Russians Report Find in Georgia of Tenth Century Pentateuch Manuscript

The Soviet Weekly, an English-language tabloid distributed here by the Soviet Mission to the United Nations, has reported that a 10th century manuscript of “the ancient Hebrew Pentateuch” will be published by the Georgian Academy of Science along with a detailed history of the manuscript. The text is being prepared by Georgi Tsereteli whom the Weekly describes as a “well-known Georgian Hebrew scholar.”

“For a long time, the manuscript was kept in West Georgia in a synagogue in the village of Lailashi whose population speaks Hebrew,” the paper said. “Six sheets of the original were missing. These have now been found in the possession of Rabbi Moshe Khakhiashvli in another West Georgian town, Oni. The Pentateuch is written on parchment. Tsereteli dates it as tenth century. He believes it was preserved in Georgia thanks to the existence of a large Jewish colony there as early as the fourth century,” said the Soviet Weekly. The tabloid is published for circulation in Great Britain. Its material comes from the Novosti Press Agency in Moscow, the Soviet overseas propaganda agency.