Hebrew Bible purchased for $38.1 million on display at Jewish museum

The Codex Sassoon, a late ninth- or early 10th-century book Sotheby’s has dubbed the “earliest, most complete copy of the Hebrew Bible,” was sold for $38.1 million Wednesday afternoon to American Friends of the ANU, Museum of the Jewish People. It will become part of the museum’s core exhibition and permanent collection in Tel Aviv, Israel, according to Sotheby’s.

The purchase of the Codex Sassoon was made possible through a donation of Alfred H. Moses, a former US ambassador to Romania, and his family. It’s one of the most expensive historical documents ever sold at auction, clocking in just below the $43.2 million US Constitution sold in November 2021 to art collector Ken Griffin.

“The Hebrew Bible is the most influential book in history and constitutes the bedrock of Western civilization. I rejoice in knowing that it belongs to the Jewish People. It was my mission, realizing the historic significance of Codex Sassoon, to see that it resides in a place with global access to all people,” Moses said in a press release. “In my heart and mind that place was the land of Israel, the cradle of Judaism, where the Hebrew Bible was originated.”