Rabbi Wendy Pein led our group this morning in a history of Torah translation and interpretation. Translation is itself a kind of interpretation. And further interpretation beyond the plain meaning of the text, also known as Peshat, is something Jews have been involved with since the earliest time of reading the Torah in the public square.
Scholars tell us that the oldest text in the Bible dates to 1200 BCE. During the next 600 years, histories, parables, and poems were recorded as part of the Israelite culture. Then in 586 BCE, the Babylonians invaded Judah, destroyed the Israelite temple in Jerusalem, and forced many Israelites into exile. Seeking to preserve the culture, collection of Israelite written text began in earnest at this time.
The earlier works were recorded in Hebrew, but by the 6th century BCE the Neo-Assyrian Empire dominated the region and its language, Aramaic, became the lingua franca of the region; meaning that the common Israelite was no longer fluent in Hebrew.
In 539 BCE, the Persians defeated the Babylonians and the Israelites were invited to return to Judah and rebuild their temple. Two of those who chose to return were Ezra and Nehemiah, whose 5th century books are preserved in our Bible and whose text tells us a little about life in Jerusalem at that time:
. . . the entire people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the scroll of the Teaching of Moses . . . before the congregation, men and women and all who could listen with understanding.
He read from it, facing the square. . . Ezra opened the scroll in the sight of all the people . . . as he opened it, all the people stood up. Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” with hands upraised. They bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Lord with their faces to the ground. . . and the Levites explained the Teaching to the people, while the people stood in their places. They read from the scroll of the Teaching of God, translating it and giving the sense; so they understood the reading. (Nehemiah 8:1–8, emphasis added)
Because at the time of Ezra–Nehemiah the common language was Aramaic, and the Teachings of Moses—or the Torah—was written in Hebrew, passages read in public needed to be translated. The translator was called the meturgeman, or “interpreter.” Scholars tell us that the meturgeman frequently “expanded his translations with paraphrases, explanations and examples, so it became a kind of sermon” (Wikipedia entry for Targum). Writing down the meturgeman interpretation was initially prohibited.
The first written translation of the Hebrew Bible is dated to the 3rd century BCE, when it was translated into Greek in the text known as the Septuagint. Beginning in the 1st century CE, people began to write down the Aramaic translations of the meturgeman, which were then collected into the Targum Onkelos.
Beyond translating the plain meaning of the text (Peshat), interpreters sometimes revealed what they believed to be hinted at, allegorical or symbolic meaning of the text (Remez). Another way to read the text is to seek comparative meaning in our lives today, generally using midrash (Derash). All three of these types of interpretation can be found in the Talmud (1st to 7th centuries CE).
Finally, interpreters inspired by the mystical sought esoteric meaning (Sod). These types of interpretations were collected in the 12th–13th century in the Kabbalah.
This history of Jewish interpretation of the text was presented by Rabbi Pein as evidence that reading and interpreting the Torah is the oldest ritual with which we are still involved. Torah interpretation has always been democratic in that it is for the entire community; it is not reserved for only the priests or the elite.
Baruch Spinoza (1632–1676) believed that the only way to reach the true meaning of the text of the Bible was through human interpretation, and he challenged divine authorship of the bible. For this progressive thinking, which is the basis of what we do today in our Torah Study sessions, Spinoza was excommunicated from the Jewish community. In the late 18th century, Moses Mendelssohn created the first modern chumash, or translation of the Torah into his native language of German. He focused on a plain, literal meaning of the text, but also included his own commentary—eschewing the centuries old commentary found in the Talmud.
In 1917, the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) published a then-modern translation of the Bible for a Jewish audience. Relying heavily on earlier Christian translations, this edition made edits such as printing “young woman” instead of “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14. An updated version of the JPS translation was produced in 1985—almost 40 years ago.
The Reform movement has concluded that it is time for a new translation of the Bible. The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the Reform rabbinic professional leadership organization in which all the Rabbis at TINW are members, has announced that a new translation of the Bible is underway. This will be a many-years project, under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Fisher-Livne (HUC-JIR, Cincinnati, OH) and Dr. Elsie Stern (RRC, Wyncote, PA). Rabbi Pein was able to get a hold of some early work by the committee, which she shared with us.
A particularly difficult passage in the Bible comes in Exodus 1:15-22. In it, Pharaoh instructs the midwives to kill the sons born to the Hebrew women. Are the midwives themselves Hebrew, or are they Egyptian women who are midwives to the Hebrews? We looked a two modern translations and commentaries, and at the newest below:
The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the name other Puah, saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.”
The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth. (JPS translation)
In his Torah commentary, The Torah: A Modern Commentary (1981), W. Gunther Plaut (1912–2012) tell us that the midwives were themselves Hebrew because their names are Semitic in origin, and he states that the birthstool refers to the brick or stone supports used during childbirth.
Another commentary, The Women’s Torah Commentary (2008), edited by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein, states that it is unclear if the midwives were Egyptian or Hebrew, but their names, Shiphrah and Puah, mean “beautiful” and “young girl.” These women could have been the only midwives, but there was a large Hebrew population so it is also possible that these two names represent guilds of midwives. Also, we are told that the birthstool referred to literally means “two stones,” and was what the women would squat on during childbirth,
The newest translation, in this early stage of the process, reads:
Then the king of Mitzrayim
Spoke to the Ivriyot [Hebrew women] birth helpers;
One was named Shifrah [beauty],
And the name of the other was Puah [girl].
He said,
“When you help the Ivriyot in childbirth,
You should peer at the two stones . . .
[When Pharaoh asked why the midwives let the boy-children live]
The birth helpers said to Pahroh,
“Because the Ivriyot are not like the Mitzriyot [Egyptian women].
They’re like wild animals!
Before the birth helper can come to them, they give birth.”
A commentary from Dr. Rabbi Mira Wasserman (RRC, Wyncote, PA) tells us that the midwives may be Egyptian women who were moved by “the human impulse to pursue compassion and justice … [and notes that] resistance to Pharaoh’s violet regime begins with his own circle.”
Change is always hard, and this way of reading the text may be jarring. But, as we have learned in prior Torah Study sessions, this new translation may in fact be closer to the original Hebrew. Again, it is early in the process and it is unknown what the final product will look like, but this new Translation and Commentary is an exciting undertaking for the Reform Jewish community.
The blog is Tara Keiter’s interpretation of the Temple Israel of Northern Westchester Torah Study session. Misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Pein taught are the responsibility of Tara Keiter.