Masoretes
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The Masoretes (ba'alei hamasorah, Hebrew בעלי המסורה) were scribes based primarily in at least three places, Tiberias (the best known); the land of Israel; and 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 canonize the Tanakh for the Jewish community. See the article on the Masoretic text for a full discussion of their work. The Ben Asher family was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text, although most current Hebrew Bibles are based upon the Masoretic text of the Ben Naphtali Masoretes which differs slightly from the Ben Asher text, although the halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the Ben Asher as superior.
The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation.
Further reading
- In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language, Chapter 5. ISBN 0814736548
- The Text of the Old Testament. ISBN 0802807887
- Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah. ISBN 089130374X
External links
- [Jewish Encyclopedia:] Masorah
- [The role of the Masoretes]
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