Biblical Studies Enriched by Chronicles in Anchor Seriesi,
Oxford Bible. Apocrypha, Tzeenah U-Ileenah Translation

7

Non-Jews have been known to
master Hebrew — some of the very
great Hebraists have been in non-
Jewish ranks — and a few non-
Jews also have become Yiddishists
— as in the case of Editor Rocket
of the anarchist Yiddish news-
paper Freie Arbeiter Shtimme.
But when a non-Jew translates
the famous Yiddish women's
"Tzeenah U-Reenah" into English
— that is indeed news with an
unusual twist.
The Rev. Dr. Norman C. Gore,
rector of the Episcopal Church of
the Epiphany, Atlanta, Ga., is the
author of this translation, subtitled
"A Jewish Commentary on the
Book of Exodus," published by
Vantage Press (120 E. 31st St.,
NY1).
It is not only the translation
itself that is so interesting and
of such importance. Lending
special importance to the voltune
is the author's introductory
essay in which he traces the
origin of the Tzeenah U-Reenah.
There is a foreward to the
volume by Rabbi Jacob L. Friend
who explains that "this unpre-
tentious book proved itself to have
been one of the supreme educators
of the Jewish people because it
enabled the Jewish woman to share
in the religious and cutural life
of her people."
Another preface, by Sherman E.
Johnson, dean of the Church of
Divinity School of the Pacific, who
welcomes the initiating of the
reader into rabbinic tradition and
states that Christians will benefit
from a better understanding to be
gained from it "of the People of
the Book who have preserved for
us the Bible and the ancient tradi-
tions."
Dr. Gore declares in his preface
that since "Tzeenah U-Reenah" is
a product of Polish Jewry, "this
work is fitly dedicated to the mil-
lions of Jewish martyrs, victims of
Hitler, to whom the 'Tzeenah U-

Reenah' is a memorial of piety and
learning."
The Christian minister's in-
troductory essay traces the de-
velopment of Yiddish, mentions
some claims that a Swabian
dialect used in the 9th Century
was the ancestor of present-day
Yiddish and refers to claims of
others who believe that "there
was comparatively little differ-
ence between the German spoken
by Jews of the Germanic coun-
tries and that spoken by their
neighbors."
There follows an explanation of
the language of "Tzeenah U-
Reenah," with its closeness to
German, the use of Hebrew terms.
The works of Eli Levita, also
known an Elijah Bhahur, who was
born in 1469 in Germany and who
died in Italy in 1549, and who was
called the father of Yiddish litera-
ture, is referred to; and Rev. Gore
describes the emergence of the
"Bobbe Masse."
He also writes about the early
Old Testament translations, and
various "Tzeenah U-Reenah" edi-
tions are described.
Rabbi Jacob ben Isaac Ashke-
nazy, the date of whose birth is
given as 1550, is called the
"Tzeenah" author, and an in-
teresting account is given of his
other works and his life's
activities.
Dr. Gore declares that "as a
popular production for meeting
the need of Jewish women, the
'Tzeenah U-Reenah' was supreme.
The Jewish mother, who was the
main strength of the Jewish house-
hold, passed on her faith, her piety,
and her religious knowledge to
her children. To the Jewish mo-
ther, the 'Tzeenah U-Reenah' was
a standard textbook in matters
pertaining to faith and practice.
When she nourished her child on
her knee, or when she put him
to bed, she told and retold to him
the wonderful stories contained in
the 'Tzeenah U-Reenah."

Jewish Education in U.S. Struggles
With Severe Teacher Shortages

NEW YORK (JTA) — Jewish
education in the. United States
enters the new year beset by a
critical shortage of teachers and
administrative personnel as one of
its most pressing problems, a
plateau of pupil enrollment and a
wide variety of local and national
efforts to cope with its problems.
This summary was offered by
Rabbi Isadore Breslau, president
of the American Association for
Jewish Education, in an annual
report of the status of Jewish ed-
ucation in this country.
Other problems listed were: In-
adequately trained teachers, lack
of continuity in education of Jew-
ish children beyond elementary
age and the need for more rele-
vant curriculum and more attrac-
tive teaching materials.
Rabbi Breslau reported that
there had been no recognizable
growth in the number of chil-
dren attending Jewish schools.
He noted also that the number
attending Jewish secondary
schools remained around 7 per
cent of children attending all
Jewish schools.
The 7 per . cent, figure, he said,
included the high percentage of
Jewish day school students who
go on to secondary schools, "and
therefore indicates the bankruptcy
of Jewish education on all other
levels."
The shortage of personnel re-
mains critical and worsens because
teacher - training institutes fail
to graduate enough new teachers.
The continued movement of Jews
to new areas, leading to the crea-
tion of new congregations and new
congregational schools, aggravates
the problem because it places new

