Thursday, December 1, 2011

Masoretes


The Masoretes (ba'alei hamasorah, Hebrew בעלי המסורה) were groups of mostly Karaite scribes and scholars working between the 7th and 11th centuries, based primarily in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, as well as in Iraq (Babylonia). Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes on the external form of the Biblical text in an attempt to fix the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions and cantillation of the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, for the worldwide Jewish community. (See the article on the Masoretic text for a full discussion of their work.)
The ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text, although an alternate Masoretic text of the ben Naphtali Masoretes, which differs slightly from the ben Asher text, existed. The halakhic authority Maimonidesendorsed the ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, Saadya Gaon al-Fayyumi, had preferred the ben Naphtali system, because ben Asher was a Karaite. The ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes appear to have been Karaites. Geoffrey Khan says that it is now believed that they were not.
The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used, as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation.

The work of the Masoretes was related to the work of the sōpěrîm. The word sōpěrîm is generally translated as “scribes.” However, the word literally means “”those who count.” The work of the sōpěrîm was to copy and preserve the transmission of the consonantal text. The work of the Masoretes was to collect information about the text, make corrections when necessary, and make observations about the books, words, and letters of the Bible.

In order to preserve the traditional pronunciation and chants of the words in the text, the Masoretes developed a system of vowel-points and accents. These vowels and accents are never used in the texts used in the liturgy of the synagogue. However, they are used in texts designed for scholarly study.

The following information is an example of the work of the Masoretes. The Masoretes prepared a list of how many times the Hebrew letters appear in the Hebrew Bible.

א Aleph occurs 42,377 times.

ב Beth occurs 38,218 times.

ג Gimel occurs 29,537 times.

ד Daleth occurs 32,530 times.

ה He occurs 47,554 times.

ו Vaw occurs 76,922 times.

ז Zain occurs 22,867 times.

ח Heth occurs 23,437 times.

ט Tet occurs 11,052 times.

י Yod occurs 66,420 times.

כ Kaph occurs 48,253 times.

ל Lamed occurs 41,517 times.

מ Mem occurs 77,778 times.

נ Nun occurs 41,696 times.

ס Samech occurs13,580 times.

ע Ayn occurs 20,175 times.

פ Pe occurs 22,725 times.

צ Tsade occurs 21,882 times.

ק Koph occurs 22,972 times.

ר Resh occurs 22,147 times.

ש Shin occurs 32,148 times.

ת Tav occurs 59,343 times.

The Masoretes applied themselves to the study of the Hebrew Scriptures. Their labor of love and their commitment to the integrity and preservation of the text prevented these Scriptures from perishing in the dispersion of the Jewish people throughout the centuries.

It is true that in the transmission and preservation of the text, the scribes and the Masoretes introduced some conjectures, explanatory notes, and even some corrections of their own. However, notwithstanding these minor changes made by the scribes, their work established the Hebrew text that serves as the basis for the modern translations of the Bible.


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