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Codex Sassoon — Oldest Most Complete Hebrew Bible — Sells for Record $38.1 million

Acquired by former U.S Ambassador Alfred Moses, the more than 1000-year old manuscript will be housed by ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.
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May 18, 2023
Shulamith Bahat, CEO of ANU America with Daniel Pincus, President of the American Friends of ANU and Irina Nevzlin, Chair of the Board of ANU. Photo by Perry Bindelglass for ANU

The Codex Sassoon, the oldest nearly complete Hebrew Bible, sold at Sotheby’s New York on May 17 for an all-inclusive total of $38.1 million. A spokesperson for Sotheby’s told the Journal that it marked the highest total for any book ever sold at any public auction.

It was acquired by the American Friends of ANU — Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, funded by a donation by Alfred Moses, 93, a former U.S. Ambassador to Romania.

“I didn’t want it to go into a bank vault,” Moses told the Journal, explaining why he decided to purchase and donate it after seeing a video about it. “The Museum of The Jewish People is the right place for it.”

The Chief Executive Officer of ANU-America, Shulamith Bahat, told the Journal she had a gut feeling since she learned that Moses would be bidding on the Codex Sassoon with the intent to donate it to the Museum the week before Passover.

“I had my bat-mitzvah seven years ago and the parsha (weekly Torah portion) was Parashat Yitro, including the Ten Commandments,” Bahat told the Journal. “When I saw the Codex for the first time on May 8, that is the part it was opened to. So I thought, ‘If you will it, it is not a dream’ a reference to Theodor Hertzl’s famous quoteon the dream of the Jewish State of Israel: “Im Tirtzu, Ain Zo Agaddah.”

Sharon Liberman Mintz, senior Judaica specialist for Sotheby’s New York, explained why the Codex Sassoon, which was estimated to sell for between $30 and $50 million, was able to fetch such a high price.

At the Sotheby’s auction, the Code Sassoon went for $38.1 million, as former U.S. Ambassador to Romania, Alfred Moses had the winning bid and is donating it to ANU. Photo by Perry Bindelglass for ANU

“It is the highest price for any manuscript because of its understood importance,” Mintz told the Journal. “There was chatter of how high it would go. In the world of auctions, you look for what is comparable but there is nothing like it. A copy of the U.S. Constitution, which was one of 15, sold for $43.2 million in 2002. As the Codex Sassoon is mostly complete, we thought it would go in a similar range.”

The Codex Sasson is believed to be more than 1000 years old and written in modern day Israel or Syria. Named after legendary Judaica collector David Solomon Sassoon, a Londoner who acquired the book in 1929, it contains the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, in the three sections of the Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim. It includes vowels and cantillation notes for those who read from the Torah.

It was once housed in the town of Makisin, which was destroyed, possibly by the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. “There is very little known about the Jewish community of the town,” Mintz said. “There must have been prominent people for it to have been housed there and it makes the historical journey even more rich.”

It is missing eight folios, as opposed to the Aleppo Codex, which has been dated approximately to the year 930 and written in the town of Tiberias and thought to be missing about 180 folios, or about 35-40%. The Aleppo Codex was ransomed by conquering Crusaders, hidden in a washing machine; in 1988 a page of it turned up in Brooklyn, and was the subject of Matti Friedman’s 2012 book.

Shaul Seidler-Feller, a Judaica specialist at Sotheby’s, also spoke to the Journal. “I was overjoyed with the result,” he said. “A manuscript of this importance deserves to achieve a price on par with some of the most expensive documents sold at suction and this is well within that range. It was a real privilege to work with the Codex. So many people from all over the world came to our exhibits to see it and gain religious inspiration from it. It was a real Kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God’s name) to see lines of people waiting online to catch a glimpse of this holy book.”

According to Seidler-Feller, Sassoon bought the codex for 350 pounds. Since then, it has sold for $320,000 in 1978 and $3.1 million in 1989. If any of the missing portions of it were to be found, how much would they go for? “We don’t expect them to be turning up,” Mintz said. “That would be extremely unlikely.”

Since eight pages of the Gutenberg Bible sold in 2015 for $970,000 in 2015, if a portion of the missing Sasson Codex emerged, it would probably sell for many multiples of that. Seidler-Feller said the missing pages of the Codex could have been lost through wear and tear or damaged when Maksin was destroyed.

Sotheby’s Judaica specialist Shaul Seidler-Feller touches the Codex Sassoon. Photo by David Wachtel.

Mintz added that if a private buyer had the winning bid, it would not have precluded it from being shown in a museum, but she was happy the Codex Sassoon would be going to ANU in Israel. While it was displayed at Sotheby’s New York gallery, Mintz said those who saw it felt its power.

“People were drawn to the manuscript, and it is almost magnetic,” she said. “Looking at a bible from close to 1,000 years ago, there is a feeling of continuity of transmission from a population of Jews around the world.

As with the Aleppo Codex, there are myths and legends associated with the Codex Sassoon. “It contains a few inscriptions that curse the seller or thief of the manuscript,” she said. “These were likely meant to charge successive generations with making sure to keep the codex in their possession. We know, however, that the book changed hands several times in between the time when these inscriptions were added and now …” He noted that Sassoon was a pious man and put the item up for auction in 1978, being aware of the inscriptions.

What does Moses think of any possible curse regarding the Allepo Codex or the Codex Sassoon? “It’s a bubbe-meise,” Moses said, using the Yiddish word indicating he believes it to be a tale and not real.

What is real is that people will be able to view the Codex Sassoon in Tel Aviv, and Bahat said it was a moment she will never forget. She also said she got celebratory messages including one from someone who is Christian and was happy the Codex would be housed in Israel.

“We are extremely uplifted and elated,” Bahat said, adding that she was grateful to Moses, who is Chair of the Honorary Board of ANU. “This is the perfect gem and people from all over the world can see something so historic in the place where it belongs.”

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