SUMMARY: This is Part 1 of a 2-part series describing the connections of Christian researchers to Hebrew biblical manuscripts. It explores some of the different Jewish traditions as well as the historic interaction of Christians with Hebrew texts. Along the way, it answers criticisms sometimes made by those critical of Christian use of Jewish ritual objects.
“When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” – 2 Timothy 4:13 (ESV)
Torah Scroll Collaborations
As I write this Thinker Update, I am seated next to a stand-up work table on which is a late medieval to early modern Ashkenazi Torah scroll. A telescoping arm loaded with an iPhone extends over the columns of Hebrew text sending video simultaneously to a nearby iPad, a laptop computer, as well as to a Jewish colleague located near Budapest, Hungary.
We are currently documenting the scroll’s provenance (place and era of origin) as well as the various repairs that need to be made in order to stabilize it for the owner. Centuries of use and the ravages of time have resulted in the loosening of patches, the deterioration of its seams, and other issues that threaten the ongoing use and integrity of the scroll. After we establish the parameters of the project, we will meet in Jerusalem to perform the work. Read about state of the art technology revealing writing on a 2000-year-old charred scroll of Leviticus.
The Ancient Roots of the Bible and the Ashkenazi Tradition
Traditionally, the Bible written before the time of Christ was produced on animal skins with most books being written on separate scrolls. Jeremiah 36 gives a fascinating account for the writing of the book of Jeremiah, as well as its destruction, and then recreation at the hands of Jeremiah and his secretary.
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD that he had spoken to him. – Jeremiah 36:4 (ESV)
Over time, some of the original books came to be written together on a single scroll. This is the case with the five books of Moses, known as the Torah, or Pentateuch.
An Ashkenazi Torah scroll is a scroll of the first five books of the Bible that has been produced according to the Ashkenazi tradition of European Jews. The descriptor developed from the word “ashkenaz,” which is first attested in Genesis 10:3 to refer to a descendent of Japheth. Later, it refers to a northern people group in Jeremiah 51:27. By the 11th century AD it was used by Jews to refer to the area of Germany, the Rhineland valley, and northern Europe. Eventually, it became a descriptor of the Jewish culture that developed and spread out of this area.
Hebrew pronunciation, cultural traditions, style of cantillation (chanting of the Scripture in synagogue), and liturgy are Ashkenazic if they reflect the “German rite” synagogue ritual. Those that reflect the “Spanish rite” synagogue ritual are Sephardic. Today, more than 80% of all Jews are among the Ashkenazim (plural form of Ashkenazi).
Differences in the origin of the scroll even within the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities are detectable by slight characteristics peculiar to the world’s different scribal communities. These features appear related to differences in material production, style of lettering, and techniques as subtle as the amount of pressure the scribe applied to the calamus (reed pen) in the ruling process. My colleague traveling near Budapest is a specialist in Hebrew scribal script families having done his graduate and post-graduate work in Hebrew paleography (study of ancient forms of writing) from this period.
Criticism Despite a Long History of Collaboration on Hebrew Manuscripts
Ours is just one example of a long history of collaborations between Christians and Jews on biblical Hebrew manuscripts, with some dramatic examples occurring in the Middle Ages (see the Alba Bible).
Strangely, however, contemporary scholars are sometimes ignorant of these kinds of collaborations. Even more, some recent voices have even been critical of Christian interaction with Hebrew texts generally, and Torah scrolls specifically. This is the case even though high profile examples show up in major learning centers around the globe.
For example, in 2017 a major exhibition was held in Christ Church College at Oxford University, entitled “Jewish Books and their Christian Readers: Christ Church Connections.” It was a collaboration involving the Bodleian Library, Oxford Conservation Consortium, Lincoln College, Merton College, Queens’ College in Cambridge, as well as the Westminster Abbey.
The curator for the exhibition was an Oxford Jewish scholar who is a friend and project team-member with MIKRA (see below) on other collaborations. We first met at the Christ Church exhibition in connection to the Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies where I had gone to study medieval Hebrew manuscripts that summer.
Throughout the University’s early centuries, Christian scholars collected and deposited thousands of medieval Hebrew manuscripts into the university’s holdings. This practice made its collection the largest repository of such manuscripts in the world. If you want to study biblical Hebrew manuscripts, Oxford is a great place to start. See the story of an exhibit of 75 world-class biblical artifacts visiting Hong Kong.
The main question for many who are critical, apparently, is why would Christians want to study Hebrew language biblical manuscripts in the first place? Quite honestly, the most obvious reason for Christian interest in Hebrew biblical texts is so painfully clear, that it is a bit bewildering why the answer has eluded anyone. Simply put, Christianity centers on Jesus Christ – a Jewish reader of Hebrew biblical texts who used these to identify Himself as the Jewish Christ/Messiah (See John 5; Luke 4). The Apostles and early Christian leaders such as Peter (Acts 2), Stephen (Acts 7), Paul, Apollos (Acts 18:28) and their successors followed suit.
In fact, the first to use a Hebrew scroll for Christian apologetic purposes was Jesus, who introduced Himself as the Christ/Messiah by reading from the Hebrew scroll of Isaiah and pronouncing that the prophecy in Chapter 61 had been fulfilled as He read it aloud that day in the synagogue (Luke 4:16-21).
Jewish Followers of Jesus Founded the Church (Eph 2:19-3:7)
Another obvious point, but one that bears repeating, is that most of the original Christians were in fact Jewish converts who believed themselves to be completed Jews, and who came to function as missionaries, some even focusing on Gentiles as in the case of the Jewish scholar, Saul of Tarsus (Acts 13:44-48; Rom 10; 11; Gal 2:7-9; 3:7-9). These individuals used Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Old Testament source texts for their mission. Naturally, today’s Christian scholars want to read these texts in the original form and language that were available to Jesus and the Apostles. It has been this way from the beginning.
The Common Heritage of Jewish People and Christians
There is a lot of overlap between the manuscript work of Christians and Jews, and the reason is quite sensible. The Hebrew Bible serving as the original form of 75% of the Christian Bible is the same that represents 100% of the Jewish Tanakh (including the Aramaic sections).
In other words, both groups have a common textual heritage that is equally meaningful to each.
However, the journey from that early textual form to the language and form used by English speaking Christians in worship today is one that is fascinating, but often not well known by Christians. Following that journey will be the subject of next week’s update. – Keep Thinking!
Brian Rickett is the CEO, Principal Researcher, and lecturer for the MIKRA Research Laboratory, a limited liability research conservancy engaging in artifact analysis, education, research technologies development, and public exhibitions of artifacts. At MIKRA, textual artifacts merge with innovative research technologies to bring ancient wisdom to a contemporary world.
TOP PHOTO: Brian Rickett being interviewed by Timothy Mahoney. (© 2017 Patterns of Evidence, LLC.)
NOTE: Not every view expressed by scholars contributing Thinker articles necessarily reflects the views of Patterns of Evidence. We include perspectives from various sides of debates on biblical matters so that readers can become familiar with the different arguments involved. – Keep Thinking!
