Why does Judaism have such an emphasis on Hebrew phrases in their religion and seems reluctant to translate them to English or another language?
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Hebrew is the language of the Torah. The holy language. Translation inevitably creates a certain perspective on the text, as a Hebrew word can have multiple meanings or interpretations. A word for word translation would not make sense. The meaning often gets simplified, if not lost, in translation. |
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Hebrew is called "leshon hakodesh" ("the holy language"). The Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 3:8) explains that the Hebrew language has no "bad words"; there are only euphemisms (to give one example, urine is called "the water of the legs"). Ramban (Shemos 30:13) writes that it is called holy because the Torah was written in that language, G-d is called by names in that language (vs. other languages — e.g. in English, "God" — in which the names don't have inherent holiness). |
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for the same reason tha Muslims chose to pray in Arabic. And the same reason that the Roman Church has preserved the Latin Liturgy. |
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