Editing Masoretic Text (section)

=== The Age of the Masoretes ===
The current received text finally achieved predominance through the reputation of the [[Masoretes]], schools of scribes and Torah scholars working between the 7th and 11th centuries in the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashidun]], [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]], and [[Abbasid Caliphate]]s, based primarily in the cities of [[Tiberias]] and [[Jerusalem]] and in [[Mesopotamia]] (called "Babylonia"). According to Menachem Cohen, these schools developed such prestige for the accuracy and error-control of their copying techniques that their texts established an authority beyond all others.<ref name="Cohen1979"/> Differences remained, sometimes bolstered by systematic local differences in pronunciation and [[Hebrew cantillation|cantillation]]. Every locality, following the tradition of its school, had a standard codex embodying its readings. In the [[talmudic academies in Babylonia]], the school of [[Sura (city)|Sura]] differed from that of [[Nehardea]]; and similar differences existed in [[talmudic academies in Syria Palaestina|those of Syria Palaestina]] as against that at Tiberias, which in later times increasingly became the chief seat of learning. In this period living tradition ceased, and the Masoretes in preparing their codices usually followed one school or the other, examining, however, standard codices of other schools and noting their differences.<ref name="Jewish">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Jewish Encyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10465-masorah |article=Masorah}}</ref>

==== Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali ====
The Masorah for the most part ended in the 10th&nbsp;century with [[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher]] and [[Ben Naphtali]] who were the leading Masoretes of the time. Ben&nbsp;Asher wrote a standard codex (the ''[[Aleppo Codex]]'') embodying his opinions. Ben&nbsp;Naphtali likely did as well, though it has not survived. However, the differences between the two are found in more or less complete Masoretic lists and in quotations in David Ḳimḥi, Norzi, and other medieval writers.<ref name="JEBA">{{cite web |last1=Ginzberg |first1=Louis |last2=Levias |first2=Caspar |title=Ben Naphtali - JewishEncyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2884-ben-naphtali |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref>

The differences between Ben Naphtali and Ben Asher number about 875, nine-tenths of which refer to the placing of the accents, while the rest relate to vowels and consonantal spelling. The differences between the two Masoretes do not represent solely personal opinions; the two rivals represent different schools. Like the Ben Ashers there seem to have been several Ben Naftalis. The Masoretic lists often do not agree on the precise nature of the differences between the two rival authorities; it is, therefore, impossible to define with exactness their differences in every case; and it is probably due to this fact that the received text does not follow uniformly the system of either Ben Asher or Ben Naphtali.<ref name="JEBA"/>

Ben Asher was the last of a distinguished family of Masoretes extending back to the latter half of the 8th&nbsp;century. Despite the rivalry of ben&nbsp;Naphtali and the opposition of [[Saadia Gaon]], the most eminent representative of the Babylonian school of criticism, ben&nbsp;Asher's codex became recognized as the standard text of the Hebrew Bible. Notwithstanding all this, for reasons unknown neither the printed text nor any manuscript which has been preserved is based entirely on Ben Asher: they are all eclectic. Aside from Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali, the names of several other Masorites have come down; but, perhaps with the exception of one—Phinehas, the head of the academy, who is supposed by modern scholars to have lived about 750—neither their time, their place, nor their connection with the various schools is known.<ref name="Jewish"/>

Most scholars conclude that Aaron ben&nbsp;Asher was a [[Karaite Judaism|Karaite]] rather than a Rabbinical Jew, though there is evidence against this view.<ref>{{cite EJ |author=Ben-Hayyim, Zeev |article=Ben-Asher, Aaron ben Moses |volume=3|pages=319–321 |via=Gale Virtual Reference Library |article-url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ben-asher-aaron-ben-moses}}</ref>{{efn|For more details, see
[[Aaron ben Moses ben Asher#Was ben Asher a Karaite?]]}}