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Sotheby’s auctioneer Benjamin Doller takes bids for the Codex Sassoon at the auction house’s Manhattan headquarters on May 17.

Jackie Hajdenberg and Asaf Shalev | JTA.org
A 1,100-year-old Hebrew Bible became the
most expensive book ever sold on May
17 when it drew a price of $38.1 million at
auction at Sotheby’s in New York City.

The buyer of the item, known as the Codex
Sassoon, was revealed to be the American fundrais-
ing group on behalf of ANU — Museum of the Jewish
People in Tel Aviv. The museum said attorney Alfred
Moses, a former U.S. ambassador to Romania, and
his family provided the funds for the purchase.

The manuscript is the world’s oldest nearly
complete copy of the Hebrew Bible. It was handwrit-
ten in Syria or the Land of Israel roughly 1,100 years
ago on 792 pages of sheepskin. It includes all 24
books of the Bible and is missing only about eight
pages. Its writing and layout recall those of Torah
scrolls read in synagogue.

The seller, Swiss financier and collector Jacqui
Safra, had owned the volume since 1989. Speculation
about where the book would end up led to anxiety
that it might be sold to a private collector rather than
a public institution that could put it on display.

Those doubts were put to rest when the museum,
formerly the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, said
the book would be part of its core exhibition.

“The Hebrew Bible is the most influential book
in history and constitutes the bedrock of Western
18 MAY 25, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
civilization. I rejoice in knowing it belongs to the
Jewish people,” Moses said in a statement. “It was
my mission, realizing the historic significance of
Codex Sassoon, to see that it resides in a place with
global access to all people.”
Just a handful of buyers competed for the book
— in person at Sotheby’s and by phone — and the
auction took less than six minutes. Ahead of the
auction, Sotheby’s estimated that the item would sell
for anywhere from $30 million to $50 million. The
“gavel price” was $33.5 million, but with fees and
premiums, the final price tag reached $38.1 million.

Since no book or historical document quite like
it has been sold at auction for decades, the Codex
Sassoon has earned comparisons to other foundational
texts of civilization that have also commanded tens of
millions of dollars. A copy of the first printing of the
U.S. Constitution’s final text sold for $43.2 million in
2021. The Codex Leicester, a journal with writings by
Leonardo Da Vinci, fetched $30.8 million in 1994. And
a copy of the Magna Carta sold for $21.1 million in 2007.

“This is one of the rarest, unique, uniting documents
that ever existed,” said Irina Nevzlin, chair of ANU’s
board of directors. “For us to have it in the museum
where it will be available for all those millions of
people — this is something that can strengthen our
roots and our identity, because it’s something eternal.”
She added, “We are the right home for it for so many
reasons. Also for the fact that we’re based in Israel.”
The in-person auction attracted a standing-
room-only crowd of onlookers, many of whom said
they felt compelled to witness a transaction of
immense significance in Jewish tradition.

“This is a historic moment,” said Elinatan Kupferberg,
a scholar and writer from Lakewood, New Jersey.

“This is the oldest Torah in existence. Whoever is
going to own it next is going to change history.”
Kupferberg, who said his most precious books
were those containing the handwritten notes of great
rabbis, said he sometimes regrets when Jewish texts
are bought by collectors because they will not be
used in everyday study. Not so, he said, with this
item. “It doesn’t make me feel sad to see it behind glass
because it was meant to be a reference work,” he
said. Sandra Gogel, who was in town from Paris, said
she had hoped the Codex Sassoon would draw a
higher price, and was surprised that bidding had
closed so quickly. “Thirty-three point five is nothing
to scoff at, but 50 would have been nice,” she said.

Gogel said she had traveled to London to see the
Codex when it was on display there and was relieved
that the book will end up on public display.

“I went to London to see it because I thought I
might not see it again,” she said. She added, “I’m
happy it will be Israel where everyone can see it…
Everyone goes to Tel Aviv.” ■
Philissa Cramer contributed reporting.

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty via JTA.org
Codex Sassoon Acquired for ANU
Museum of the Jewish People for $38.1M