A Hebrew Bible manuscript is a handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Hebrew Bible made on papyrus, parchment, or paper, and written in the Hebrew language. The oldest manuscripts were written in a form of scroll, the medieval manuscripts usually were written in a form of codex. The late manuscripts written after the 9th century use the Masoretic Text. The important manuscripts are associated with Aaron ben Asher. The earliest sources of the Hebrew Bible disappeared over time, because of the fragility of media, wars,, and other intentional destructions. As a result, the lapse of time between the original manuscripts and their surviving copies is much longer than in the case of the New Testament manuscripts. The first list of the Old Testament manuscripts in Hebrew, made by Benjamin Kennicott and published by Oxford in 2 volumes in 1776 and 1780, listed 615 manuscripts from libraries in England and on the Continent. Giovanni Battista de Rossi published a list of 731 manuscripts. The main manuscript discoveries in modern times are those of the Cairo Geniza and the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the old synagogue in Cairo were discovered 260,000 Hebrew manuscripts, 10,000 of which are biblical manuscripts. There are more than 200 biblical manuscripts among the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of them were written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet. They were written before the year 70 CE. 14 scroll manuscripts were discovered in Masada in 1963–1965. The largest organized collection of Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts in the world is housed in the Russian National Library in Saint Petersburg. Codex Leningradensis is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew. Manuscripts earlier than the 13th century are very rare. The majority of the manuscripts have survived in a fragmentary condition. The oldest complete and still kosherTorah scroll still in use has been carbon-dated to around 1250 and is owned by the Jewish community of the northern Italian town of Biella.
Proto-Masoretic from "Silent Period" (2nd-10th century)
Codex Hilleli, a lost manuscript of circa 600 CE, destroyed in 1197 in Spain, only a few sentences are preserved by Rabbinic literature
Codex Muggeh, lost, cited as a source in Masoretic notations.
Masoretic (7th–10th century)
Ben Asher Manuscripts, including several of those listed here-below
The London Manuscript and the Ashkar-Gilson Manuscript, the latter also known as the "Ashkar-Gilson Hebrew Manuscript #2", both from the same scroll, dated to the 7th or 8th century. The extant fragments cover Exodus 9:18–13:2 and 13:19–16:1.
Codex Orientales 4445, also known as "London Codex", containing Genesis-Deuteronomy 1:33. and dated by colophon to 920-950 CE.
Codex Cairensis, pointed by Moses Ben Asher, dated by a colophon 895 CE, contradicted by radiocarbon dating, which indicated an 11th-century date. It is the oldest manuscript bearing the date of its writing; was in Cairo, now in Jerusalem.
Codex Leningradensis, copied from a Ben Asher manuscript, dated 1008 CE, Russian National Library; this manuscript is the basis of the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and other editions.
Cairo Geniza fragments contains portions of the Old Testament in Hebrew and Aramaic, discovered in Cairo synagogue, which date from about 4th century CE
