Revised Translation of 'Isaiah' Enhances JPS Historic Effort
Another chapter has been
added to the great literary
undertaking of the Jewish
Publication Society of Amer-
ica, with the appearance of
the new translation of "The
Book of Isaiah."
The historic task, launched
in 1955, commenced with the
revised translation of "The
Torah" by a group of emi-
nent scholars under the
chairmanship of Dr. Harry
Orlinsky. Then came "The
Five Megilot" and "Jonah."
Soon, in another revised
translation, the literary
world will be treated to a
new JPS edition of "The
Psalms."
"The Book of Isaiah" ap-
pears in a translation by
a group of eminent scholars,
under the chairmanship of
Prof. H. L. Ginsberg.
But the new edition has
another great aspect. It con-
tains the drawings of a great
artist, Chaim Gross, and his
series would in themselves
guarantee a valuable collec-
tion of art works.
Giving an account of the
skills of the artist, Alfred
Werner has contributed an
additional essay to this vol-
ume under the title "The
Draftsmanship of Chaim
Gross." Werner pays a dis-
tinct honor to the artist and
the manner in which Gross
has visualized the prophetic
pages - he illustrated by de-
daring:
"The Bible calls for an ar-
tist rather than a commer-
cial designer. In the past, we
have had to make do with
too many unphilospphical
matter-of-fact 'illustrations,'
especially in religious books
given to the young; pictures
that have no bite, that are
too tidy, too timid. Limiting
-
themselves to translating epi-
e— sodes from f..le verbal into
the graphic forms, these
pedestrian craftsman failed
to use their media—in a spirit
akin to that of the patriarchs
and sages of the past—to
raise questions concerning
life and death, to seek to
distill the essence of the hu-
man condition, in short, to
meet the challenges offered
by the metaphysical nature
of the text.
"In Gross can be found the
capacities for highlighting a
deathless book to which
might be applied better than
to any other part of the
IP Bible what Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe wrote about the
Holy Scriptures—that its sec-
tions were 'complete enough
.
-
to satisfy, and fragmentary
enough to whet the appetite,
adequately primitive to
arouse, and sufficiently ten-
der to soothe.' The drawings
here serve a double function:
the artist is eager to commu-
nicate with his audience, yet
his forms are not ends in
themselves, but means to il-
luminate his subject matter,
to shed on it a light that
comes from within, not from
without. Here, Gross' art is
one of the soul; he permits
himself to be as 'grotesque'
as the writer of the divine
words whose mind also dwelt
in the 'grottoes' of darkness,
from which he sent rays of
consolation, of hope."
This is only the supplemen-
tary—the unusual resort to
illustrations for the immense
task of providing a modern-
ized English translation of
the great work of the Pro-
phet Isaiah. Therefore it is
the text itself that matters
—and the introductory essay
by Dr. Ginsberg, in which
we have explanations, ana-
lyses and summaries of the
contents of the Two Isaiahs.
The prophecies and the
visions, the historic data,
the spiritual legacies—these
are outlined in the results of
scholarly discus- sions that
were conducted by the ex-
perts who met for several
years to review the needs in
compiling the latest of the
revised translations. In the
summary, of the contents of
Isaiah A—chapters 1-33, it
is indicated that not all of
them were authored by
Isaiah, son of Amoz, that
"the entire Historical Ap-
pendix is merely an account,
not written by -Isaiah and not
free from legendary traits,
of incidents in which Isaiah
played a part . . . In addi-
tion, the Body (a, 7.1-17 plus
8:8b-10 and b, ch. 10) con-
tains blocks of matter of
which Isaiah is neither the
author nor the subject." _
Describing several impor-
tant aspects of Isaiah A, such
as the fall of the Chaldean
Kingdom, the logic as to "a
God of justice," and "the
idea of a catastrophic judg-
ment on a human race whose
corruption is comparable to
that of the generation of the
Flood," Dr. Ginsberg states
that the translators' verdicts
were "not arbitrary," and
that: "In a publication like
the present one it is not nec-
essary to discuss or even to
point out every probable or
possible example."
As to Istiah b, chs. 40-66,
34-35, Dr. Ginsberg describes
their background as "the
fall of the Chaldean King-
dom and the early years of
the Persian •mpire." He
state': "The standard view
used to be that chs. 40-48
dated from the period 547-
539 BCE . . . before King
Cyrus of Persia, an event
which made a Persian attack
on the Chaldean Kingdom
seem to be the logical next
step, on the one hand, and
Cyrus' actual entry into
Babylon, on the other, while
the succeeding chapters dat-
ed from the years following
the latter event, when what
Cyrus did for Israel and Is-
rael's religion fell so short
of what the prophet had ex-
pected. For it was pointed
out that even the last refer-
ence to Cyrus, 48:14-15,
speaks only of his anticipated
role in history. It should be
noted, however, that- Cyrus'
measures on behalf of Is-
rael's religion seem to be
noted with satisfaction in
52:11 . . ."
With regard to the Second
Isaiah, Dr. Ginsberg states:
"Our prophet—we will call
him Deutero-Isaiah — was a
successor to both Jeremiah
(prophesied 626-ca. 580) and
Ezekiel (phophesied 597-
571). Under the influence of
Jer. 31:15.17 (14-16), Deu-
tero-Isaiah says (40:1-11)
that Jerusalem (and the oth-
er cities of Judah, v. 9) has,
by grieving for her exiled
children, earned a right to
be recompensed with their
return. Under the influence
of the egregious Ezekelian
consolation (Ezek. 36:16-31),
Deutero-Isaiah declares (Is.
