World’s oldest near-complete copy of Bible arrives in Israel for permanent display

5 October 2023, 8:43 pm

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Codex Sassoon, the world’s oldest Hebrew Bible. (Courtesy of Sotheby's via JTA)

The Codex Sassoon, the world’s oldest nearly complete copy of the Hebrew Bible, has arrived in Israel and is set to be permanently displayed at ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.

Earlier this year American attorney Alfred Moses, 94, purchased the book for more than $38 million, on behalf of the museum.

Before Moses bought the book at a much-anticipated Sotheby’s auction on May 17, the codex passed between multiple owners — most recently through the hands of Jacqui Safra, a member of the prominent banking family, and before him, in the 1920s, Jewish book collector David Solomon Sassoon.

The book was written by a single Jewish scribe on 400 pages of parchment about 1,100 years ago.

JTA contributed to this report.