56 Friday, April 28, 1918
THE DETROIT JEWISH On
From Ararat to Mount Zion — Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter
By JOSEF GOLDSCIIMIDT
Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem
- JERUSALEM — Where
in Jerusalem would you find
a collection of 4,000 manus-
cripts, all of them ancient
and priceless?
Where in Jerusalem
would you find some of the
finest medieval churches,
rich in candelabra, relics
and tile walls of early Chris-
tendom and whose air is fil-
led with incense?
Where in Jerusalem
would you find an 1833
printing press (the first in
the Holy Land) alongside
20,000 books in a language
that no more than 3,000
Jerusalemites read and
speak and which was di-
vinely inspired in the
Fourth Century?
Where in Jerusalem will
you fmd a large display of
gold treasures, elaborate
jewelry, priestly vestments
and ancient ceramics in a
brand new museum opening
in October 1978?
Enter the Old City of
Jerusalem through Jaffa
Gate and walk towards
the Western Wall passing
the old Turkish prison on
the right attached to the
16th Century city walls.
On the left is a high for-
bidding wall which encases
a walled city within the wal-
led city of Jerusalem with
one arched portal leading
inside. Every night two
heavy iron doors, hundreds
of years old, close the entry.
Behind these walls in the
Armenian Quarter you will
find the answers to our
questions and a community
!those special way oflife has
guaranteed its existence
over the past 1;700 years
and made it unique among
Jerusalem's many com-
munities.
Right inside this arched
entry is the Cathedral of St.
James whose history goes
back to the Fourth Century
when the remains of the
martyred St. James the
Less, the first Bishop of
Jerusalem, were removed
from the Kidron Valley and
reburied under what is
today the Cathedral's main
altar.
The site of the decapita-
tion and burial of St. James
the Great, the fisherman
and one of the 12 Apostles,
is commemorated by a
richly decorated chapel in
the northern nave.
In St. Echmiadzin's
Chapel in the southern
nave, three large stones
from Mt. Sinai, Mt. Tabor
and the River Jordan sym-
bolize pilgrimages to these
holy sites. The walls of this
beautiful chapel are deco-
rated with tile pictures of
the life of Jesus and biblical
stories, reproductions of an-
cient Armenian manus-
cripts.
The entire cathedral is fil-
led with magnificent hand-
crafted candelabra — gifts
of Armenian communities
all over the world. Another
cathedral is also being built
on Mt. Zion which will in-
corporate the ruins of the
House of Caiphas and a
church from the Byzantine
period, and will stand be-
side the traditional burial
grounds of the Armenian
Patriarchs.
Inserted on the courtyard
walls in front of the Cathed-
ral are decorative cross-
stones, "Khatchkars", also
gifts from devoted pilgrims
from abroad. Two clappers,
one wooden and one iron,
hang just outside the
Cathedral's entrance. In the
past used for calling con-
gregants to worship, they
now serve as reminders that
until 1840 the Turks for-
bade church bells in
Jerusalem.
Among the other interest-
ing buildings within the 300
acres of the Armenian
Quarter is the residence of
the Armenian Patriarch,
Elisha II, and the adminis-
trative offices of the Pat-
riarchate. Especially
noteworthy is the elegant
and spacious hall, filled
with portraits of former
Armenian Patriarchs and
autographed pictures of
European royalty, used by
the Patriarch for entertain-
ing official guests and visit-
ing dignitaries.
Built in 1853, this un-
usual hall is carpeted with
rare Persian rugs, lit by
crystal chandeliers and top-
ped by a striking blue dome
10 meters high.
The Quarter houses an
elementary and secondary
school — the first co-
educational institutions in
Jerusalem — for 350 pupils
who study all the secular
subjects plus their own his-
tory and tradition. The Pat-
riarchate also supervises a
seminary, originally estab-
lished in 1843, but rededi-
cated in several large, mod-
ern buildings in 1975.
Here, more than 60 men
train for the priesthood
while other non-Armenian
students concentrate on the
Armenian language, cul-
ture and religion.
Although only 3,000
Armenians live in
Jerusalem — out of some six
million in the world — the
Jerusalem Patriarchate
and its tightly-knit com-
munity of artisans, mer-
chants and professionals is
the second most important
Armenian spiritual center
in the world after the
Catholic os of all Armenians
in Echmiadzin, historical
Armenia's religious capital
now located in Soviet Ar-
menia.
For one thing, Jerusalem
is much more easily acces-
sible to the free world than
Echmiadzin and has, there-
fore, succeeded in attracting
young Armenians from the
West and the Near East.
The fact that this Arme-
nian seminary is one of the
most important centers for
theological and Armenolog-
ical learning has greatly
stimulated the community
and enhanced its prestige.
