{"id":17,"date":"2012-05-07T12:32:58","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T12:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idev.ariehkovler.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2022-03-21T16:55:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T14:55:55","slug":"the-aleppo-codex","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/the-aleppo-codex\/","title":{"rendered":"The Aleppo Codex"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Aleppo Codex<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Winner of the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Winner of the American Library Association’s 2013 Sophie Brody Medal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Winner of the 2013 Canadian Jewish Book Award for history<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

One of Booklist’s top ten religion books of the year, 2013<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Finalist, Religion Newswriters Association award for best religion book of 2013<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A thousand years ago, the most perfect copy of the Hebrew Bible was written. It was kept safe through one upheaval after another in the Middle East. By the 1940s it was housed in a dark grotto in Aleppo, Syria, and had become known around the world as the Aleppo Codex.<\/p>\n

Matti Friedman’s true-life detective story traces how this precious manuscript was smuggled from its hiding place in Syria into the newly founded state of Israel—and how and why many of its most sacred and valuable pages went missing. It’s a tale that involves secret agents, pious clergymen, obsessive antiquities collectors, and highly placed national figures who, as it turns out, would do anything to get their hands on an ancient book. What it reveals are uncomfortable truths about greed, state cover-ups, and the fascinating role of historical treasures in creating a national identity.<\/p>\n

Friedman has unearthed documents kept secret for fifty years, interviewed key players from around the world, and followed the trail of the missing pages up to the present, including the charged four-year court battle to determine the codex’s rightful owners. Friedman also takes us back in time, revealing the once vibrant Jewish communities in Islamic lands. Epic in its sweep, The Aleppo Codex <\/em>features a fascinating cast of characters—all of whom claim the codex as their own.<\/p>\n

The Aleppo Codex<\/em> is published in the U.S. by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; in Australia by Scribe; in Israel by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir; in the Czech Republic by Pistorius; in Germany by Verlag Herder; in Holland by Lannoo; in Russia by Text; in France by Albin Michel; and in Korea by Gloseum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Praise for The Aleppo Codex<\/h1><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\u201cA superb work of investigative journalism that reads like a detective\u00a0thriller.\u201d<\/div>\u2014The Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cThe Aleppo Codex\u00a0could be read as a thriller. It could also be read as a history of the Jewish people, or as a meditation on history and myth. This great book comes closer to containing everything than any book I\u2019ve read in a long, long time.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Jonathan Safran Foer<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201c[Friedman] opened a treasure box of history, mystery, conspiracy, and convolutions that would do any biblical thriller proud . . . Friedman has done a remarkable job\u2014finding sources and digging through archives\u2014of getting the Crown\u2019s fascinating story out of the shadows and into the light. In the process, he\u2019s become the latest in the long line of the Crown\u2019s protectors.\u201d<\/div> \u2014Booklist starred review<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cFriedman gives a masterful account of a major religious document . . . [he] delivers an atmospheric, tense story about the destruction of a sacred relic, raising inevitable questions about who owns a people\u2019s historical treasures.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Publishers Weekly starred review<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cSharply etched . . . A carefully paced narrative of purloined Judaica.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Kirkus Reviews<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cThe Aleppo Codex is part historical expos\u00e9, part international thriller, and part meditation on the passions awakened by religion and religious artifacts\u2026superbly written.\u201d<\/div>\u2014ForeWord Reviews<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cFriedman\u2019s account of how the Codex was taken from Syria in the 1940s, later to resurface in Jerusalem, although no longer complete, is full of betrayals, controversy and surprises \u2014 and raises larger questions about the ownership and preservation of historical treasures.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Jewish Week<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cThe Aleppo Codex\u00a0builds to a moral crescendo more impressive than the climactic fight scene in any thriller.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Salon<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cFriedman\u2019s painstaking investigation of just what happened to the Aleppo codex\u2014and when\u2014is a fascinating account of the role of sacred relics in creating a national identity, and also of the lure of old and treasured objects.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Maclean\u2019s<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cThrilling . . . a real-life\u00a0National Treasure\u00a0that reads like fantastical fiction.\u201d<\/div>\u2014CultureMob<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cFriedman\u2019s clear writing and dogged pursuit of some otherwise overlooked assumptions read more like a detective novel than history\u2026 an important account in accessible, gripping prose.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Christian Science Monitor<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201c\u2026[A] thrilling, step-by-step quest to discover what really happened to Judaism\u2019s most important book.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Boston Globe<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cThree cheers for Matti Friedman\u2026who in his first book got his teeth into a terrific story and investigated and reported it as thoroughly as possible. \u2026 A highly readable, deeply engaging, balanced and nuanced pursuit of the facts.\u201d<\/div>\u2014The Jerusalem Report<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201c[A] relentlessly researched and gripping thriller.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Moment<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cMatti Friedman is a stunningly talented writer, a once-in-a-generation discovery. The Aleppo Codex has enough betrayals, conspiracies, surprise plot twists, sacred flimflam men, and well-dressed contraband dealers for the best of thrillers \u2014 but every bit of it is meticulously researched fact. Cancel your appointments, bury your cell phone \u2014 you won\u2019t want to be interrupted \u2013 and read this book.\u201d<\/div>—Gershom Gorenberg, Senior Correspondent for The American Prospect<\/em> and author of The Accidental Empire<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201c[A] brilliant non-fiction thriller about an ancient copy of the Torah. Highly recommended.\u201d<\/div> \u2014Paulo Coelho author of\u00a0The Alchemist<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201c[A] cracking good yarn\u2026Matti Friedman does a masterful job of untangling the puzzle.\u201d<\/div>\u2014The Jewish Tribune<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cFriedman creates a riveting story, one that the reader will have a hard time putting down.\u201d<\/div>\u2014The Advocate<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cA beautifully woven tale of epic proportions about a sacred book and its all-too-human custodians. I did not put it down until I had finished it at the crack of dawn. Absolutely riveting!\u201d<\/div>\u2014Oren Harman author of\u00a0The Price of Altruism<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cFriedman\u2019s writing shines most when he resurrects a time and a place now vanished\u2026We read\u00a0The Aleppo Codex\u00a0expecting to be educated about a book lost, but we are captivated by a world lost instead.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Haaretz<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cThe Aleppo Codex\u00a0is one of the books that is a struggle to classify. It is a great thriller, a fascinating piece of history, a captivating human drama and a beautiful study of religion and politics which will appeal to atheists and the apolitical alike.\u201d<\/div>\u2014Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Brisbane<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/i>
\u201cFriedman tell his story in a knowledgeable succession of centuries, of scenarios, of human figures. \u2026 Friedman follows the trail\u00a0of the [Codex] pages\u00a0like a bloodhound.\u201d<\/div>\u2014La Stampa (Italy)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div><\/blockquote><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Aleppo Codex   Winner of the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize Winner of the American Library Association’s 2013 Sophie Brody Medal Winner of the 2013 Canadian Jewish Book Award for history One of Booklist’s top ten religion books of the year, 2013 Finalist, Religion Newswriters Association award for best religion book of 2013   A thousand years ago, the most perfect copy of the Hebrew …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"template-blank-4.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":94,"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1383,"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mattifriedman.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}