscripts are witness to the presence of the ancient Hebrews in the land of Israel.

There is a gap of nearly a millennium between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the next dated fragments of Hebrew manuscripts. These 9th century fragments were found in a Cairo genizah. There is a Torah prohibition against destroying the written name of G-d, and therefore there is a special depository, called a genizah (hidden place), in most synagogues to store old unusable prayer books and other text.

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, Hebrew books still took the form of scrolls. However, in the early Middle Ages, the Romans invented the codex, a revolutionary format in which a number of sheets of parchment (and later paper) were folded and bound together to form a more compact, easily used, carried and stored book. Because of a long gap of time in which few fragmented pieces of papyrus and leather have survived, it does not appear that the Jews adopted the codex form for their manuscripts until the middle of the tenth century.

According toDr. Ezra Chwat,The Department of Manuscripts/Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts in Jerusalem,tens of thousands of dated and undated Hebrew manuscripts (not including genizah fragments)have survived and can be found in collections throughout the world.Nearly all have been collected in the 70,000 reels of microfilm in the Manuscripts Ept. of the National Library of Israel, Jerusalem.The variety of scripts used demonstrates the diversity of exiled Jews and their scribes. Differences in script style, shape and technique show the variations of the scribal practices in different regions.

The different communities - Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Italian, Byzantine, Yemenite and Persian- developed their own style of script, each of which could be written in a square, semi-cursive or cursive form. However, due to Anti-Semitism creating community upheaval via expulsion by force or emigration by choice, Hebrew manuscripts would be written in the native script of the scribe and not necessarily that of the community. Eventually the manuscripts written in single community could be written in any type.

History of Hebrew Manuscripts

By: Marcia Karon

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