(Continued from Page 1)
the earth." Current knowl-
edge, leading to a more ac-
curate understanding of the
original Hebrew, eliminates
the implication contained in
this translation, that eternity
began at this point, he stated.
The new, precise translation
begins: "When God began to
create the heaven and the
earth . . . "
As another example of the
confusion existing in prior trans-
lations, now clarified as the re-
sult of increased historical and
archaelogical knowledge, Dr. Or-
linsky cited the common miscon-
ception—contained in the King
James and other English trans-
lations—that Moses led the Chil-
dren of Israel across the Red
Sea in their escape from Egypt.
"Our current knowledge makes
it completely clear," he declared,
"that they actually crossed an
area where the Suez Canal lies
today, a marshy section north of
the Red Sea which in all prob-
ability was covered with water
to substantial depths in the time
of the Exodus. That area was
known as the Sea of Reeds, and
is so given in our new transla-
tion."
"There are literally hun-
dreds of passages in the Holy
Scriptures," Dr. Orlinsky said,
"which have baffled translators
for centuries, and whose mean-
ing is only now becoming clear
in the light of our increased
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understanding of the laws,
languages and spirit of the
Biblical era."
Another d r am a tic example
cited from the new translation
is the conceptual change, and vir-
tual elimination of the use of
•
the word "soul."
"The Hebrew word in ques-
tion here is `nefesh', Dr. Orlinsky
explained. "0 t h e r translators
have interpreted it to mean
`soul', which is completely in-
accurate. The Bible does not say
we have a soul. `Nefesh' is the
person himself, his need for food
—the very blood in his veins."
Perhaps the most striking
change in the new translation,
Dr. Orlinsky stated, "will be
seen in our revised understand-
ing of the Third Command-
ment." Noting that the Com-
mandment, previously trans-
lated as "Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God
in vain . . . "has been inter-
preted to constitute an injunc-
tion against profanity, he said
that a more accurate reading
of the Hebrew reveals the
Commandment to be con-
cerned, instead, with perjury.
The new translation of the
Third Commandment, he re-
ported, reads: "You shall not
swear falsely by the name of
the Lord your God; for the
Lord will not clear one who
swears falsely by His name."
This change, Dr. Orlinsky de-
clared, "reveals not only the
correct meanings which we have
discovered—scores in the Torah
alone—in making this transla-
tion directly from the ancient
Hebrew -. text, it is also an ex-
ample of the style in which our
translation has been couched.
We have eliminated the 'thou'
and 'thy' forms, and their ac-
companying verbs with endings
such as `goest' and 'bringeth,'
which are a holdover from the
17th Century and which make
it almost impossible for most
people, particularly young peo-
ple, to read the Bible with under-
standing. These archaic forms,
including such words as 'per-
force' where the Hebrew means
`therefore' and the use of the
word 'even' in althost a thou-
sand places where there was no
corresponding word in the He-
brew, have led many people to
believe that the Word of God
was given in the Elizabethan
English of the 17th Century.
"Our constant goal has been
to render the original Hebrew
as accurately as contemporary
understanding will permit, into
modern, readable English, dis-
carding the errors and obstacles
which, through misunderstanding
or a misplaced tranditionalism,
have stood between modern man
and a clear knowledge of God's
Word."
In striving for this goal, he
continued, the scholars respon-
sible for the new translation
sought a dignity of style and an
elegance of expression parallel
to that contained in the Hebrew
text. This has been true in the
production of the volume as well,
he said, noting that the Books
of Moses to be issued on Jan.
28 will present the poetry of
the original Hebrew as poetry
in English, will discard the stan-
dard two-column format for
easily-readable, clear one-column
typography, and has not hesitat-
ed to alter the arbitrary enumer-
ation of Bible chapters and
verses, which he called a medi-
eval imposition on the Hebrew
text, in favor of divisions which
correspond with the meaning of
the Bible.
Dr. Orlinsky, who was the sole
Jewish member of the committee
which produced the Revised
Standard Version of the Old
Testament in 1952 — the first
Jewish scholar ever invited to
participate in an authorized Eng-
lish Bible translation under
Christian auspices—is Professor
of Bible at the Hebrew Union
College—Jewish Institute of Re-
ligion in New York and a rec-
ognized world leader in Bible
scholarship.
