The Leningrad Code
The Code of Leningrad B 19 A dates back to 1008-1009 D.C., as it appears from ” colophon” copyist at the end of the Code: Samuel ben Jacob claims to have copied in that one’ year the text from a copy written by Aaron ben Moses ben Asher. E’ the oldest manuscript of the entire Hebrew Bible and was used for the text of the Biblia Hebraica (3° edition) of the Kittel (1937) and the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (1966-1976). It is currently stored in St. Petersburg in Russia, at the Russian National Library ( Saltykov-Schedrin), where it has been kept since the mid-19th century. It owes its name to the fact that when the code was published, the city was still called Leningrad.
The text contained in the page photographed above is that of Exodus 15, 14b-16, 3. Since the page contains the ” Song of the Sea” sung by Mary and the Israelites after they crossed the Red Sea, the Masoretic notes at the top of the page are arranged to form waves.
