Wikipedia's first sentence called it “group of rabbis based primarily in tiberius who compiled a system of critical notes on the external form of the”. Today it says “groups of jewish scribe - scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries ad”.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Masoretes ( ba'alei masorah ) were a group of rabbis based primarily in Tiberius who compiled a system of critical notes on the external form of the Biblical text, and who effectively determined the precise text of the Tanakh in the Jewish community.1See the article on the Masoretic text for a full discussion of their work.2The Karaite ben Asher family is responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text, which all current Hebrew Bibles (reproductions of the text of the Torah excluding a Torah scroll ) are based upon. Their system of notes represents the literary labors of innumerable scholars, of which the beginning falls probably in pre- Maccabean times and the end reaches to the year 1425 CE.3 Additionally, The Masoretes devized the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16223661.
The opening as it stood in 2010 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes on the external form of the Biblical text in an attempt to fix the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions and cantillation of the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh , for the worldwide Jewish community.(See the article on the Masoretic text for a full discussion of their work.) The Ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text, although an alternate Masoretic text of the Ben Naphtali Masoretes which differs slightly from the Ben Asher text existed.The halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the Ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, Saadya Gaon al-Fayyumi, had preferred the Ben Naphtali system, because Ben Asher was a Karaite.The Ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes appear to have been Karaites .Geoffrey Khan says that it is now believed that they were not.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 361595170.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Masoretes ( Hebrew : , ba'alei hamasorah ) were groups of Jewish scribe - scholars who worked between the 6th and 10th centuries CE , based primarily in present-day Israel in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem , as well as in Iraq ( Babylonia ). Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes on the external form of the biblical text in an attempt to standardize the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions and cantillation of the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh , for the worldwide Jewish community. The ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text, although an alternate Masoretic text of the ben Naphtali Masoretes, which differs slightly from the ben Asher text, existed. The halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, Saadya Gaon al-Fayyumi, had preferred the ben Naphtali system. The ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes appear to have been Karaites . However, Geoffrey Khan believes that the ben Asher family was probably not Karaite.The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used, as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation.The Journey From Texts to Translations .Karaite Bible Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 648507041.
The opening as it stood in 2020
The Masoretes ( ) were groups of Jewish scribe - scholars who worked between the 6th and 10th centuries CE , based primarily in early medieval Palestine in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem , as well as in Iraq ( Babylonia ). Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes ( niqqud ) on the external form of the biblical text in an attempt to standardize the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions and cantillation of the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh , for the worldwide Jewish community. The ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text , although there existed an alternative Masoretic text of the ben Naphtali Masoretes, which has around 875 differences from the ben Asher text. The halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, Saadya Gaon al-Fayyumi, had preferred the ben Naphtali system. It has been suggested that the ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes were Karaites .However, Geoffrey Khan believes that the ben Asher family was probably not Karaite, and Aron Dotan avers that there are "decisive proofs that M. Ben-Asher was not a Karaite." The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used, as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation. The Journey From Texts to Translations . Karaite Bible Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 960151356.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Medieval Jewish sect This article is about groups of scholars who compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides of Jewish texts.The Masoretes ( , lit. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe - scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in medieval Palestine ( Jund Filastin ) in the cities of Tiberias and Jerusalem , as well as in Iraq ( Babylonia ). Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes ( niqqud ) on the external form of the biblical text in an attempt to standardize the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions, and cantillation of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh ) for the worldwide Jewish community. The ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text , although there existed an alternative Masoretic text of the ben Naphtali Masoretes, which has around 875 differences from the ben Asher text. The halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, Saadya Gaon al-Fayyumi, had preferred the ben Naphtali system. It has been suggested that the ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes were Karaites . However, Geoffrey Khan believes that the ben Asher family was probably not Karaite, and Aron Dotan avers that there are "decisive proofs that M. Ben-Asher was not a Karaite." The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used, as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation. The nakdanim were successors to the Masoretes in the transmission of the traditional Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The Journey From Texts to Translations . Karaite Bible Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1169718442.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Medieval Jewish sect This article is about groups of scholars who compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides of Jewish texts. The Masoretes ( Hebrew : בַּעֲלֵי הַמָּסוֹרָה , romanized : Baʿălēy Hammāsōrā , lit. 'Masters of the Tradition') were groups of Jewish scribe - scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries CE, based primarily in the Jewish centers of the Levant (e.g., Tiberias and Jerusalem ) and Mesopotamia (e.g., Sura and Nehardea ). Each group compiled a system of pronunciation and grammatical guides in the form of diacritical notes ( niqqud ) on the external form of the biblical text in an attempt to standardize the pronunciation, paragraph and verse divisions, and cantillation of the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh ) for the worldwide Jewish community. The ben Asher family of Masoretes was largely responsible for the preservation and production of the Masoretic Text , although there existed an alternative Masoretic text of the ben Naphtali Masoretes, which has around 875 differences from the ben Asher text. The halakhic authority Maimonides endorsed the ben Asher as superior, although the Egyptian Jewish scholar, the Saadya Gaon , had preferred the ben Naphtali system. It has been suggested that the ben Asher family and the majority of the Masoretes were Karaites . However, Geoffrey Khan believes that the ben Asher family was probably not Karaite, and Aron Dotan avers that there are "decisive proofs that M. Ben-Asher was not a Karaite." The Masoretes devised the vowel notation system for Hebrew that is still widely used, as well as the trope symbols used for cantillation. The nakdanim were successors to the Masoretes in the transmission of the traditional Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The Journey From Texts to Translations . Karaite Bible Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah .
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Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “group of rabbis based primarily in tiberius who compiled a system of critical notes on the external form of the”. Today it says “groups of jewish scribe - scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries ad”. Read the current article and compare.
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2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
group of rabbis based primarily in tiberius who compiled a system of critical notes on the external form of the
Now
groups of jewish scribe - scholars who worked from around the end of the 5th through 10th centuries ad
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