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The differences between the Babylonian tradition of the Torah and our text
Home » Torah & Talmud » Torah Text
Yaron Yadan 10/12/2006
The differences between the Babylonian tradition of the Torah and our text

The differences between the Babylonian tradition of the Torah

and our text

The Babylonian tradition of the Torah, by Dr. Yosef Ofer, The Academy of the Hebrew Language, Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 5761.

The tradition of reading, writing, and preserving the text of the Scriptures was crystallized in two main Jewish centers: Tiberias and Babylon. Each of these centers gave rise to a system of noting traditional readings through vowelization and cantillation, and to a system of Masoretic rules intended to preserve the text of the Scriptures and the tradition of its reading. The Tiberian Mesorah reflects and preserves the Tiberian tradition of the Hebrew language and the Tiberian system of notation, while the Babylonian Mesorah suited the tradition of Hebrew as practiced in Babylon and adopted the system of notation that reflects it.

The Tiberian system of notation and the Tiberian Mesorah were accepted throughout the entire Jewish diaspora and are employed in hundreds of manuscripts and printed versions, both early and late. In contrast, the use of the Babylonian system of notation and the Babylonian Mesorah grew less and less, until it ceased completely. A large part of our knowledge about the Babylonian Mesorah is based on material found in the Cairo geniza. (The Cairo geniza was maintained in the Jerusalemite synagogue in the city of Fustat [ancient Cairo]; documents found in the geniza date from the ninth to the nineteenth centuries CE. The geniza room was built in approximately 1020, and there are only a few documents bearing a date before the year 1000. [Studies on the Cairo Geniza, edited by Akiva Friedman, Tel Aviv University, 5740])

The text of the Babylonian Mesorah, brought here, comes from 45 manuscript pages employing the notation system of the Babylonian Mesorah, which were found in the Cairo geniza and include only one-fifth to one-sixth of the Torah’s verses.

According to the author, in places where the Scriptural text brought in the manuscript is different from the standard text we have, one cannot know for certain if this is the result of error (as it is in most cases) or if the Masorete responsible for the particular manuscript page relied upon a different version.

Daat Emet gathered the textual differences in the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) — plene spelling, defective spelling, whole words — between the Babylonian Mesorah and our present text, as reflected in the book. This is a supplement to the essay The variety of Torah texts and strengthens the claim that today’s “sanctified” text is purely a Halachic construct which does not reflect the ancient, original text (if there ever was such a thing).

In this table we see 14 changes in whole words and 25 changes in plene and defective spelling, though only one-fifth of the entire Torah’s text was available for examination.

The Babylonian Mesorah of the Torah — based on the critical edition[1]:

Our version (Koren) The Babylonian Mesorah
וְהֶאֱמִינוּ לְקֹל הָאֹת הָאַחֲרוֹן

(8Exodus 4:)

 

ושמעו לקל האת האחרון

(Note 13)

וַיֹּאמֶר מִי אֵלֶּה לָּךְ

(Genesis 33:5)

ויאמר מה אלה לך

(Note 19)*

וְהַתּוֹרָה וְהַמִּצְוָה אֲשֶׁר כָּתַבְתִּי לְהוֹרֹתָם

(Exodus 24:12)

והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להרתם

(Note 142)

וַיַּעֲבֵר אֶת אֲשֶׁר לו

(Genesis 32:24)

ויעבר את כל אשר לו

(Note 213)*

אשר עשה

(Deuteronomy 12:21)

כאשר עשה

(Note 238)*

ויאיר בן מנשה

(Numbers 32:41)

יאיר בן מנשה

(Note 265)*

ה’ אלהיך הוא עבר לפניך

(Deuteronomy 31:3)

ה’ אלהיך הוא העבר לפניך

(Note 266)*

נֹתֵן

(Defective spelling in five places: Deuteronomy 7:16, 11:26, 13:13, 15:4, 16:18)

In the Babylonian Mesorah these are not listed as defective.

