Sam Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature

The Jewish Book Council has been awarding the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature to an emerging writer since 2007. The winner of the Sami Rohr Prize is awarded with $100,000 the largest sum given as a literary prize. It recognizes the distinct role modern writers play in describing and examining Jewish life both in the present and past. It is given to fiction and non-fiction writers in alternating years. The Prize derived its name from noted philanthropist and businessman Sami Rohr, who died in July of 2012 at the age of 86. Rohr felt that his philanthropy was an investment in the future of the Jewish people and he was dedicated to Jewish education, culture and community.

The 2014 winner of the Sami Rohr Prize is the Canadian-Israeli journalist Matti Friedman, author of the non-fiction book, “The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible” (Algonquin Books). The Aleppo Codex was written in 930 C.E. and is the oldest surviving manuscript of the Bible and considered the most accurate version of the Hebrew Bible. The Codex is located in a hidden vault at the Israel Museum. Although it is considered to be in good condition given its age, it is also missing several hundred pages, or about forty percent of its entire context. When Friedman happened to encounter the Codex in Jerusalem, he felt that he had a duty to investigate what had happened to missing pages and, if possible, bring the criminals responsible to justice. In The Aleppo Codex, Friedman describes how he is able to solve the mystery from bits and pieces of information.

The Codex, declared the most accurate holy text by the great rabbi, teacher and philosopher Maimonides, was brought to Aleppo by Maimonides’ great-great-great-grandson in the 14th century. For 600 years, it was kept in a crypt beneath Aleppo’s great synagogue until anti-Jewish rioting during the War of Independence destroyed the synagogue. Fortunately, the Codex survived and, in 1948, found its way into the hands of rabbis who kept it hidden while spreading the rumor that it had burned. In 1958, it was smuggled to Turkey and then brought to Israel with the help of the State of Israel and President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. It was quickly discovered that the approximately 200 pages of The Five Books of Moses – the Torah itself – were missing.

In finding out what had really happened to the Codex, Friedman discovered “a tragedy of human weakness.” Friedman came to the conclusion that the Codex hadn’t actually been saved from the burned synagogue but had been looted by representatives of the Ben-Zvi Institute. Furthermore, the missing pages of the Codex are the result of negligence on the part of the Ben-Zvi Institute, which did not take proper care of the manuscript.

The Jewish Book Council chose to award the Sami Rohr Prize to Friedman because they feel that he will continue to make significant contributions to Jewish literature. The runner-up for the prize was Sarah Bunin Benor, author of “Becoming Frum” (Rutgers University Press), a book about how one’s speech patterns are influenced by their community. Both Friedman and Benor will be honored in a ceremony in Jerusalem on January 21, 2014. All the finalists will be inducted into the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute during an annual gathering of Sami Rohr winners, finalists, judges and advisors. Every winner of the prize has followed his or her achievement with a successful literary career in both fiction and non-fictions. Other authors include Austin Ratner, Gal Beckerman, and Lucette Lagnado.