Aaron ben Moses ben Asher

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Aaron ben Moses ben Asher (in Hebrew אהרון בן משה בן אשר; in Tiberian Hebrew ʾAhărôn ben Mōšeh benʾĀšēr) (10th century, died circa 960) was a Jewish scribe who refined the Tiberian system for writing down vowel sounds in Hebrew, which is still in use today, and serves as the basis for grammatical analysis. For over a thousand years he has been regarded by Jews of all streams around the world as having produced the most accurate version of the masoretic text. Since his day, both handwritten manuscripts of the Tanakh and printed versions strove to emulate his achievement and continue to do so. He lived and worked in the city of Tiberias (Hebrew טבריה) on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee (Hebrew ים כנרת).

He was descended from a long line of Masoretes, starting with someone called Asher, but nothing is known about them other than their names. His father, Moses ben Asher, is credited with writing the Cairo Codex of the Prophets (895CE); if authentic, it is among the oldest manuscripts containing a large proportion of the Hebrew Bible. Aaron ben Asher himself added vowelization and cantillation notes, and mesorah to the Aleppo Codex, correcting its letter-text according to the masorah.

Maimonides, by accepting the views of Ben-Asher (though only in regard to open and closed sections), helped establish and spread his authority. Referring to a Bible manuscript then in Egypt, he wrote: "All relied on it, since it was corrected by Ben-Asher and was worked on and analyzed by him for many years, and was proofread many times in accordance with the masorah, and I based myself on this manuscript in the Sefer Torah that I wrote". More recently, Umberto Cassuto used this manuscript as the basis of his edition of the Hebrew Bible.

Aaron ben Moses ben Asher was the first to take Hebrew grammar seriously. He was the first systematic Hebrew grammarian. His Sefer Dikdukei ha-Te'amim (Grammar of the Vocalizations) was an original collection of grammatical rules and masoretic information. Grammatical principles were not at that time considered worthy of independent study. The value of this work is that the grammatical rules presented by Ben-Asher reveal the linguistic background of vocalization for the first time. He had a tremendous influence on the world of Biblical grammar and scholarship.

A rival system of note was that developed by the school of Ben Naphtali.

Was Ben Asher a Karaite?

Most scholars conclude that Aaron ben Asher was indeed a Karaite though there are some who disagree with this view (see suggestions for further reading). One of the strongest pieces of evidence is that it would be astonishing if Maimonides, famously opposed to the Karaites, had followed the authority of a Karaite, even in the matter of open and closed sections. Be that as it may, it is a fact that all Jews, including those who followed the rabbinic tradition, revered his expertise and accepted his masoretic system. If Aaron ben Asher was indeed a Karaite, it may be argued that he was the most influential Karaite in world history.

In his critiques of Karaites, Saadia Gaon mentioned a "Ben-Asher." Just recently, it occurred to scholars that the "Ben-Asher" of Saadia's diatribe was infact the famous Aaron ben Asher of Tiberias. This would explain why Saadia Gaon had preferred the "Ben Naphtali" system. Although recent research indicates, however, that it is probable that the subject of Saadia's attack was Aaron ben Moshe ben Asher.

In his work Sefer Dikdukei ha Te'amim, Aaron ben Asher wrote, "The prophets... complete the Torah, are as the Torah, and we decide Law from them as we do from the Torah." This belief known to be held by Karaites. Having forced scholars to re-evaluate the relationship between Rabbinic Jews and Karaite Jews in the 10th century despite the writings of Saadia Gaon. Documents found in the Cairo Geniza also indicate that ben Asher was a Karaite.

See also: Tanakh, Karaite Judaism