The National Library presents: A famous book by Maimonides based on his manuscript | Israel today

Third hand to Maimonides:

A copy of the 16th century Mishnah Torah with notes attesting to Maimonides' manuscript has reached the National Library, which recently purchased a copy of the book, printed in Venice in 1524 (Raphael) printed by Daniel Bomberg.

In the purchased edition of the book there are glosses and corrections made in the most famous and reliable manuscript of the Mishnah Torah, as originally written by Maimonides, and more precisely - this is a third incarnation of the same manuscript.

Sefer Mishneh Torah is one of the major halakhic treatises of the Jewish people, also known as the "strong hand" and is the most central halakhic treatise written by Maimonides.

Sefer Mishneh Torah with notes on the side,

The National Library noted: "Unfortunately, Maimonides 'own manuscript did not survive, but the book was copied a few years later by another author who copied Maimonides' original manuscript, who also signed it and testified that he was faithful to the original.

This manuscript, some parts of which still exist today, is known as the Aram Tzuba Manuscript. "

In addition to the original book and its copy, over the years many more copies of the Mishnah Torah were made, and as the years passed more and more mistakes entered the manuscripts.

The printers in Venice in the 16th century printed the book Mishneh Torah with as accurate a text as they could, but naturally the printed books came out with quite a few wording changes and mistakes.

This phenomenon has led to attempts by readers to correct and improve the wording by adding handwritten notes and corrections to the margins of the printed books.

In other words, people corrected and changed the printed text in order to return to the correct wording as much as possible. "

Printed in Venice in 1542, Photo: Courtesy of the National Library

As mentioned, the National Library recently purchased one of these copies - a copy printed in Venice in 1524 that has many corrections and glosses on it, so in practice this is the best evidence that the exact wording of "Mishnah Torah" exists, as Maimonides himself wrote.

The curator of the Judaism Collection at the National Library, Dr. Joel Finkelman, explained: The manuscript "Aram Tzova Manuscript" with the signature of Maimonides himself.

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