40—Friday, October 1, 1965
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

burdens on the insufficient number
of teachers and supervisors.
It also makes more difficult the
work of central educational agen-
cies trying to coordinate and serv-
ice such institutions.
Specifically, there are an esti-
mated 13,000 licensed and unli-
censed Jewish teachers in the
United States and Canada. Aside
from replacements for teachers
who retire for various reasons,
1,000 additional Jewish teachers
are needed annually.
The teacher-training institutes
graduate about 120 teachers each
year, of whom about half quit
the teaching profession within a
few years. The net annual addition
to the Jewish teaching ranks is
about 00 to 70, and the net deficit
each year is about 800 to 900, the
JTA was informed.
The gap is filled somehow by
employment of unaccredited
teachers, by Israelis, by visitor
exchange programs, cantors, rab-
bis and even by lay people. An
AAJE source contended that,
grave as the personnel shortages
are in the rabbinate and Jewish
communal agencies, the worst
shortage is in the Jewish teach-
ing field.
Rabbi Breslau added, however,
that there were evidences of con-
structive accomplishment on both
the national and local levels in
improving Jewish education. Na-
tional Jewish denominational
agencies are intensifying their
own programs, including better
inservice training of teachers, more
coordination in the group, re-ex-
amination of curricula, intens-
ification of education, particularly
through additional hours of class-
room attendance, and more efforts
to establish new secondary schools.

The translated text, the stories
from the Bible, the legends accom-
panying them, as they appear in
the translated text, give the reader
a proper understanding of this
wonderful women's prayerbook,
textbook, guide to Jewish living.
Dr. Gore's translated work is
more than a mere rendition of
the work into English. It also
offers, in the introductory essay
a list of the translations. There
is an English translation of
Genesis only by Paul I. Hershon,
published in London in 1885 as
"Rabbinical Commen t a r y on
Genesis." There it was claimed
that the "Tzeenah" was published
in 1693. Dr. Gore maintains, on
the basis of a Basel edition, that
it was 1622.
His work, Dr. Gore maintains,
is the first translation into English
of the Exodus portion and he main-
tains that "it may also claim to
be a first attempt to a full and
faithful translation f r o in its
original Yiddish."
"Tzeenah U-Reenah" was a very
popular book among Jewish wo-
men. Those who could read had
it read to those who could not. It
became a textbook and a guide. Dr.
Gore's translation now gives the
English reader an excellent under-
standing of an historic work.
Oxford University Press (417
5th, NY16) incorporates in - its
new 1,900-page volume the "Oxford
Annotated Bible" and "The Oxford
Annotated Apocrypha," in their
revised standard versions. The two
widely commended works now ap-
pearing in a single volume were
published respectively in 1962 and
1965.
It is a monumental work, in two
columns per page — totaling near-
ly 3,800 columns — with annota-
tions that provide backgrounds,
biblical criticisms, explanatory
details.
The "Annotated Bible," was
edited by two Scholars — the Old
Testament by Herbert G. May and
the New Testament by Bruce M.
Metzger. Dr. Metzger is the editor
of the Apocrypha section.
Presented as an encourage-
ment to the study of canonical
Scriptures and the Apocrypha,
this very significant work con-
tains introductions, comments,
cross references, articles of a
general nature on the Biblical
theme s, chronological tables,
indexes, maps — all tending to
multiply the importance of the
compilation. There are 12 _ Bible
maps, and the index to them is
like a geographical compendium.
Then there is a very lengthy
index to annotations, accounting
for the thoroughness of the work
and the scholarship that went
into creating it.
Thus we have in this volume the
interpretive skill of great scholars,
commentaries on all the biblical
books, resort to the available know-
ledge about Scriptures that proves
valuable to students from all faiths.
In an introductory essay, Metzger
outlines the names and order of
the Books of the Bible, the Old
and New Testament contents, and
he includes a list of differences
between the Roman Catholic
Douay Version and the Revised
Standard Version as regards names,
numbering of chapters and those
regarded by Protestants as , apoc-
ryphal.
"The Apocrypha" portion of
this immense work similarly con-
tains, with the listing of the
apocryphal works, evaluative in-
troductions a n d explanatory
essays which briefly explain
many portions. These books as
they appear in the Oxford Bible
are translations from the Greek
and Latin, versions set forth in
1811, revised in 1894 and
again in 1957. The chronologies
of rulers in both sections of this
work are important aids for Bib-
lical students.
The introductions to each of the

