World's Oldest Jewish Prayer Book Found? Rare Text Purchased By Hobby Lobby President (PHOTO)
The Huffington Post | By Meredith Bennett-Smith
Posted: 10/01/2013 11:35 am EDT | Updated: 10/01/2013 2:19 pm EDT
What some scholars believe could be the world's oldest known Jewish prayer book is now part of a private collection founded by an evangelical businessman.
The identification of the very rare prayer book, dated to the ninth century, was announced Sept. 26 by Steve Green, president of the arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby. Green facilitates his family's array of biblical texts and artifacts, the Green Collection. The text was purchased from a collector.
Measuring about 11-by-10 centimeters, the 50-page, tan-colored book is written in an archaic form of Hebrew with Babylonian vowel markings, according to the Religion News Service. The fact that that book appears to still have its original binding makes it very special, according to Dr. Jerry Pattengale, director of the Green Collection’s research arm, the Green Scholars Initiative.
To read more, please go to: http://www.jta.org/2013/10/01/news-opinion/united-states/pew-survey-u-s-jewish-intermarriage-rate-rises-to-58-percent
