‘Hol Hamoed Sukkot (חול המועד סוכות – Intermediate Days of Sukkot)
Exodus 33:12–34:26 • Numbers 29:26–31 • Ezekiel 38:18–39:16
Moses asks to know the ways of the Eternal. God reveals His attributes of mercy and renews the covenant. Then, the festivals are recalled, especially Sukkot. The Maftir details the specific offerings for the day of the festival.
In the Haftarah, Ezekiel prophesies an apocalyptic war led by Gog against Israel, followed by a return to peace and universal recognition of God.
Ezekiel 38:18 (pdf 492/575)
וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא בְּיוֹם בּוֹא גוֹג עַל אַדְמַת יִשְׂרָאֵל
And it shall come to pass on that day, the day when Gog comes against the land of Israel.
The Codex Cairensis, or Codex Prophetarum Cairensis, is a 9th-century Hebrew manuscript containing all the books of the Prophets in their entirety. It was copied in 895 by Moses ben Asher[1], a central figure in the Masoretic tradition[2] of Tiberias.
This manuscript is written on parchment, with meticulous calligraphy and Masoretic annotations. Preserved for over a millennium by the Karaite community of Cairo, it was transferred in 2023 to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, housed in a contemporary building designed by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, located between the Israel Museum and the Knesset.
[1] Moses ben Asher is the patriarch of the Ben Asher lineage, Masoretes of Tiberias. He is recognized as the author of the Codex Cairensis and father of Aharon ben Moshe ben Asher, who would later establish the Aleppo Codex.
[2] The Masoretes (בעלי המסורה, ba’alei hamassora) are the guardians of the textual tradition of the Hebrew Bible. Between the 6th and 10th centuries, they established the vocalization, accentuation, and punctuation of the biblical text. Their meticulous work included counting letters, noting variants, and faithfully transmitting the text.