The משומד (apostate)& the Goy

 

The מסורה started in the times of עזרא הסופר*  & the אנשי כנסת הגדולה. This continued on for over a thousand years to the times of the רבנן סבוראי and early גאונים.   The מסורה consists of many parts.** Because of the מסורה, we have a uniform text of the תנ"ך, which both the פרושים & צדוקים agree on.   The מסורה we have today is only because of  the (apostate) משומד, יעקב בן חיים אבן אדוניהו and the Goy Daniel Bombergini   יעקב בן חיים and אליהו בחור were both employed  as editors in the printing house of Danielle Bombergini. D.Bomberg, an Italian Goy originally from Antwerp was the first printer of the complete  ש"ס, the מקראות גדולות חומש and many more ספרים.   יעקב בן חיים convinced his boss of the need to fix and reorganize the מסורה which was completely flawed full of mistakes & disorganized. Bomberg invested huge sums of money to acquire many different manuscripts for Yakov to work with. Yaakov worked on it for years. He fixed & organized the entire מסורה. In the year 1547, the first מקראות גדולות חומש with the new version of the מסורה was printed.   Yakov wrote a fascinating and informative הקדמה***  for the new Chumash. Those reading it will never believe that it was written by a משומד.     It is interesting, his co-worker, Eliyahu Bachur praises  his work and curses him (for converting) in the same sentence.   Eliyahu Bachur writes:    " I have never seen in any of the previous  ספרים such perfect, beautiful and organized work as was done  by the person whose name used to be  "Yaakov, תהי נשמתו צרורה ***בצרור נקוב "   Hence the  מסורה we have today is from a משומד and a Goy     *They were called Sofrim because the counted the  letters, words, Pesukim and Parshios. (Ms. Kidushin) **Some parts of the מסורה,(there are more)  1) How many letters and words in each Sefer (Tanach) 2) The טעמים (known as the Trop)  3) The קרי & כתיב  4) נקודות (How to pronounce) 5) Begin & end Pesukim & Parshios 6) How many times the word with the same  spelling appears. 7)  חסירות ויתירות (spelling) 8) Large & small letters 9) Similar words elsewhere in Tanach 10) When it's the name of Hashem and when not   *** The original Chumashim had his name printed. In the later prints, the name was removed and  replaced as הקדמת המעתיק. Most Chumashim printed today removed the הקדמה   ***A bundle with a hole (everything falls out. a play on words based on a פסוק in חגי