*This page was migrated in July 2022 from my older website, biblicalambiguities.net.
24 July 2022
The Aleppo Codex was, prior to 1947, the earliest complete codex of the Hebrew Bible. In 1947, when anti-Jewish riots broke out in Aleppo, it was in the hands of Aleppo's Jewish community. In 1958, most of it had made it to Israel, but a substantial portion was missing. Practically its entire Torah, along with some other portions, went missing under disputed circumstances during the interval.
In addition to its status as an old and for a time complete manuscript, it was also granted an important halakhic status by Maimonides, and so it is of high religious value within Judaism. When it was in the custody of Aleppo's Jewish community, the community was very secretive about the codex, and for the most part did not allow scholars to examine it. This, combined with the disappearance of large portions, have caused the Leningrad Codex to to take the leading role as the basis for printed Bibles.
However, the missing portions of the Aleppo Codex have to some degree been reconstructed by Mordechai Breuer, and has become the basis for a few editions of the Hebrew Bible, none as widely spread as BHS.
The Hebrew Bible as it appears on the Mechon Mamre site claims to be based on the Aleppo Codex and other documents close to it, though I wish I knew more about its provenance.
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