[Avodah] Reliability of the Mesorah

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 11:31:45AM -0400, Micha Berger wrote:
: From <http://j.mp/2dmtibe> (compressed from http://www.independent.co.uk...)
: the Independent (UK) tech column, with AP material folded in, about
: what it took to be able to read a copy of Vayiqra from the bayis sheini
: era. And not from some group of minim in the desert, but in use, in a shul.

The NY Times provided more info
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/science/ancient-sea-scrolls-bible.html>
(and has a photo).

    Modern Technology Unlocks Secrets of a Damaged Biblical Scroll
    By NICHOLAS WADESEPT. 21, 2016
    ...
    The scroll's content, the first two chapters of the Book of Leviticus,
    has consonant... that are identical to those of the Masoretic text,
    the authoritative version of the Hebrew Bible...

    The Dead Sea scrolls, those found at Qumran and elsewhere around the
    Dead Sea, contain versions quite similar to the Masoretic text but with
    many small differences. The text in the scroll found at the En-Gedi
    excavation site in Israel decades ago has none, according to
    Emanuel Tov, an expert on the Dead Sea scrolls at the Hebrew University
    of Jerusalem.
    ...
    The date of the En-Gedi scroll is the subject of conflicting evidence.
    A carbon-14 measurement indicates that the scroll was copied around
    A.D. 300. But the style of the ancient script suggests a date nearer to
    A.D. 100. "We may safely date this scroll" to between A.D. 50 and 100,
    wrote Ada Yardeni, an expert on Hebrew paleography, in an article in
    the journal Textus. Dr. Tov said he was "inclined toward a
    first-century date, based on paleography."
    ...
    "It doesn't tell us what was the original text, only that the Masoretic
    text is a very ancient text in all of its details," Dr. Segal said.
    "And we now have evidence that this text was being used from a very
    early date by Jews in the land of Israel."

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is a drop of intellect drowning in a sea
micha at aishdas.org        of instincts.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
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