Presented by Sharon Liberman Mintz
Curator of Jewish Art, The Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary
Join us to explore the historical significance and cultural impact of Codex Sassoon, a monumental volume that spans over a millennium of human history.
Dating to the late 9th- early 10th century, Codex Sassoon contains all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible – missing only 12 leaves – and precedes the earliest entirely complete Hebrew Bible, the Leningrad Codex, by nearly a century. Codex Sassoon represents a highly significant transformation in the history of the Hebrew Bible and demonstrates the process by which the text of the Bible was standardized and transmitted among medieval Jewish communities.
We will trace the codex's origins from Jewish communities in the Middle East, its journey across continents, and its rediscovery in the early 20th century by David Solomon Sassoon (1880–1942), a passionate collector of Hebrew manuscripts for whom the Bible is named. Numerous inscriptions scattered through the volume reveal the esteem in which its owners and users held it and afford us an appreciation of the significance of this Bible within the landscape of Jewish cultural heritage.
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Barring any technical issues, the recording will be added to our Program Archive.
Thank you to our generous sponsors!
This program is sponsored by Ellen and David Epstein in recognition of the achievement of Ambassador Alfred H. Moses in the return, after 1100 years, of the Sassoon Codex to the State and People of Israel, thereby underscoring what is in the 1948 Declaration of Statehood, that Israel “gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.
Sharon Liberman Mintz is the Curator of Jewish Art at The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and specializes in the fields of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts and rare printed books. Over the course of 38 years at the JTS Library, she has curated more than 50 exhibitions and co-authored eleven exhibition catalogs. Since 1995, Sharon has also served as the Senior Specialist for Judaica and Hebraica at Sotheby's where she has been involved in the sale of the most celebrated Judaica libraries offered at auction during the last half century, most notably the Montefiore Endowment, and the Valmadonna Trust Library. In 2023, Ms. Mintz was responsible for the sale of Codex Sassoon: the earliest most complete Hebrew Bible and the most expensive book ever sold at auction.
The Haberman Institute extends a special thank you to Andrew R. Ammerman for sponsoring our Spring 2025 program lineup. He dedicates the semester’s learning in loving memory of Josephine and H. Max Ammerman and Stephen C. Ammerman.