The Aleppo Codex

A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible

By: Matti Friedman

Narrated by: Simon Vance

A true-life thriller about the journey of one of the world's most precious manuscripts - the 10th-century annotated Hebrew Bible known as the Aleppo Codex - from its hiding place in an ancient Syrian synagogue to the newly founded Israel. Using his research, including documents that have been secret for 50 years and interviews with key players, AP correspondent Friedman tells a story of political upheaval, international intrigue, charged courtroom battles, obsession, and subterfuge.

©2012 Matti Friedman. (P)2012 2012 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

“A masterful account of a major religious document.... Friedman delivers an atmospheric, tense story.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“ The Aleppo Codex could be read as a thriller. It could also be read as a history of the Jewish people, or as a meditation on history and myth. This great book comes closer to containing everything than any book I’ve read in a long, long time.” (Jonathan Safran Foer)

Hard to write a story

Okay story. I think the research yielded less than the author had hoped. Good performance.

Excellent Book -- Incredible insights

Fascinating investigation into hidden chapters of Jewish and Arab history and Israeli nation-founding events. The author's writing is outstanding -- a creative blend of historical research, storytelling and investigative journalism. The real-life characters, interviews and events are deeply thought-provoking. Highly recommend this. Simon Vance, as usual is outstanding. His pronunciation of Hebrew and Arabic was sub-par, but he far makes up for that with his incredible narrative skill.

Detailed and kept my attention

I just love the opportunities to learn the little bits I can. Thank you for your time and dedication.

incredible story

fascinating story well told - and i learned a lot about the old testament and how corrupt the world is.....

Not What I Expected

As someone whose academic background was spent in great measure working with ancient manuscripts and as one who has a great interest in cultural history The Aleppo Codex was not what I had anticipated. The Aleppo Codex considers little about the manuscript as manuscript. One of the few compelling notations is that the massive codex is the work of one hand. For the most part Friedman's narrative seems to view the Aleppo Codex as an image for Zionism wherein the image of the return of a burned, scattered and ancient pages to Jerusalem is rather evident. While Friedman's direction is certainly valid it is not what I had expected. Perhaps I should have been more attentive to the subtitle.