43:22.44:5) that Jacob is
really unworthy of redemp-
tion. The present generation
has neglected the artificial
cult . . . and the people has
been a sinful breed . . • That
is why the Lord had to deli-
ver the people up to taunts
and jeers . . . For His own
sake, the Lord is wiping out
Jacob's transgressions and
will restore him to _glory."
The question here posed by
the spokesman for the trans-
lators is whether In follow-
ing both Jeremiah and Eze-
kiel, Deutero-Isaiah has been
led into a self-contradiction.
Confirming it, Dr. Ginsberg
comments: "The only solu-
tion is to eschew pedantry
and to worry about such in-
consistencies as little as the
prophet himself."
There is much discussion
on a variety of other points
IMMO/
Members of the JPS Bible translation committee include, front left, seated,
Rabbi Bernard J. Bamberger, Dr. H. L. Ginsberg and Dr. Harry M. Orlinsky; stand-
ing, Dr. Moshe Greenberg, Rabbi Saul Leeman, Rabbi Martin Rozenberg, Dr. Solomon
Grayzel, Dr. Jonas C. Greenfield, Dr. Nahum N. Sarna, Rabbi Max Arzt and Dr.
Chaim Potok.
. 1 - 0 1 4 1:4
f !
/
s rs ue,
"
-
11
• (
The artist Chaim Gross' interpretation of 'the famous lines in Isaiah 2:4:
Thus He will judge among the nations
And arbitrate for the many peoples,
And then shall beat their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks:
Nation shall not take up
Sword against nation;
They shall never again know war.
that must have led to dif-
ferences of opinion among
the translators, as shown in
referrals to separate views
by Prof. Orlinsky.
Of major significance in
this impressive revision of
the original translation of
Isaiah is the form the new
text assumes. There is, for
example, this contrasting se-
lection:
In the 1920 JPS transla-
tion, Isaiah 62:6-7 reads:
I have set watchmen
Take ye no rest,
And give Him no rest,
Till He establish,
And till He make Jerusalem
A praise in the earth'
simplified to make the Eng-
lish translation more read-
able, to enhance the interest
in the great prophetic work.
* * *
In the newest translation,
In the total effort, we have
these two verses read:
the combined results of emi-
Upon your walls, 0
nent scholars who have
Jerusalem,
poured into the new transla-,
I have set watchmen,
tion their i -)wledge and
Who shall never be silent
their many years of research.
By day or by night
The new JPS volume adds
0 you, the Lord's
to the enrichment a task that
remembrancers,
makes the road to scriptural
Take no rest.
knowledge easier for a gen-
Upon the walls, 0 Jerusalem, And give no rest to Him,
eration that is thus provided
They shall never hold their Until He establish Jerusalem with texts more readily ac-,.
And make her renowned on ceptable because they will be
peace
earth.
Day or night:
much easier to understand
It is so clear that the new in the simplicity introduced
`Ye that are the Lord's
translation is sufficiently in the new translation. —P.S.
remembrancers,
Report on Plight of Cuban Jewry Warns Tiny
Community Can Vanish Without Adequate Aid
NEW YORK — Cuba's
dwindling Jewish community
is carrying on a valiant
struggle to maintain Jewish
life without the assistance of
rabbis, cantors or • profes-
sional teachers.
Unless adequate aid can
be provided, members of the
American section of the
World Jewish Congress were
told by Lavy Becker of Mon-
treal, the Cuban community,
born in 1906, right after the
Spanish-American War, will
almost completely vanish by
the end of this century.
Similar concern for the mil-
lion Jews of Latin America
was expressed at WJC
meetings by Dr. Gerhart M.
Riegner, of Geneva, secre-
tary general of' the World
Jewish Congress, "Unless we
help these Jewish communi-
ties come through this diffi-
cult period, we will soon be
faced with another serious
crisis."
Dr. Riegner stressed that
"economic and political un-
certainties rather than anti-
Semitism represent the root
of Latin American Jewry's
problems." He indicated that
the World Jewish Congress
had already united the diver-
gent factions of Latin Amer-
ica into an umbrella group
where they are working on`
common concerns.
Becker, WJC's consultant
on inter-community affairs,
unfolded a portrait of Jewish
life under the Castro regime
and a Communist govern-
ment. He returned last
month, his second visit in
two years.
The Jewish population of
Cuba reached its peak in the
1950s numbering 14,000.
Many arrivals were refugees
from Nazism. Now 900 Jews
live in Havana and 300 are
scattered throughout the rest
of the island. Most of the
remaining Jews are older.
The government has per-
mitted the community to re-
tain all of its five synagogue
buildings, one of which
serves as a Jewish center
and house of worship. Subsi-
dies are provided indirectly
by the government which
rents the synagogue auditor-
ium for • various functions.
Additional small contribuf
tions are made by the Cuban
Jews from their earni
Also a Zionist chid
Zionist activities are permit-
ted. The community has re-
mained a member of the
World Jewish Congress, a rm
its leaders participate in in-
ternational meetings.
A day school, named after
Theodor Herzl, was national-
ized as a state school, and
with the agreement of the
community renamed aftei,
Albert Einstein.
Becker noted that "as a
guesture of cooperation, in a
nation with gasoline ration-
ing, the 30-40 grade school
children are bused to th
Einstein School so that they,
can, after their regular class ,
es, study Hebrew and other
Jewish subjects for an addi-
tional 90 minutes daily."
48—Friday, March 30, 1973
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS