As a news story, this has got it all. Intrigue, quirkiness, mob violence, secret agents and smuggling. The hunt is on for missing pieces of the Aleppo Codex, a valuable manuscript of the Hebrew Bible from the 10th century CE. It was kept in a synagogue in Aleppo until 1947 CE, when a Syrian mob set fire to the building. Jews managed to rescue the manuscript from the flames but quite quickly, it went walkabouts. Much of it is now back in Israeli hands, but on the run-up to the 60th anniversary of its disappearance, the quest for its missing pages continues.
As noted by AP, the manuscript was allegedly smuggled out of Israel in a washing machine. Much of it was returned in 1957 CE, but the search for the missing 40% has been ongoing ever since then, with even Mossad being drafted in to help find it. A few scraps have turned up, including a passage from Exodus that a New York Jew had laminated and kept as a good-luck charm.
The manuscript is important because it's considered an authoritative of the Masoretic Text (MT). The Masoretic Text has long been viewed as the 'gold-standard' text of the Old Testament, although more recently biblical scholars are observing that other ancient biblical texts - such as the Septuagint and fragments from among the Dead Sea Scrolls - may be just as (if not more) valid. For more information about codices, the Masoretic Text and the transmission of the biblical text, read our Bible Style Guide.
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