Where exactly does the Targum Yonason say that cutting ones beard with a scissors is assur, as quoted in R' Chaim Kanievsky's Orchos Yosher?
1 Answer
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein wrote an article on this entire subject and quotes different places where the Targum writes this, To quote Rabbi Klein:
The Targum known as Yonatan (to Lev. 19:27, Num. 6:19) uses variations of galav when rendering cognates of the Hebrew giluach into Aramaic, and again (to Num. 8:7) uses galav as a translation of the Hebrew word ta'ar (“razor”). Elsewhere, the Targum (to Joshua 5:2, Jer. 48:37, see also Bereishet Rabbah 31:8) again uses variants of galav in this context of razors and cutting. All of this suggests that perhaps galav is an Aramaic word. However, Rashi and Mahari Kara (to Yechezkel 5:1) explain that galav actually comes from Greek. After much searching, I have not found any Greek word which fits this description, but I did find that Dr. Alexander Kohut (1842–1894) suggests changing Rashi’s wording to refer to Arabic instead of Greek. That said, Dr. Chaim Tawil notes that galav is clearly a loanword from the Akkadian gallabu ("barber").
Other scholars connect the triliteral root GIMMEL-LAMMED-BET to similar Hebrew roots. For example, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Ps. 74:6) connects this root to KUF-LAMMED-PEH (via the interchangeability of GIMMEL and KUF, and that of BET and PEH), which means “to peel” in Rabbinic Hebrew. Indeed, “haircutting” which reveals one’s previously-covered epidermis can be similar to “peeling” away the skin or covering of something. Rabbi David Golumb in Targumna (to Num. 21:29) argues that galav is a metathesized form of gvul (“border”), which may be better understood in light of the possible connection between sapar and sfar (see below).
Speaking of the word sapar, although this term does not appear in the Bible, it has become the most popular term for the topic that we are discussing, because in Modern Hebrew, sapar means “barber” and tisporet means “haircut.” But where does this word come from?
If you look closely at Targum Oneklos and Targum Yonatan, you will notice an inconsistency in how they render the Hebrew giluach into the Aramaic: Sometimes they translate giluach into sapar, and sometimes they simply leave the verb in its original Hebrew form as a cognate of giluach. Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (1469-1549) in Meturgaman notes this inconsistency and also points out that the Targumic term maspar for “razor” (see Targum to Num. 6:5, Judges 13:5) is also derived from this root. Interestingly, Targum Neofiti is more consistent than the other Targumim in always rendering giluach as sapar.
