JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

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Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah
(with a New English Translation and the Hebrew Text) (2001),
by a prominent advocate of the Documentary Hypothesis,
provides along with his commentary a translation that attempts
to be clear and to steer a middle course between English
and Hebrew. Friedman also published a version of the
Torah with documentary sources demarcated, The Bible with
Sources Revealed: A New View of the Five Books of Moses
(2003), and included renditions of passages from the Former
Prophets in The Hidden Book in the Bible (1998).
Example A: Gen. 1:1–3a, “In the beginning of God’s creating
the skies and the earth – when the earth had been shapeless
and formless, and darkness was on the face of the deep,
and God’s spirit was hovering on the face of the water – God
said, “Let there be light.” “Skies” reflects the predominant
meaning of shamayim in the Biblical world; “shapeless and
formless” is meant to echo tohu va-vohu.
Example B: Gen. 18:17, “And YHWH had said, ‘Shall I
conceal what I’m doing from Abraham, since Abraham will
become a big and powerful nation, and all the nations of the
earth will be blessed through him? For I’ve known him for
the purpose that he’ll command his children and his house
after him, and they’ll observe YHWH’s way, to do virtue and
judgment….’” Friedman uses italics (“will become”) to express
the Hebrew form hayoh hayah (lit. “becoming he will
become”), utilizes the simple “big” for gadol, and in general
adopts a relaxed tone.
Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses (2004, no Hebrew),
attempts to elicit rhetorical characteristics of the Hebrew text
in a readable English style – “an experiment in re-presenting
the Bible…in a language that conveys with some precision the
semantic nuances and the lively orchestration of literary effects
of the Hebrew and at the same time has stylistic and rhythmic
integrity in English.” His introduction and accompanying
commentary discuss these issues in some detail, following in
the footsteps of his books on biblical narrative and poetry. Alter
previously published a translation of Genesis (1995).
Example A: Gen. 3:6, “And the woman saw that the tree
was good for eating and that it was lust to the eyes and the
tree was good to look at….” Alter notes, following A. Funkenstein,
that le-haskil is connected in the Targumim with “looking,
regarding,” a reading which parallels “a lust to the eyes”
and which is also suggested by the usage of maskil in Psalm
41:2.
Example B: Ex. 15:1, “Let me sing unto the lord for He
surged, O surged….” Alter understands the use of the verb
ga’oh as a pun here, reflecting both the customary “triumphed”
and the alternate image of the rising tide, appropriate in the
context of the divine victory at the Sea of Reeds.
A more direct comparison of the differences between
these six works (with the addition of NJV), in approach and
tone, might be gleaned from the following table, which presents
translations of two passages. The first is Gen. 32:21 (the
Hebrew text is:
KAPLAN [Jacob] said [to himself], “I will win him over with
the gifts that are being sent ahead, and then I will face
him. Hopefully, he will forgive me.”
HIRSCH For he thought: “I will first appease his anger with the
gift that goes before me and then I will
HIRSCHLER see his countenance; perhaps he will raise my
countenance.”
ARTSCROLL For he said, “I will appease him with the tribute
that precedes me, and afterwards I will face him;
STONE (SCHERMAN) perhaps he will forgive me.”
FOX For he said to himself: / I will wipe (the anger from) his
face / with the gift that goes ahead of my face; / afterward,
when I see his face, / perhaps he will lift up my face!
FRIEDMAN Because he said, “Let me appease his face with the
offering that’s going in front of me, and after that I’ll see
his face; maybe he’ll raise my face.”
ALTER For he thought, “Let me placate him with the tribute
that goes before me, and after I shall look on his face, perhaps
he will show me a kindly face.”
NJV For he reasoned, “If I propitiate him with presents in advance,
and then face him, perhaps he will show me favor.”
Clearly, all these translators struggle with how to deal with
the multiple uses of the sound and concept of Hebrew panim,
coming up with a variety of solutions that present different
English tones. They also are compelled to render ki amar in a
way that does justice to its semantic range.
A second comparison of translations makes use of a legal
passage, Ex. 20:9–10 (the Hebrew reads:
ָ ךיֶהֹלֱ א הוׁהיֽ ָ ַל תָ ּבַׁ ש יעי ִ בִ שַה ְּ ׁ םֹ ויְ ו : ָ ךתְכאַלְמ־לָ ֶּֽ ּכ תי ָ ׂשִ עְ ָ ו דֹבעַּֽ ֲ ת םי ִמָי תֶׁ שֵׁ ש
ָ ךרֵֽ ְגְ
ו ָ ךתְמֶהְ ֶּ בּו ָ ךתָֽמ ְ אַֽ ֲ ו ָ ך ּדְ ְ בַ ע ָ ךתִ ֶּ בּו ָ ך ְנ ִב ּו | הָּ תַ א ה ָכא ָל ְמ־ל ָכ הֶ ׂשֲ עַֽ ת־אֹל
: ָ ךיֶֽ רָ עְׁ שִ ּב רֶׁ שֲ א
It yields the following:
KAPLAN Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You can
work during the six weekdays and do all your tasks. But
Saturday is the Sabbath to God your Lord. Do not do anything
that constitutes work.
HIRSCH Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Six days
shall you serve and do all your [creating] work, and the
seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. On it you shall
not perform any kind of [creating] work….
ARTSCROLL Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Six days
shall you work and accomplish all your work; but the seventh
day is Sabbath to HASHEM, your God; you shall not
do any work….
FOX Remember / the Sabbath day, to hallow it. / For six days,
you are to serve, and are to make all your work, / but the
seventh day / is Sabbath for YHWH your God: / you are
not to make any kind of work….
FRIEDMAN Remember the Sabbath day, to make it holy. Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, and the seventh
day is a Sabbath to YHWH, your God. You shall not
do any work….
ALTER Remember the Sabbath day to hallow it. Six days you
shall work and you shall do your tasks, but the seventh
day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall do no
task….
624 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3