Jerusalem Crown Bible

The Jerusalem Crown is a new, revised, and accurate Bible, based on the Aleppo Codex (Keter Aram Zova), the most accurate text of the Bible, on which Maimonides relied in his exposition of the laws governing the writing of Torah scrolls in his codification of Jewish law (Mishneh Torah). The Jerusalem Crown is based on the latest studies of the biblical text by Rabbi Mordechai Breuer, recipient of the 1999 Israel Prize in Bible Scholarship.

It has been recognized as the official Bible of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israeli parliament (the Knesset).Nahum Ben-Zvi conceived the idea of publishing the Jerusalem Crown and prepared the text of the Aleppo Codex for publication in a three-column layout. This is the first publication of a Hebrew Bible in this layout since the invention of the printing press. Particular attention has been paid to the poetic passages in the Bible, which have been set in the traditional layout, and to the books of Job, Proverbs, and Psalms, which have been set as poetry. A new typeface, Jerusalem Crown, was specially designed by Zvi Narkiss.

After completion of the various editions (large, medium-size and small), the Companion Volume, edited by Dr. Mordechai Glatzer, was published. It contains articles dealing with the importance of the Aleppo Codex and the relationship between the Jerusalem Crown and the Codex. The articles are all published in Hebrew and in English translation. For the benefit of scholars of the biblical text, N. Ben-Zvi Printing Enterprises Ltd. also published a volume entitled The Biblical Text in the Jerusalem Crown Edition, which documents the considerations governing the preparation of this edition of the Bible for press.

This complex and costly endeavor has been made possible by a generous contribution from the Karger Family Fund of Basel, Switzerland.