Book at Lunchtime starts 2025 by welcoming Dr Thea Gomelauri (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies) to discuss The Lailashi Codex.

‘This book tells the fascinating story of the Lailashi Codex, the priceless medieval Hebrew Masoretic Pentateuch, from its earliest known history as the prized possession of the Jews of Lailashi (Georgia) to its present place in the National Manuscript Centre of Tbilisi, after miraculously surviving the vagaries of Soviet appropriation. Dr Thea Gomelauri’s meticulous description of the manuscript gives a wealth of information on the codicology of the codex and its scribal peculiarities, including the palaeographical signs used to differentiate between the weekly readings of the Torah’ – Professor Anna Sapir Abulafia, FBA, Professor Emerita of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford.

Join Dr Gomelauri and an expert panel to discuss The Lailashi Codex “an invaluable treasure both as a textual witness of the Masoretic Tradition of the Hebrew Bible, and as an artefact for its breathtaking micrography”

Book your place for the first book of 2025 here.