A thousand years ago, the most perfect copy of the Hebrew Bible was written. It was kept safe during one upheaval after another in the Middle East. By the 1940s it was housed in a dark grotto in Aleppo, Syria, and had become known around the world as the Aleppo Codex. ... Matti Friedman's ... story follows the trail of thsi precious manuscript - smuggled from its hiding place in Syria into the newly founded state of Israel - to reveal how and why many of its most sacred and valuable pages went missing during the journey.

Dramatis personae -- Introduction -- Part one (1. Flushing Meadow ; 2. Aleppo ; 3. The fire ; 4. The sixth scribe of Tiberias) -- Part two (5. The treasure in the synagogue ; . The Jerusalem circle ; 7. The sack of Jerusalem ; 8. The jump ; 9. The President ; 10. The merchant's mission ; 11. Maimonides ; 12. Alexandretta ; 13. The brown suitcase) -- Part three (14. The trial ; 15. A religious man ; 16. Our last drop of blood) -- Part four (The book ; 18. The keepers of the crown ; 19. The officer and the scroll ; 20. Exodus) -- Part five (21. Aspergillus ; 22. Brooklyn ; 23. The fog grows ; 24. The agent's instigation ; 25. The collectror ; 26. The magicians ; 27. A deal at the Hilton ; 28. Room 915 ; 29. Money) -- Part six (The missing pieces ; 31. Silo ; 32. The institute ; 33. Bahiyeh).