contained 66 biblical books explain
composition, authorship, dates, con-
tents, and there is a special in-
troduction to the Five Books of
Moses.
The first Revised Standard Ver-
sion of the Bible was published
in 1901 and was a revision of the
King James Version of 1611. Lists
of subsequent English versions are
given in the prefatory note.
References to the many schools
of Biblical thought, including Jew-
ish scholarly efforts, afford the
students the opportunity for
thorough biblical research with
the aid of this work done by
eminent Christian scholars.
Apocryphal works — Maccabees,
Wisdom of Solomon, Sayings of
Jesus ben Sira, Judith, Tobit, etc.
— almost became lost to Jewry,
but were fortunately retained
by Christianity. Fourteen of the
apocryphal works are included in
the Septuagint.
The Anchor Bible being prod-
uced by Doubleday in 38 volumes
continues to impress Bible stu-
dents. As volumes 12 and 13 in
the series, the publishers have
just issued I Chronicles and II
Chronicles, with an introduction
and notes by the translator Prof.
Jacob M. Myers of the Lutheran
Theological Seminary, Gettys-
burg, Pa.
Pointing out that Chronicles
actually are one book, Dr. Myers
explains that because of its length,
when translated from Hebrew into
Greek, there has been a division
and the two volumes have been
retained with an interrelatedness.
Dr. Myers, who also is preparing
the translations of and com-
mentaries on Ezra and Nehemiah
for the Anchor series, describes
the works of the Chronicler — the
two books of Chronicles, Ezra and
Nehemiah — as the most neglected
portions of the Old Testament. He
maintains that it has been "rend-
ered more respectable" by archae-
ological and historical studies.
--
The title of Chronicles in
Hebrew — "Dibre Hayamim" —
"happenings of the days" —
occurs 32 times in Kings . as "a
rather widely used expression,"
the translator shows. He points
out that the present Greek and
Latin versions of Chronicles are
called "Paraleipomena," things
left over or omitted in histories,
especially as they involve Judah.
He also mentions. the Chronicles'
place in the canon: "In. the
Hebrew canon, the work of the
Chronicler stands in the third
division — the Kethubim writ-
ings — and last in that division."

Describing the character of the
Chrochicler, Dr. Myers believes
that he could hardly have been a
proponent of ordinary messianism,
that "he did not look into the dis-
tant future for the realization of a
majestic dream in which Jerusalem
was seen as the center of the
world governed by Israel and to
which all nations were welcomed.
It was rather a conception of the
saved people, those who had re-
turned from exile, joined by those
who had remained in the land
and who were ready to accept the
returnees' direction nad rule."
There is an analysis of the
first nine chapters whcih deal
with genealogies. Comparisons
of names offered in genealogical
tables serve to add enlightenment
to the numerous listings. The
explanatory notes serve as valu-
able commentaries on Old Testa-
ment historical data.
The death of Saul, David's emer-
gence with growing support from
liebronites, the movement of the
Ark, wars with the Philistines, op-
position to David's desire to build
the Temple, his punishment for
census-taking, eventual prepara-
tion for the Temple — these are
among the commentaries in I
Chronicles.
The second volue is devoted to
Solomon's reign and to the Kings
of Judah, and the comments here
review the historical events rel-
ating to the building of the Temple,
to Solomon's wealth and wisdom.
The prophetic records and the dis-
puted reference are analyzed in
the commentaries.
The review of the reign of the
Kings concludes with the decree
of Cyrus (538 BCE):
"Yahweh God of the heavens
has given me all the kingdoms
of the earth, and. He has ap-
pointed me to build for Him a
house in Jerusalem which is in
Judah. Whoever among you be-
longs to all His people, may
Yahweh his God be with him
and let him go to."
Dr. Myers calls this historic
tdeclaration, permitting Jews 'to
return and to rebuild the Temple,
"the connecting link between
Chronicles and Ezra . . . Cyrus
acts in harmony with the predic-
tions of Jeremiah . (xxv lIff, xxix
10), only 'this time for salvation,
that is, the 'return and rehabilita-
tion of the people."
The research and ()Pinions of
Dr. Myers in the two volumes of
Chronicles add to biblical litera-
ture with enriched commentaries.
They multiply the merits of the
Anchor Bible series.

-

Water Carrier Makes Area Flourish

With the aid of Israel Bonds, Israel's agricultural output has
increased to a point where the country now produces 85 per cent
of all its food needs. A major factor in this advance has beer Israel's
e Negev,
expanding irrigation network, which has been extended to th
where new settlements are rapidly springing up. At Kibbutz Shoval, a
new cooperative farm settlement northwest of Beers heba, a
combine cuts green fodder which will be bed to milch co
kibbutz, which has 500 acres of crops cultivated by irr
outstanding example of the agricultural growth made .ns,
National Water Carrier built with the
of Isr eel Development

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