Dr. Orlinsky's Views on New JPS
Revised Translation of the Torah
The following statement by Dr. Harry M. Orlinsky, • who was
chairman of the committee that revised the translation of the Five
Books of Moses for the Jewish Publication Sciciety of America,
explains the committee's approach and his own reactions to the new
format of the Torah edition already made available by the JPS:
The Jewish community at
large, in its wisdom, will deter- play a full and free role in
mine by the extent of its use helping to create the unparal-
of the new translation, whether leled American scene. And this
the Jewish Publication Society's unprecedented status of ours is
new version will become as "au- reflected accurately in the new
thorized" as the previous version Torah translation.
In 1917 the JPS produced an
of 1917.
English version of the Bible
However, some phenomena which ,differed, to the extent of
have already become crystal less than one percent or so,
clear, and quite significant. First from the British. Revised Version
of all, great Bible translations of 1885. The format, no less
among Jews, no less than among than the style, was utterly con-
Christians, have come into being ventional—that is, Christian in
only from great, stable flour- conception, with a black somber
ishing Jewish communities. cover, double-column pages of
Thus the Greek, Septua- close type, red edges, and the
gint translation was made by like. It would have occurred to
and for the large, remarkably no one 50 years ago, when the
cosmopolitan and thriving Jew- iJewish community was small,
ish community of Alexandria, 1 and less than secure and inte-
Egypt, some 2000 years ago. The grated, to depart from the norms
same is true of the Targum I of Bible-making.
among the Aramaic-speaking
But look at what the JPS of
Jews of Western Asia at the today, the same in name but
turn of the Era. Saadia's notable quite different in outlook, has
Arabic translation of the Bible, now wrought! We are the first
a thousand years ago, could not "authorized," publicly sponsored
possibly have been achieved in translation of the Bible that has
a less learned and affluent Jew- broken with the past, with un-
ish society. And the new Torah imaginative and courage-less con-
is the direct and inevitable con- formity to the past. We have
sequence of the social, cultural, rejected the age-old convention
economic, political, and religious of translating the Hebrew word
status achieved by American for word, even letter for letter
Jewry today.
sometimes, mechanically into
This is a status never achieved English. It is the sense and the
previously by our people in its idiom and the spirit of the He-
long and varied history in the brew that must be captured by
2000-year old diaspora. Several the idiom of the English lan-
basic factors have helped us to guage—this, apart from the fact,
achieve this status: on the inter- that all too often a literal trans-
national scene, six million Jews lation from the Hebrew resulted
died, and the State of Israel in a bad, as well as incorrect or
came into being; and on the misleading sentence, in English.
domestic front, the character of Bible translations for so many
the Ameritan economy, and so- hundreds of years incorrectly
cial Struct* made- it possible distinguished between "you" for
for the J6Wish community to man and "Thou" for God—an
artificial and erroneous distinc-
tion -preserved even in the cur-
rent Protestant and Roman
Catholic versions; our committee
is the first to overthrow this
artificial structure.. It has be-
come a pleasure to look at and
to handle a Bible, our new Torah
volume. The lively dust jacket,
the attractive blue cover, the
clear type—all breathe life and
hope and imagination.
(Religious Zionists of America)
According to Harry Wolfson,
Harvard's philosopher, it was the
Jewish philosopher Philo, 1900
years ago, who laid the philo-
sophical foundation of Christi-
anity; and it was another Jew,
Baruch Spinoza, 1600 years later,
who destroyed Philonism for
Christianity and gave it new di-
rection. Now already 200 years
before Philo, the Jewish Septu-
agint translation of the Bible
You can choose your tour was made, and for over 2,000
years it set the pattern for Bible
to Israel for the Spring and translation, word-for-word, me-
chanically.
Summer with El Al Jet planes
Our Translation Committee,
reflecting the verve and opti-
mism of today's Jewish commu-
nity, likes to believe that the
for only
new Torah, in its internal and
external break with the past,
has set a new pattern, which
authorized Protestant and Cath-
olic translations of the future
will tend to follow.
Seek 'Witnesses of Nordhausen Nazi Camp Crimes
The World Jewish Congress in
New York is seeking witnesses
able to give evidence against six
Nazis now under investigation
by the West German authorities
for crimes committed at the Dora
(Nordhausen) camp, which was
part of Buchenwald camp In
Germany.
