Moshe ben Asher ben Moshe ben Nehemiah, haSofer

Moses ben Asher lived and worked in Tiberias in the second half of the ninth century C.E. He was a member of the fifth generation of the Ben Asher family, which had earned a reputation for raising famous masoretes. The first member of the dynasty was Asher the Elder, who lived in the eighth century, as recorded in an ancient masoretic work: “Asher, the greatest elder of blessed memory, followed by his son Nehemiah, may his soul rest in peace, followed by [his son] Moses ben Nehemiah, followed by his son Asher, followed by his son Moses, i.e., Moses ben Asher, followed by Aaron, i.e., son of Moses. Be aware that this Aaron ben Moses ben Asher ben Moses ben Nehemiah ben Asher the greatest elder of blessed memory, was the close of the dynasty.” Moses ben Asher, then, was the father of the last masorete, Aaron ben Asher. He is mostly known from the Cairo codex of the Prophets, whose colophon ascribes to him the copying of the codex and the addition of the Masora in Tiberias in the year 896.

The codex is beautifully written in three columns and decorated with drawings and illuminations. The text, the vocalization, and the Masora are as accurate as in the famous Aleppo codex, but its Masora magna is shorter. However, the study of the codex tradition vis-à-vis Mishael ben Uzziel’s Kitāb al-Khilāf alladhī bayn al-Muʿallimayn Ben Asher wa-Ben Naftalī (Book of Differences between the Two Masters Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali) reveals that it only fits Aaron ben Asher’s Masora in 33 percent of the disputed cases, whereas in 64 percent it fits the tradition of his opponent, Ben Naphtali. For instance, the pointing of liysra’el with a quiescent yod fits the Ben Naphtali reading of words beginning in yod when preceded by the particle lamed with a shewa (as against Aaron ben Asher’s reading le-yisrael). On the other hand, in vocalizing the word Yissakhar, it doubles the first sin and omits the second, according to the Ben Asher reading, against Ben Naphtali’s reading Yish-sakhar. The codex also fits the Ben Asher–Ben Naphtali list of agreements only in 75 percent of the cases and thus does not follow either the Ben Asher tradition or the Ben Naphtali one in its entirety.

The idea that a father and son of the same family would hold different masoretic views seems implausible. Indeed, in the 1980s some scholars doubted the authenticity of the colophon, claiming that it was added to the manuscript in the eleventh century, which indeed was proved by a chemical test (Carbon 14) in 1996. If one assumes that the Ben Asher family held the same Masora tradition for generations, one can accept Aron Dotan’s view that Moses ben Asher only copied the text of the Cairo codex, whereas the vocalization and Masora marks were added by a different scribe. A facsimile edition of this codex (Jerusalem, 1971) and a critical edition (Madrid, 1979–88) have been published.

Another work of Moses ben Asher is the famous piyyuṭ “The Song of the Vine,” marked by the acrostic Moshe ben Ash . . ., of which the last letter has been lost. The vine in this song (as in biblical poetry) symbolizes the people of Israel and its roots—the patriarchs, from whom came forth the prophets and the sages. The song relates to Masora notions, accents, and to the masoretes. The views expressed in the song are regarded by some as Karaite, whereas A. Dotan regards them as Rabbanite.

Aharon Maman

Bibliography

Cohen, M. “Ha-Omnam Katav Moshe ben Asher et Ketav Yad Qahir?” Alei Sefer (1982): 5–12.

Penkower, Jordan S.“A Tenth-Century Pentateuchal MS from Jerusalem (MS C3), Corrected by Mishael ben Uzziel,” Tarbiz 58 (1988): 49–74 [Hebrew]

Perez Castro, F., et al. (eds.). El Codice de Profetas de el Cairo, 8 vols. (Madrid: Instituto Arias Montana, 1979–92).

Yeivin, Israel. The Biblical Masora (= Studies in Languages 3), (Jerusalem, 2003) [Hebrew].

Cite this page

Aharon Maman. "Ben Asher, Moses." Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Executive Editor Norman A. Stillman. Brill Online, 2013.<http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-jews-...>