Review of "Onkelos on the Torah"
May. 11th, 2008 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuAs a member of LibraryThing, I sometimes receive books to review based on what's already in my library. Last week I received a copy of Onkelos on the Torah: Understanding the Bible Text Leviticus by Israel Drazin, published by Gefen Books. I was quite impressed with it.
My first reaction when I found out about this book was to wonder "What's the point?" It's a translation into English of a translation into Aramaic of the Torah; how would that differ from a direct translation into English?
What I had failed to appreciate was that Onkelos's translation was often not a literal conversion of the Hebrew into Aramaic. When he felt that a literal translation would be misleading, he would add or substitute language to promote what he considered the correct understanding of the text. The present translation into English not only preserves Onkelos's changes, but highlights them by using bold type and, in the commentary, explains how and why Onkelos altered the Hebrew text.
The translation itself is of high quality; it is both readable and for the most part faithful to Onkelos. (See below for why I say "for the most part.") I found myself learning new approaches to learning while reading this book, and highly recommend it.
The introductory material was fascinating, including a summary of the positions of various major commentators regarding the origins and purpose of the sacrifices. I understand that the volumes on Genesis and Exodus have more information about the translators' approach to Onkelos in their introductions.
I was very impressed with the typography of this volume. Typography happens to be a hobby of mine, and it was a pleasure to look at the attention to detail. Most of the fonts used are beautiful, including the use of "st" and "sp" ligatures; there's hanging punctuation; the paper is high-quality cream. I don't care for their Rashi font, though; it's beautiful but it's even harder for me to read than usual Rashi script.
There were a few minor ways in which I found myself wishing that the authors and publisher had made different choices:
My biggest typography complaint is that the layout is too close to the usual; with the Hebrew text largest, and Onkelos in smaller type on the side. This makes it hard to compare them; I had to keep my place in four text streams (Hebrew, Onkelos, English, and the commentary) at the same time.
Although the translation is supposed to be faithful to Onkelos, there are a few places where the translators have not translated quite literally, which surprised me. For example, on Lev. 19:4 the commentary explains that "Scripture uses the term elil twice in this passage.... Since the term is so close to el and since the average Targum reader might suppose that the verse is ascribing divinity to idols or suggesting that many gods exist, our targumist substitutes disparaging nouns that literally mean 'a fearful thing' and 'a mistake.' ... The targumist uses two distinct terms for Scripture's 'gods' because of his usual, oft-noted preference not to repeat words." Which raises the question of why they translated the verse as, "Do not turn after idols or make idols of cast metal for yourselves."
The commentary does not limit itself to explaining those cases where Onkelos has altered the Hebrew text. It also brings down explanations from Rashi, Sforno, and others. Unfortunately, all cases where there is a commentary are indicated by boldface in the English without distinction. Since the real value of this volume is in the explication of Onkelos's choices, I wish that they had downplayed the other sources.
Conversely, there are cases where an extended explanation is placed in the appendix; I would rather have had those integrated into the main commentary flow.
At the ends of chapters, the authors repeat one of their commentaries in a box labeled "Onkelos Highlights." And there are often lists of questions titled "Beyond the Text". I cared for neither of these, since the "Highlights" are mere recapitulation and don't really add to the reader's understanding, and the questions are often "dangerous" in that they can lead a naive reader, using the book without a teacher, to believe that non-normative answers are, in fact, what Onkelos intends us to take away from the text. Since their thesis is that Onkelos's changes to the Torah text were intended to avoid heterodoxy, this seems ironic.
The book includes the haftarah for each parsha, with a translation based on the Targum. Unfortunately, only the Hebrew and not the Targum is printed, and the differences between the two are not highlighted in the same way that they are in the Torah texts. That is disappointing, since it means that the English is not a translation of the Hebrew and the intermediate stage of the Aramaic isn't there to bridge the two.
However, these are mostly quibbles. Rabbis Drazen and Wagner have constructed a book that succeeds both as a work of scholarship accessible to the lay reader and as a contribution to limud Torah.
My first reaction when I found out about this book was to wonder "What's the point?" It's a translation into English of a translation into Aramaic of the Torah; how would that differ from a direct translation into English?
What I had failed to appreciate was that Onkelos's translation was often not a literal conversion of the Hebrew into Aramaic. When he felt that a literal translation would be misleading, he would add or substitute language to promote what he considered the correct understanding of the text. The present translation into English not only preserves Onkelos's changes, but highlights them by using bold type and, in the commentary, explains how and why Onkelos altered the Hebrew text.
The translation itself is of high quality; it is both readable and for the most part faithful to Onkelos. (See below for why I say "for the most part.") I found myself learning new approaches to learning while reading this book, and highly recommend it.
The introductory material was fascinating, including a summary of the positions of various major commentators regarding the origins and purpose of the sacrifices. I understand that the volumes on Genesis and Exodus have more information about the translators' approach to Onkelos in their introductions.
I was very impressed with the typography of this volume. Typography happens to be a hobby of mine, and it was a pleasure to look at the attention to detail. Most of the fonts used are beautiful, including the use of "st" and "sp" ligatures; there's hanging punctuation; the paper is high-quality cream. I don't care for their Rashi font, though; it's beautiful but it's even harder for me to read than usual Rashi script.
There were a few minor ways in which I found myself wishing that the authors and publisher had made different choices:
My biggest typography complaint is that the layout is too close to the usual; with the Hebrew text largest, and Onkelos in smaller type on the side. This makes it hard to compare them; I had to keep my place in four text streams (Hebrew, Onkelos, English, and the commentary) at the same time.
Although the translation is supposed to be faithful to Onkelos, there are a few places where the translators have not translated quite literally, which surprised me. For example, on Lev. 19:4 the commentary explains that "Scripture uses the term elil twice in this passage.... Since the term is so close to el and since the average Targum reader might suppose that the verse is ascribing divinity to idols or suggesting that many gods exist, our targumist substitutes disparaging nouns that literally mean 'a fearful thing' and 'a mistake.' ... The targumist uses two distinct terms for Scripture's 'gods' because of his usual, oft-noted preference not to repeat words." Which raises the question of why they translated the verse as, "Do not turn after idols or make idols of cast metal for yourselves."
The commentary does not limit itself to explaining those cases where Onkelos has altered the Hebrew text. It also brings down explanations from Rashi, Sforno, and others. Unfortunately, all cases where there is a commentary are indicated by boldface in the English without distinction. Since the real value of this volume is in the explication of Onkelos's choices, I wish that they had downplayed the other sources.
Conversely, there are cases where an extended explanation is placed in the appendix; I would rather have had those integrated into the main commentary flow.
At the ends of chapters, the authors repeat one of their commentaries in a box labeled "Onkelos Highlights." And there are often lists of questions titled "Beyond the Text". I cared for neither of these, since the "Highlights" are mere recapitulation and don't really add to the reader's understanding, and the questions are often "dangerous" in that they can lead a naive reader, using the book without a teacher, to believe that non-normative answers are, in fact, what Onkelos intends us to take away from the text. Since their thesis is that Onkelos's changes to the Torah text were intended to avoid heterodoxy, this seems ironic.
The book includes the haftarah for each parsha, with a translation based on the Targum. Unfortunately, only the Hebrew and not the Targum is printed, and the differences between the two are not highlighted in the same way that they are in the Torah texts. That is disappointing, since it means that the English is not a translation of the Hebrew and the intermediate stage of the Aramaic isn't there to bridge the two.
However, these are mostly quibbles. Rabbis Drazen and Wagner have constructed a book that succeeds both as a work of scholarship accessible to the lay reader and as a contribution to limud Torah.