Hot answers tagged targum-translation
10
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.
9
It certainly doesn't mean electricity! The truth is, we don't really know what it means. And whatever it is, studying it is dangerous! Some of you may recall the story in BT Hagiga 13a, where a child is studying Ezekiel, ponders over the meaning of hashmal, and was consumed by fire. You have been warned...
From the context, it appears to be some kind of ...
7
Because the RaMBa"M spoke Arabic (for those who read Arabic, a closer example is in the first usage example here: "Japan is close to China").
Yes, he wrote in Hebrew, and he was very skilled in his Hebrew grammar. That does not mean, however, that he was not influenced by his Arabic language background. Given that he used this term regularly, I think it ...
6
The term קרוב מ is commonly used by the Rambam to denote "close to". See for example:
The Hakdama to Yad Hachazaka (קרוב משלש מאות)
Yesodey Hatorah 2:7, 3:7, 4:5
Eiruvin 3:1
Shekalim 4:3
Kiddush Hachodesh 1:2, 10:6, 19:12 and :15
Taniyos 5:9
and more, which are collected in the Frankel edition of Rambam in the ילקוט שנויי נוסחאות in the back on the words ...
6
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 ...
6
I'm not sure it is universally considered valuable to translate every (I also assume you mean old) Hebrew work into English.
First of all, not every Jew speaks English.
Second, virtually every Jew who might have more than a passing interest in such works is trained (or can get some degree of training) in Hebrew.
Third, not every (old) Hebrew work is ...
6
First of all, what you say is not exactly true. It might be the case that every English translation that you have seen understands the word to mean morning - and most probably because it is preceded by the verb "to rise" - but there are Hebrew commentaries that understand it in line with this gemara. Both the Radak and the Metzudat Tziyon understand the word ...
6
Actually, the earliest rabbinic sources present the Greek translation (the Septuagint) in glowing terms. In the Mishna, Megillah 1:8, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted as having said that Greek is the only language, other than Hebrew, in which it is permissible to write sifrei Torah. Commenting on this, the Jerusalem Talmud (Megillah 71c) says that the ...
6
"ריש חזית" means "the beginning of מדרש חזית". The Midrash Rabbah on Shir Hashirim and Kohelles is often called מדרש חזית because it begins with derashos on the pasuk "חָזִיתָ אִישׁ, מָהִיר בִּמְלַאכְתּוֹ" (Mishlei 22:29). The author of the introduction you are reading begins by quoting Shir Hashirim Rabbah (1:8).
5
בליעל appears many times in Tanach and appears to be a compound word: בלי (=without) and יעל. Three possible meanings are given here:
בלי יעל where יעל derives from the root ע-ל-ה = to go up. The people are 'without going up' implying they will go down to Gehonim.
בלי יעל where יעל derives from the root י-ע-ל = purpose (like the words הועיל and תועלת). ...
5
See this comprehensive and well sourced paper on the topic by one of our site regulars. Cush was the son of Cham, and the grandson of Noah (Exodus 10:6), and according to the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 36:7), he was cursed by his grandfather to be dark-skinned.
In terms of the location of the land of Cush, he writes:
"Cush" is commonly translated as ...
4
A very simple supplementary answer to Seth's is that translation takes money. Booksellers have to be able to guarantee a market for a translated book of Jewish learning sufficient to cover the expenses of translating, printing and distribution. Often that can't be done. The Mesorah Foundation helps underwrite the original scholarly books and translations ...
4
And as for the matter of whether it's permissible to eat in a restaurant in which they prepare only dairy foods but which is of people who desecrate the sabbath, lo, even in that place there can be a number of forbidden foods such as non-kosher fishes, and the fat in which they fry [things] can be from non-kosher animals or animals not properly ...
4
SBA quotes the Yismach Mosheh that a "ba'al nefesh" is someone for whom the things related to the soul are more important than physical things. Rabbi Gil Student also quotes some statements by Rashi and Rabbeinu Chanan'el to define a ba'al nefesh. Rabbi Micha Berger quotes the Nefesh HaChayim as well; see there.
You can read the whole subject on Avodah ...
4
It seems the ו׳ is functioning to introduce the apodosis, or the result of a cause. Thus, "When Par'oh let the people go, then God did not lead them..."
See Wilhelm Gesenius' A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, on ו׳, p. 266, §bb.
As for the Arabic ف, see William Edward Lane's An English-Arabic Lexicon on the entry for ف.
Lane writes,
...
