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The Aleppo Codex: the true story of obsession, faith, and the international pursuit of an ancient bible

The Aleppo Codex: the true story of obsession, faith, and the international pursuit of an ancient bible

A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible

by Matti Friedman
Paperback
Publication Date: 23/05/2012

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In an age when physical books matter less and less, here is a thrilling story about a book that meant everything. This true-life detective story unveils the journey of a sacred text-the tenth-century annotated bible know as the Aleppo Codex-from its hiding place in a Syrian synagogue to the newly founded state of Israel. Based on documents kept secret for 50 years, as well as personal interviews with key figures, Matti Friedman proposes a new theory of what happened when the codex left Aleppo, Syria, in the late 1940s and eventually surfaced in Jerusalem, mysteriously incomplete. By recounting this history, Friedman explores the once vibrant Jewish communities in Islamic lands and follows the thread into the present, uncovering difficult truths about how the manuscript was taken to Israel and how its most important pages went missing. Along the way, he raises critical questions about who owns historical treasures and the role of myth and legend in the creation of a nation. 'The Aleppo Codex could be read as a thriller. It could also be read as a history of the Jewish people, or as a meditation on history and myth. This great book comes closer to containing everything than any book I've read in a long, long time.' Jonathan Safran Foer
ISBN:
9781921844805
9781921844805
Category:
History of religion
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
23-05-2012
Publisher:
Scribe Publications
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
320
Dimensions (mm):
210x137x24mm
Weight:
0.27kg
Matti Friedman

Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. Born in Toronto and based in Jerusalem, his work has appeared regularly in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet. Friedman’s last book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon’s 10 best books of the year. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize and the ALA’s Sophie Brody Medal.

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