Leningrad Codex

[David Troidl]

Hi Everyone,

I just became aware that facsimiles of the Leningrad Codex are available
at http://www.tanach.us/Tanach.xml. If you navigate to a passage, on the
lower left there is an option for LC facsimile. See
http://www.tanach.us/Pages/Facsimiles.html for more details.

Recently there was a question about large letters, etc., like the bet at
the beginning of Genesis, recorded in texts derived from the Aleppo
Codex. It can be clearly seen in Genesis 1:1, when you choose the LC
facsimile, that no such enlargement appears here. This is even more
surprising, because the Aleppo Codex online begins in Deuteronomy 28.
It has no Genesis available.

Peace,

David


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[David IB]

Thanks - I didn't know this!

But I do find the one in BibleWorks  much easier to use.

* It has much higher resolution images, in colour

* you can zoom in to an incredible degree

* you can 'fiddle' with the image with contrast etc

* it shows you where each verse starts on the page

* it takes you straight to the verse you request

David IB

[Seth (Avi) Kadish]

Hi, I recently joined and noticed this.

I very much appreciate the work that this project has been doing for the public good, which I just recently became fully aware of :-)

The tools that have been created here are amazing!

On the specific issue of this post, for posterity, the details are as follows:

Masoretic codices contain more than just the biblical text, they also contain masoretic notes on their pages alongside the text, as well as in masoretic treatises than are appended at the beginning and/or end of the biblical text within the codex. The Aleppo Codex once had such treatises both before and after, and we have a great deal of information about them from people who took notes on them and copied parts of them when the manuscript was still intact. The Leningrad Codex still has these treatises before and after (its famous and beautiful carpet pages).

It is thus somewhat incorrect to speak of how a masoretic codex "reads" without taking the masoretic data into account. For better or worse, the WLC does exactly this: It records L's biblical text without any indication of how that text relates to the mesorah within the very same codex, often on the very same page.

The case in point: Large and small letters in the biblical text (as well as other small anomalies). There are lists of words containing such letters in the masoretic lists at the back of the Leningrad Codex, and they also appear in other masoretic works. But most of the data in these lists is not applied in the biblical text within the codices themselves. As with the letter-text (spelling) of the Hebrew Bible, it also took some time before the masoretic "ideal" became a highly visible feature within masoretic texts.

Bottom line: All questionable textual matters are fully documented within Miqra al-pi ha-Mesorah. So whenever there is a question about them, you can always take a look at the textual notes. In the example of Genesis 1:1, the note about the large letter ב, its sources, and data about it (in this case that L lacks a large ב but its treatise nevertheless lists it) can be viewed in two places:

1. In the chapter page at Hebrew Wikisource (click עריכה=edit to view the note within the text).
2. Within the verse as it appears in the database.

For the general editorial methodology concerning large and small letters, there is a full explanation within the introduction to the edition (Hebrew).

I'm aware that these kinds of questions are not central to this project, but see that they do come up at times here and there in the discussion. When they do, I'd be happy to help.

Avi