Masoretes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about groups of scholars who compiled a system of pronunciation
and grammatical guides of Jewish texts. For a discussion of the work of the Maso
retes, see Masoretic Text. For the Israeli term for "Tradition Keeper" or "Tradi
tionalist" non-Orthodox observance, see Shomer Masoret.
The Masoretes (Hebrew: ???? ??????, ba'alei hamasorah) were groups of Jewish scr
ibe-scholars who worked between the 6th and 10th centuries CE,[1] based primaril
y in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem, as well as in I
raq (Babylonia). Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical g
uides in the form of diacritical notes on the external form of the biblical text
in an attempt to standardize the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions a
nd cantillation of the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, for the worldwide Jewish commun
ity.
The ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation a
nd production of the Masoretic Text, although an alternate Masoretic text of the
ben Naphtali Masoretes, which has around 875 differences from the ben Asher tex
t,[2] existed. The halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the ben Asher as super
ior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, Saadya Gaon al-Fayyumi, had preferred
the ben Naphtali system. The ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes
appear to have been Karaites.[3] However, Geoffrey Khan believes that the ben A
sher family was probably not Karaite.[4]
The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely
used, as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation.
See also[edit]
Masoretic Text
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Wegner, Paul (1999). The Journey From Texts to Translations. Baker Aca
demic. p. 172. ISBN 978-0801027994.
Jump up ^ Louis Ginzberg, Caspar Levias, Ben Naphtali, Jewish Encyclopedia
Jump up ^ Jewish Virtual Library: Aaron ben Moses ben Asher
Jump up ^ Khan, Geoffrey (2000). Early Karaite grammatical texts. Society of Bib
lical Literature. p. 52 ISBN 978-1589830004.
cf. Khan, Geoffrey (1990). Karaite Bible Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah. CUP
Archive. p. 20 ISBN 978-0521392273.
Further reading[edit]
In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language, Chapter 5. ISBN 0-8147
-3654-8
The Text of the Old Testament. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7
Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah. ISBN 0-89130-374-X
Wikisource-logo.svg Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, 2, 3
External links[edit]
Jewish Encyclopedia: Masorah
The role of the Masoretes (PDF)
Masorah, Encyclopedia Judaica
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