BEN ‘ĀŠĒR. - A family of Masoretes from Tiberias, possibly belonging to the Karaite sect (v.), to whom we owe the present system of vocalic and accentual punctuation of the Hebrew biblical text. Five successive generations of this family flourished between 800 and 930. The most famous are the last two scions, called MŌŠĒH (Mōšēh b. ‘Ā. and ‘Ahāvān (Aaron) b. Mōšēh b. ‘Ā.), to whom are attributed respectively the Codex of the Prophets preserved in Cairo (C), written in 895, and the complete Codex kept in the library of the Sephardim in Aleppo (Syria).
To the latter, the most celebrated, are attributed various monographs on Tiberian masorah (v.), collected under the title *Diqduqē haṭ-Ṭē’āmīn* ("On the Accents"), many of which are in rhymed prose. The biblical text transmitted by B. ‘Ā. later became, albeit with minor modifications, the standard codex of the Bible, which, especially through the work of Moses Maimonides (d. 1204), prevailed over the opposing school of Ben Naftālī (v.). The following codices are attributed to the school of B. ‘Ā.: British Museum Or. 4445, and L (Leningrad Library) B 19a, both from the first half of the 10th century.