Event

This lecture will demonstrate and discuss several unusual features in this Torah scroll, e.g. numerous final nuns in the margins; corrections in the margins; and unusual forms of letters. Their meaning, and the history of their halakhic validity will be clarified.

Professor Jordan S. Penkower is a world expert on the transmission of the Hebrew Bible and masorah in manuscripts and printed editions. His research extends to broad aspects of the Bible in rabbinic interpretation, as well as Jewish medieval biblical exegesis, especially that of Rashi His publications include: New Evidence of the Pentatateuch in the Aleppo Codex; The Dates of Composition of the Zohar and the Book Bahir: The History of Biblical Vocalization and Accentuation as a Tool for Dating Kabbalistic Works; and Masorah and Text Criticism in the Early Modern Mediterranean - Moses Ibn Zabara and Menahem de Lonzano.

Sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program Kutchin Seminar Series.