(The author; this difference still requires study, note 285)

ואלה תולדות תרח

(Genesis 11:27)

אלה תולדות תרח

(Note 302)

ואלה שמותם

(Numbers 13:4)

אלה שמותם

(Note 302)

ואלה שמות האנשים

(Numbers 34:19)

אלה שמות האנשים

(Note 302)

  בצידן

(Does not appear at all in our text — Note 319)

אמתחתיהם

 (Does not appear at all in our text– Note 549)

את כל המטת

(Numbers 17:24)

את המטות

(Note 408)*

השב ידך

(Exodus 4:7)

השב נא ידך

(Note 423)*

בלדתה אתו

(Genesis 38:5)

בלדתה אותו

(Note 529)

על כל דבר פשע

(Exodus 22:8)

על כל פשע

(Exodus, Note 55) *

עינו

(seven times)

עינו

(six times) Apparently the 7th time is spelled plene, with a yud (Exodus, note 40)

ואל אחזת אבתיו

(Leviticus 25:41)

ואל אחזת אבותיו

(Numbers, note 12)

איש נחלת אבתיו

(Numbers 36:8)

איש נחלת אבותיו

(Numbers, note 12)

אֶת הַמַּחְתֹּת אֶת הַמִּזְלָגֹת וְאֶת הַיָּעִים וְאֶת הַמִּזְרָקֹת

(Numbers 4:14)

אֶת הַמַּחְתֹּת אֶת הַמִּזְלָגֹת את המטפחתוְאֶת הַיָּעִים וְאֶת הַמִּזְרָקֹת

(Note 33)

עוֹג מֶלֶךְ הַבָּשָׁן הָאָרֶץ לְעָרֶיהָ

(Numbers 32:33)

עוג מלך הבשן הארץ בעריה

(Note 86)*

 

מוּסַבֹּת מִשְׁבְּצוֹת

(Exodus 39:13)

 

מסבת / מוסבות משבצות.

The Babylonian Masorete supposed that there is only one instance ofמוסבת in the Torah, while in our text there are two. (Note 90)

ובין הים לִפְנֵי בַּעַל צְפֹן

(Exodus 14:2)

 

לפני בעל צפון

(Note 98)

 

החירת לִפְנֵי בַּעַל צְפֹן

(Exodus 14:9)

 

לפני בעל צפון

(Note 98)

 

קְמוּאֵל אֲבִי אֲרָם

(Genesis 22:21)

 

Apparently they used a different name and not Kemuel. (Note 146)
מִי יִתֵּן וְהָיָה לְבָבָם

(Deuteronomy 5:25)

ומי יתן והיה לבבם

(Note 154)*

לא תגורו

(Deuteronomy 1:17)

ולא תגורו

(Deuteronomy, note 16)

כִּי טֶרֶם תִּירְאוּן

(Exodus 9:30)

 

The Babylonian Masorete supposed there was only one instance of תיראוןin the Torah (Deuteronomy 1:29), but in our text there are two. (Note 28)
וישמידם

(Deuteronomy 2:21)

וישמדם

(Note 55)

עיניכם הראת

(Deuteronomy 4:3)

עינכם הראות

(Note 111)*

כֹּל צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם

(Deuteronomy 4:19)

וכל צבא השמים

(Note 131)*

כדבר הגדול הזה

(Deuteronomy 4:32)

הדבר הגדול הזה

(Note 149)

ולא יסף עוד

(Genesis 38:26)

The Masorete wrote that there is only one instance of ולא יסף and it is found in Deuteronomy (5:18). (Note 186)

Asterisks (*) mark hint words, that is, words employed by a Masorete in reference to a particular verse.

There are no asterisks for words whose spelling, quoted in the above table, was explicitly prescribed by a Masorete.

[1] Note numbers cited in the table are those given by Ofer.

This post is also available in: Hebrew

About the Author

ירון ידען View all posts by Yaron Yadan

ירון ידען (נולד בטבריה ב-8 בדצמבר 1961) הוא פעיל חברתי ומייסד ארגון "דעת אמת" העומד בראש מפלגת אור.

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