Co-editors of the committee
responsible for the translation
of the Torah are Dr. H. Louis
Ginsberg, Professor of Biblical
History and Literature at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America and a member of the
Hebrew Language Academy in
Jerusalem, and Dr. Ephraim A.
Speiser, Professor of Bible and
Semitic Languages and Litera-
tures at the University of Penn-
sylvania, where he is also chair-
man of the Department of Orien-
tal Studies. He is a renowned
orientalist, who has led a num-
ber of archaelogical expeditions
to Mesopotamia.
The Associate Editors, repre-
senting the three sections of or-
ganized Jewish religious life,
are:
Dr. Max Arzt, Vice-Chancellor and
Associate Professor of Practical
Theology at the Jewish Theological
Seminary, and Associate in the Semi-
nar on Religion at Columbia Uni-
versity; former president of the
Rabbinical Assembly of America and
former vice-president of the Syna-
gogue Council.
Dr. Bernard J. Bamberger, Rabbi
of Congregation Shaaray Teflia in
New York, former president of both
the Synagogue Council of America
and the Central Conference of Amer-
ican Rabbis, and author of a num-
ber of works on the Bible and the
Talmudic era.
Dr. Harry Freedman, a leading
English Orthodox scholar rabbi, who
has written, edited and collaborated
in the preparation of the Soncino
Bible, Talmud, Humash and Midrash
Rabbah, as well as the Encyclopedia
of Biblical Interpretation and other
works of scholarships. Dr. Freedman.
who has held rabbinic posts in Eng-
land and the U. S. and lectured in
Bible at Yeshiva University in New
York, now serves as a rabbi in Mel-
bourne, Australia.
Secretary of the translation
committee is Dr. Solomon Gray-
zel of Philadelphia, editor of
the Jewish Publication Society
of America and author of major
works of Jewish history. Mem-
bers in an ex-officio capacity are
Sol Satinsky, president of the
society; Judge Louis E. Levin-
thal of Philadelphia, honorary
president; Edwin Wolf, 2nd,
chairman of the society's pub-
lication committee; and Lesser
Zussman, executive director of
the JPS.
Satinsky pointed out that JPS
was responsible for the trans-
lation now in universal use by
Jews throughout the English-
speaking world. This translation,
published in 1917, was essential-
ly a revision of earlier English
texts, he said, and the society
launched the current effort in
1955 because it was left that a
completely new translation em-
bodying the findings of modern
scholarship, and not a revision,
was needed today.
Wolf declared that the work
of translating and publishing the
Torah, involving an expenditure
of approximately $250,000, had
been underwritten on a demo-
cracy basis by more than 1,700
individuals and institutions
throughout the United States.
Nearly 200 Detroit Jews partic-
ipated in this effort.
Publication of the Torah, Wolf
announced, is the first step in
a 20-year program of Bible trans-
lation and publication, which will
include the complete text of the
Holy Scriptures both in English
and in combined Hebrew-and-
English revision, Commentaries,
a Concordance and special Bibli-
cal works for children and young
tor of the national Catholic week-
ly America, as "a most welcome
gift to the Scripture-loving pub-
adults. The program is expected lic."
to be completed by 1975, he said,
and will be underwritten by an
additional fund of half a mil-
lion dollars, which will be raised
throughout the country on the
same democratic basis as the
fund which made possible the
'translation of The Torah.
In addition to praise from
MURRY'
leading Jewish figures, includ-
IIKCPULIN
ing Dr. Samuel Belkin, president
18039 WYOMING
of Yeshiva University, Dr. Louis
UN. 1-5600
Finkelstein, chancellor of the
Jewish Theological Seminary,
and Dr. Nelson Glueck, president
of the Hebrew Union College—
Jewish Institute of Religion, the
new translation was hailed by Dr.
John LaFarge, S.J., associate edi-
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5 — THE DETR OIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, Octob er 12, 1962
Torah in Revised Translation Into
Into English Due from JPS Jan. 28