The Sassoon Codex, named after its best-known owner, David Solomon Sassoon (died in 1942), dates from the tenth century of the Christian era, or even the end of the ninth century, according to Sotheby's, which will proceed with the sale.

It is on display starting Thursday at the Museum of the Jewish People on the campus of Tel Aviv University.

"This Bible was written around the year 900, in Israel or Syria," Sharon Mintz, a specialist in Judaism texts at Sotheby's, told AFP.

A bill of sale shows that it was sold in the year 1,000 and kept in the synagogue of Makisin in northeastern Syria (present-day Markada) until about the year 1,400.

"The manuscript then disappeared for about 500 years and reappeared in 1929 when it was offered for sale to David Solomon Sassoon, one of the greatest collectors of Hebrew manuscripts," she continues.

This bound manuscript (codex) contains the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or "Tanakh", Hebrew acronym for Torah (or Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible), Prophets ("Neviim" in Hebrew), and other writings ("Ketuvim").

It also contains passages in Greek and Aramaic and is in a visibly exceptional state of preservation. Only 12 leaves are missing.

For Orit Shaham Gover, curator of the Museum of the Jewish People, the Sassoon Codex has cultural significance in addition to linguistic and historical value.

"Cradle of culture"

"The Bible plays a central role for anyone with even a fleeting connection to Western culture and it is the first Bible that has survived history," she told AFP.

"It is the cradle of Jewish culture. As an Israeli and a Jew, I think it is very important that the people of Israel can see this bible of paramount interest," she continues: "This ancient Bible reflects the history of the Jewish people from ancient times until today."

The oldest known near-complete Hebrew Bible, a millennium old, on display at the ANU Museum in Tel Aviv on March 22, 2023 in Israel © JACK GUEZ / AFP

It is a moment all the more "rare and moving", that the Sassoon Codex, which has "wandered in all kinds of places throughout history", has been presented only once in the past to the public, in 1982, at the British Library in London, she says.

According to carbon-14 dating, the Sassoon Codex is older and more complete than the Aleppo Codex, written in Galilee in the tenth century and brought back to Israel in the 1950s after being found in that Syrian city.

The manuscript is also considered to predate the Leningrad Codex, the oldest surviving copy of the text of the Hebrew Bible, and dated to the early eleventh century.

Before arriving in Israel, the Sassoon Codex was presented in London. It will then be presented to the public in the United States, in the cities of Dallas, Los Angeles and New York, where it will be sold in May, during the classic spring sales season organized in the city by the giants of the sector.

Sotheby's estimates that the price of this treasure should be between 30 to 50 million dollars, which would make it "the most expensive manuscript ever sold at auction" according to the auction house.

© 2023 AFP