period; however, it is only a small step from these Talmudic discussions to Masoretic activity in the proper sense. Thus, it is somewhat artificial to fix an absolute starting date for the Masoretic Period. As Yeivin has noted, the work of the Masoretes probably started during the end of the Talmudic period.9 Another approach to this question is to isolate a time period during which the Masorah first began to be committed to writing. Most scholars believe that the consonantal text was standardized