The Importance of Medieval Torah Scrolls in the Transmission History of the Hebrew Bible

The study of the medieval transmission of the Bible focused on masoretic codices, whereas medieval Torah scrolls were ignored. One of the reasons for this was that the unity of the prevalent Torah scrolls of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries pointed to the conclusion that there was nothing to research. However, the study of medieval Torah scrolls uncovers an altogether different result. Just as the history of the medieval Bible text is reflected in the codices, so too is it reflected in the Torah scrolls. In other words, the current unity in Torah scrolls represents the end of the process.