The Nazis under investigation
are: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
Helmut Bischoff, chief of the
SD and Gestapo of Nordhausen
region; SS Hauptscharfuehrer Er-
win Busta (possible spelled Pus-
ta or Buster) in charge of the
work of the inmates; SS Haupt-
sturnifuehrer Adolf Haeser (or
Heeser), chief of the SD and
Gestapo in Nordhausen; SS Ober-
scharfuehrer Ernst Sander, chief
Service, Gestapo, Security
of the Gestapo at Dora; SS Ober- Security
and the Gendarmerie.
scharfuehrer Bruno Schueppen- Police
2. Kowel. Witnesses are needed for
hauer, chief of the SD and Ges- an investigation against two area-
and their personnel.
tapo in Nordhausen under the commissioners
3. Lubomil. Evidence is sought
middle of 1944; SS Obersturm- against those responsible for the
murders in Lubomil.
fuehrer Josten, camp leader of various
4. Baranowicze and the adjacent
the "Boelke-Kaserne" in Nord- towne, Hansewicze, Nowogrodek, Slo-
nim, Lida. The crimes there were
hausen.
committed by the members of the
branches of the Security Police at
Investigations are also being Baranowicze.
6. Borissow, Sembin and adjacent
carried out by West Germany
The investigation is con-
in connection with a number of localities.
cerned with murders committed in
Nazi crimes in various districts July-October, 1941, by members of
of Poland. Witnesses who may the Einsatzgruppe B.
Anyone able to give evidence
have any information concerning
Nazi crimes in the following in connection with any of these
areas should get in touch with investigations is urged to con-
tact Dr. Nehemiah Robinson, di-
the World Jewish Congress:
1. Radom and the cities and towns rector, Institute of Jewish Af-
of Radom district, in particular Opa- fairs, World Jewish Congress,
tow, Sandomierz, Busko, Chmelnik,
Lukow and Miedbyrzec. Witnesses 15 E. 84th St., New York 28.
are needed against members of the
Soviet Witnesses Fail to Arrive
in Germany for Trial of 12 Nazis
COBLENZ, (JTA) — Officials
of the jury court trying George
Heuser and 11 other former SS
men in the mass wartime slaugh-
ter of 35,000 Jews in Minsk said
that "neither the Soviet wit-
nesses nor documents offered
by Soviet authoritieS" against
the defendants "have arrived
here."
Soviet officials had called a
special press conference in Mos-
cow to complain that the jury
court had refused to consider
either the documentary evidence
or the availability of the Soviet
witnesses.
Secure your future—buy U.S.
Savings Bonds.
■ 1111 ■ 1111111111111P
MORTGAGES
APPLICATIONS FOR
VA
or
FHA
ARE NOW BEING TAKEN
On New or Existing Homes
QUICK SERVICE
Phone Us Today
FRANKLIN
MORTGAGE CORP.
Approved FHA Mortgagee
915 First National Bldg., Det. 26
WO 3-4890
MIZRACHI
HAPOEL-
HAMIZRACHI
TOURS TO ISRAEL
$53 5 0 0
s nd Trip
Ro u
Bnai Brith President
Meets Vatican Officials
Contact:
RZA MIZRACHI
HAPOEL-
HAMIZRACHI
.
DETROIT OFFICE
17596 WYOMING
DI. 1-0708
ROME, (JTA)—Label A. Katz,
president of the Bnai Brith, left
for New York after meeting with
Vatican officials on the Ecumen-
ical Council which will resume
its session later this year. Katz,
who was accompanied by Saul
Joftes, director of international
relations for the organization,
called on Cardinal Augustine
Bea, head of the Secretariat of
the Union of Christians.
God finds it as difficult to
effect suitable mating as to di-
vide the Red Sea.
—Sanhedrin 22.
Look what grows in the MANISCHEWITZ garden
Eleven tempting vegetables baked into a brand
new, delightfully different, taste sensation. Try it!
Mmmmm, Manischewitz Vege-Matzo.
vege 'MATZO
WITH 100% LIQUID CORN OIL