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# Rediscovered Fragments Shed New Light on a Proto-Masoretic Torah Scroll

**Authors:** [Paul Sanders](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/authors/paul-sanders/) · **Year:** 2023 · **Venue:** Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 23, article 5 **Link:** [doi.org/10.5508/jhs29630](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29630) · **Licence:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

[**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W4391980094) openalex-snapshot · 2026-10-14[Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 23](https://openalex.org/S2764683527)[licence](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29630)
- [PDF](https://jhsonline.org/index.php/jhs/article/download/29630/21639)
- [DOI 10.5508/jhs29630](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29630)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W4391980094)

**Authors (1)**

1. Paul Sanders

Citations and author metrics from openalex-snapshot (2026-10-14); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

Two fragments of one Torah scroll of the 7th–8th century CE (Jews' College #31 and Ashkar-Gilson #2) have been joined by thirteen more pieces, mostly from the Cairo Genizah, covering about 10% of the Torah (all books but Leviticus). The author compares the scroll with the early codices (Aleppo, the Cairo/Damascus/BM Pentateuchs, Leningrad) on three points. Spelling: 37 differences, all in waw and yod as matres lectionis; the scroll agrees with the Aleppo tradition without exception, while Leningrad and BM Or. 4445 deviate most. Section breaks (petuḥot and setumot): much more variety between manuscripts, even between the scroll and Aleppo. Layout of the Song of the Sea (Ex 15:1–19, "brickwork"): almost uniform, and the five lines above it in later codices seem to copy this very scroll, which the Tiberian Masoretes may have used.

## Ideas

- I1. Our text is the Leningrad Codex (WLC via MACULA), the manuscript the paper finds furthest from the authoritative spelling. List the known Leningrad-vs-Aleppo-tradition mater differences in the Torah (the paper's tables give some, e.g. אתנת Gen 45:23, ושלשם Ex 14:7) and mark them in MISC so that a spelling count does not take a scribal variant for grammar.
- I2. Use the petuḥah/setumah marks as section boundaries for discourse (episode starts), but as a soft signal: the paper shows they vary across manuscripts. Measure how often a פ/ס break coincides with a `prag` speech or scene change.
- I3. Spelling statistics (plene vs defective per lemma) should be computed per manuscript tradition and dated; a note on why matres vary while consonants of words do not.

## For Mova

I1 belongs to [1. Script and pointing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/languages/hbo/01-script/) (matres lectionis, the text we use) and `13-mova-tools.md` (known defects of the data). I2 is a measure linking the section marks of the WLC with `tools/macula/src/prag.rs` and `09-discourse.md`. I3 goes to `01-script.md` and the dictionary's spelling column in `macula dict`.

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.5508/jhs29630](https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29630)

```
@article{sanders2023rediscovered,
  title = {{Rediscovered Fragments Shed New Light on a Proto-Masoretic Torah Scroll}},
  author = {Sanders, Paul},
  journal = {Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 23},
  year = {2023},
  doi = {10.5508/jhs29630},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs29630}
}
```

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