![]() ![]() Sassoon’s lifelong passion and deep pockets took him to Iraq, Morocco, Turkey, Yemen, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East to rescue endangered Hebraica. 1,053 in his catalogue, called “Ohel David” (The Tent of David), and the last entry in Sassoon’s vast collection. The Mumbai, India-born bibliophile and collector of Judaica and Hebraica, backed by the vast fortune his family made selling opium grown by the British Raj to China, purchased the manuscript in Frankfurt, Germany in 1929. With an estimated hammer price of between $30 million and $50 million, the question assumes a special gravitas for Geneva investor and collector Jacqui Eli Safra, who purchased the treasure in 1989 for $4.16 million.Ĭalled a codex and not a book because it was written on parchment before the invention of paper, the manuscript’s name comes from David Solomon Sassoon (1880-1942). Where does a country’s patrimony belong? Should Britain return the Rosetta Stone to Egypt and the Elgin Marbles to Greece?Īnd what of the Codex Sassoon? Where does it belong? A manuscript’s wild journey Maoz and Roitman reflect a sea change in museums today as they grapple with the legacy of colonialism and imperialism by which institutions like the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and the Altes Museum in Berlin built up their unparalleled collections. ![]() Roitman pointedly said the cultural complex is not the national museum, and by implication, government funds should not be used to purchase the Sassoon Codex. Though conceived as separate institutions during Israel’s nascent years, the Shrine of the Book and Israel Museum have shared their Givat Ram hilltop since 1965. It’s a unique assemblage that has made the Israel Museum one of the world’s 20 leading polythematic museums, said Adolfo Roitman, the Buenos Aires-born director of the Shrine of the Book - who refers to the iconic pavilion as his “kingdom.” Were the medieval Hebrew parchment to go on exhibit in Jerusalem, it would join the Dead Sea Scrolls - the world’s oldest Bible manuscripts - and the equally old Codex Aleppo from circa 920. It would be unethical for the museum to encourage the trade in antiquities and its ancillary business of grave looting, said Maoz, the curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls, on Thursday during a tour of the Shrine of the Book for experts in the field - part of a symposium marking the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Great Isaiah Scroll at Jerusalem’s venerable Albright Institute of Archaeology.īut then Maoz coolly added the Israel Museum would not be averse to accepting the more than 1,000-year-old manuscript, known as Codex Sassoon 1053, for long-term display or as a bequest from a wealthy benefactor. JERUSALEM - On May 16, when Sotheby’s in Manhattan auctions off the oldest and most complete Masoretic Hebrew Bible currently held in private hands, the Israel Museum here will not be bidding, Hagit Maoz told ReligionUnplugged. ![]()
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