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 Volume 76 › Table of Contents › Article Abstract
The letters of Abraham Firkovich, the well-known Karaite leader and traveler, shed
light on a strange historical affair, centering on the Dedication Inscription of the
Aleppo Codex, written in the eleventh century. In the sixteenth century this inscription
was copied, without indication of its origin, at the end of Tiqqun Sofrim (unvocalized
Bible), sent to Krakow (Poland). The same inscription was copied at the end
of another Bible Codex, which was in the Karaite synagogue in Jerusalem. But in
this inscription the writing of the Bible was ascribed to the Karaite scholar Shelomo
ben Yeroham, and not to Shelomo ben Buya'a, as in the origin.
Some scholars have already assumed that the last inscription is a forgery, done by Firkovich. The way in which Firkovich formulated this inscription and his motivations are clarified in this article, by examining the wording of some versions of this inscription, the Hebrew press of the period and Firkovich's own sayings in his letters. |
