6,960,000 dollars. That is the price of this Bible translated into Hebrew or, at least, the amount it was sold for at an auction in New York. But the story does not end there. Its author was a Spaniard and a rabbi. His name was Shem Tov. He was a Jewish scholar who wrote these 768 pages in the year 1312.
The prestigious bookmaker Sotheby's has put this extraordinary manuscript up for bid. It is one of the most important Hebrew Scriptures to survive medieval Spain.
Tradition holds when Shem finished writing this Bible, he sent it to Israel. It is believed to have passed through different countries, such as Iraq, Egypt and Libya before reaching David Sassoon, one of the world's greatest collectors of Hebrew manuscripts.
In 1929, this British man of Jewish descent bought another book called, “Codex Sassoon.” It is the oldest and most complete copy of the Hebrew Bible. Last year, it was auctioned in New York for more than 38 million dollars. The buyer? The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv.
