The research involved in collating the variant readings for each apparatus is carried out by four separate teams, each headed by an expert in the field. The text of the Aleppo Codex, together with its masora, the meticulous recording of variant readings from all important witnesses, and accompanying philological notes clarifying readings listed in the apparatuses, make up the most comprehensive critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, reflecting the fruit of years of research.

It also lists the variant readings attested in the Dead Sea scrolls, quotations of biblical verses in Rabbinic literature, and in medieval Hebrew manuscripts and commentaries. The Bible Project edition includes all the evidence bearing on the text, listing every difference in the ancient translations: the Greek Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Aramaic Targums and the Syriac Peshitta. This 'pluriformity' is exhibited most dramatically in the fragments of biblical scrolls dating from the late centuries BCE and the early Common Era, found in the Judean Desert (Qumran, Masada, etc.). However, the further back one traces its transmission in history, the more variants are found in the witnesses to the text. The Hebrew Bible text has been handed down in manuscript form with the greatest of care by many generations of copyists. Brought to Israel from Syria to the late President Izhak Ben-Zvi, it serves as the basis for the text of the Bible Project edition. The Aleppo Codex, saved from the flames when hostilities broke out against the synagogue of Aleppo in Syria, which was attacked after the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, is the oldest and most authoritative complete manuscript of the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, sanctioned by the great Jewish scholar Maimonides. Yet to this day, there is no comprehensive critical edition of the Hebrew Bible providing the entire range of textual evidence collated from all extant sources. Many classical works of literature have been published in outstanding editions, crowning a painstaking process of collating manuscripts and examining their history, correcting corruptions or interpolations, so as to present the reader with the most authoritative and accurate version of the text possible. As such, the text of this all-important body of ancient literature demands the most meticulous treatment in regard to its authenticity and history of transmission.

The study of the Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of Jewish Studies, including historical, linguistic, cultural and spiritual aspects. The staff of the Bible Project is comprised of recognized experts in the fields of textual criticism, Hebrew language, Masoretic studies and Biblical philology. Shemaryahu Talmon (Professor of Biblical Studies) constituted the original board of editors. Chaim Rabin (Professor of Hebrew Language) and the late Prof. Goshen-Gottstein (Professor of Semitic Linguistics and Biblical Philology), who together with the late Prof. The project was initiated by the late Prof. The Hebrew University Bible Project – the flagship of research projects of the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University – was established in 1956 to undertake a comprehensive survey of the history of the textual development of the Hebrew Bible and to produce a major critical edition. The Hebrew University Bible Project (HUBP) Chaim Rabin, perusing the facsimile edition of the Aleppo Codex, published by the Bible Project in 1976. The founders of HUBP (right to left) : Prof. THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY BIBLE PROJECT (HUBP)

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