3
"Someone who really cares about their soul"; a "soul man", if you will. Often "the average Joe need not be stringent about this, but a soul man should be." If I'm not mistaken, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein occcasionally does rank stringencies, and I think he says "appropriate for anyone G-d fearing" is stronger than "appropriate for any soul man."
3
The verse literally means something like "Open (command, plural) for me the gates of righteousness." Rashi interprets it to mean the gates of the Beis HaMikdash. Metzudas David explains that he is going there to thank G-d for having rescued him (referred to in the previous verses). The Ibn Ezra says they are called the "gates of righteousness" because a ...
3
I'm not a Rav so please confirm the following with your local orthodox rabbi.
The following is from Kof-K.
Horav Chaim Pinchus Sheinberg Shlita
is of the opinion that a person who went through the mesechta with an English
translation may make a siyum. However, the person who is using the English has to be
actually working on understanding the Gemorah and ...
3
The phrase comes from Leviticus 19:18:
וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ
Ve-Ah-Hahv-TA Le-Ray-Ah-CHA Ka-MOE-Cha
It is three words in Hebrew:
And you should love
Your fellow
Like yourself
3
I've never heard any objection to Soncino specifically. I've heard objection to translated editions generally — and the very explicatory ArtScroll English edition especially — from teachers: namely, that these editions make it too easy for students to make their way through the g'mara, and the student loses out on the benefits (spiritual and pedagogical) of ...
3
Adam Mintz has written a fine essay called The Talmud in Translation, in which he elaborates on the history of the Artscroll, Steinsaltz, and Soncino Talmuds and the various polemics concerning each.
Regarding "rejections," there have been critiques for each Talmud.
On the Soncino, there was a little controversy that concerned making the Talmud ...
2
When writing Gematrias, you write as much as possible with the biggest numbers, then write the smaller and smaller numbers successively.
Two (or more) numbers one after another is just the sum of them together.
So
מא - which is 40+1 = 41.
833 = תתלג
999 = תתקצט
1004 = תתרד
(400+400+200+4), unless you want to write an Aleph before for the thousands (א'ד)
...
2
The first thing to clarify is that Rashi is not making these connections on his own, they are sourced from his Rabbis, the Talmud, and other places.
With regards to the word Totofot, which Rashi Devarim 6:8 says is made up of two words, one Kafti and one African (Rashi is quoting Midrash Tanchumah Bo 14, Sanhedrin 4B, Menachot 34B), the Chumash Shai LaMorah ...
2
"Is there any halakhah that takes issue with translators of holy text?"
Yes and No.
The gemorah very strongly supports the translation of Onkelos, while very strongly being negative about the translation into Greek (Septuagint), calling it the worst day in Jewish History.
On the other hand, the Talmud mentions miracles regarding the translation of the ...
2
I really doubt that picking a specific application of the halacha would have been Onkelos' job, not to mention he's estimated to have lived around the year 110, so Christianity per se was just barely getting off the ground.
All Onkelos is doing is rendering the Talmudic interpretation of the verse, as close to the wording as possible. The phrase is "ben ...
2
From here (an essay based on the Likutei Sichot volume 24, pg 1-11).
The Talmud (tractate Sefer Torah, 1:8) says:
Seventy sages translated the Torah into Greek for King Ptolemy. That day was as difficult for the people of Israel as the day on which the [Golden] Calf was made; for the Torah could not be fully translated.
Read that essay for all the ...
2
Mashal= Parable. It is a story or comparison for the sake of conveying a deeper truth.
Nimshal= Technically it means moral. It is the deeper truth being hinted at in the story.
For instance in Aesop's fables, like the tortoise and the hare, in which a bullying hare is challenged to a race by a tortoise. The hare takes off, and confident of victory ...
1
As the Ibn Ezra said, it's impossible to translate to any other language. The Mechokekei Yehudah, a supercommentary on Ibn Ezra, says that it connotes a beginning.
So in our case, it would mean something like:
And it was when Par'oh sent the nation, (new subject) G-d did not guide them ...
1
Elsewhere Rabbi Feinstein clarifies two different concerns when doing something that has the appearance of impropriety; both of which apply here:
Maris Ayin:
"I saw a top contributor to J.SE eating there, so everything there must be 100% kosher!"
Or a fascinating corollary:
"Okay officially the websites say it's not recommended, but if a top ...
1
In response to the question: "What is the literal meaning of the word here?" It means on top of something. I'm not sure why this is so controversial, as the word is not uniquely in this verse. Consider Exodus 25:21:
And you shall place the ark cover on the ark from above
Same word, translated here as "from above." We don't discuss the cover of the ark ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
