Remember that last time you were in Israel?  And you walked into that bright, sunny  synagogue?  Of course you remember.  You wandered around the main sanctuary for a bit, admiring the walls of Jerusalem stone, the colorful ark.  You snapped a couple of pictures, then sat for a moment in one of the pews.  That’s when you noticed a bright, velvety red book sitting in the slot in front of you.  Curious, you opened the book, and found yourself reading from the Jerusalem Crown Bible (Keter Yerushalayim): the first print edition of the famous Aleppo Codex.  Here’s a brief, fascinating history of the Codex from the JPS website:

Written in the early 10th century in Tiberias, [the Aleppo Codex] is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible…

The codex has a rich and dramatic history. It was stolen in the 11th century and brought to Egypt. It is believed that Maimonides copied from it in Cairo when he wrote his own torah scroll, and there are indications that he referred to the Aleppo Codex when preparing the hilkhot sefer tora section of his most famous work, the Mishneh Torah. From Cairo the codex was moved to Aleppo in the 14th century, where it remained in the Jewish community for more than 500 years.

In 1947, anti-Jewish riots took place in Syria, protesting the UN resolution to divide Palestine. The synagogues in Aleppo were burned and the codex was presumably damaged in a fire. It was hidden until it could be brought to Israel in 1958. Unfortunately, a considerable portion — almost the entire first five books — was missing. Renowned scholar Rabbi Mordechai Breuer worked for nearly 20 years reconstructing the lost parts. In 1956, the Hebrew University Bible Project in Jerusalem began making plans for an electronic version of the Bible based on the Aleppo Codex. As a result, Bible scholars now have what is widely believed to be the most accurate Hebrew Bible of all.

For years, the Jerusalem Crown Bible was only available for purchase in Israel.  Now, for the first time ever, it is available to U.S. customers through the Jewish Publication Society!  The retail price for the slip-cased Jerusalem Crown and its companion volume is $125 – however, if you purchase the Jerusalem Crown before July 4th, you can take $31 off the list price, and enjoy the two volumes for $93.75.  Click here to take advantage of this limited-time discount!

Take a look at this sample page:

Source: http://www.jerusalem-crown.com

-Naomi