For the Armenians, a
small minority everywhere
outside Armenia, religious
and cultural survival is a
central concern. That the
majority of the Armenian
community live within the
walls of its own Quarter
symbolizes, perhaps, the
many hardships the Arme-
nian people has suffered
since it became the first na-
tion en masse to embrace
Christianity in the year
301. Christians were often
persecuted in the early cen-
turies of their faith; the
close identity between the
Armenian church and
Armenian nationhood led to
even greater suffering and
persecution.
the Jewish people and the
Armenian people. Both
identify their nationhood
with their religion. Both
-Even today, the many have suffered cruel persecu-
disasters that befell their tion over the centuries.
people, particularly the Both have kept alive their
massacre of 1.5 million national identity, language
Armenians in 1915-1917
and pride by their loyalty to
under the last Ottoman rul- their traditions. It is an
ers, are still fresh in Arme-
irony of history that today
nian memories.
the Armenian people find
Some observers have seen peace and security in the
a similarity in the fates of capital of the Jewish state.
The Cathedral of St. James in the Armenian Quar-
ter of the Old City of Jerusalem.
Dr. Harry Orlinsky Defines New Trends in Bible Translation
(Editor's note: In a
memorial lecture in trib-
ute to his teacher Prof.
William F. Albright, at
Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, Dr. Harry Orlinsky,
eminent Bible scholar
and head of the Bible de-
partment at the New
York School of Hebrew
Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, out-
lined the trends that were
pursued in the revised
translation of the Torah,
sponsored by the Jewish
Publication Society of
America. Dr. Orlinsky's
lecture, "Male Oriented
Language in New Bible
Translations," was re-
ported in the Johns Hop-
kins Magazine by Elise
Hancock and the basic
text of her impressive re-
port follows:)
By ELISE HANCOCK
BALTIMORE — "A
translator," Orlinsky be-
gan, "is not an historian,
nor a theologian, nor a lin-
guist; his job is to translate
the text he has before him to
the best of his ability," and
without regard to political
ideologies, feminist or
otherwise. "He should
translate as though he
never heard of the National
Organization for Women, as
if the Pslamist had just
written."
It is not possible, of
course, "to do away with the
2,500 years since, but he
must try. Also, this is a sac-
red text. That is why these
translation committees are
being supported for 30 years
— not because there are
many interesting points of
grammar or because it's
lovely literature, but be-
cause it's the sacred word of
God—and you don't change
the word of God!"
Hence the italicized
words in the English Bibl e:
They are words for which
there are no directly corre-
sponding words in the He-
brew text. "He is big" for
"He big," for example.
Under the old philosophy,
Orlinsky said, the word-
of-God argument meant
that every male word in Bi-
blical Hebrew had to be
rendered as a male word in
German or English or
whatever. "If God used the
words man and fathers, you
didn't translate it as person
and ancestors." Yet, heivent
on, "if you were to ask, what
was the word for ancestors?
you'd get the same word as
that we used to read as
meaning fathers." The
feminist movement has
forced translators to ask
such questions.
So now, Orlinsky said,
among the committees
working on translations
right now — "Bible trans-
lators don't get paid very
well, but they have a very
steady job" — there is a new
philosophy of translation.
The new idea is to translate
from the idiom of Then to
the idiom of Now. For
example, He read in the ears
ofthe people now becomes he
read out loud.
"We've been under pres-
sure from people pointing
out that half or more of the
population is composed of
what used to be called the
weaker sex — someone had
a sense of humor — a pres-
sure which met a certain re-
sistance . . Some of us on
translation committees are
lazy, prejudiced, or have
purely literary prejudices —
(against "humankind," for
example) —"but we became
cognizant that we were in a
rut. We were reproducing
the Hebrew too mechani-
cally."
The translator's primary
goal is still to be faithful to
the Hebrew text, "which is
good. We still argue, oy how
we argue — it's peculiar
how everybody else can be
wrong— but the arguments
should be only about the
meaning of the Hebrew
texts."
For example — Orlinsky
came with some apparent
relief to specific passages —
" 'Blessed is the man who
(varying translations).' But
the woman, whether the
woman is blessed or not:we
don't know." Now, the He-
brew in the passage says
ish, which literally means
man. "Do you change it to
one or person?" Orlinsky godly people and from de-
thinks "such arguments fall
ceitful and unjust men.' . .
into a trap. The question to
The old RSV has 'malignant
ask is, "How is the word ish
men and liars.' The Good
used in this specific pas- News- Bible has 'lying and
sage? And as you go through
evil men.' But how about
the psalm, you find lots of ungodly and lying women,
plural wicked ones and
God should not deliver you
rightous ones, so you realize from them?" (Orlinsky has a
that the Hebrew language fine enjoyment of oratorical
used a lot of singular collec-
flourish.) So the new RSV
tives, where you can just as
reads, "From the deceitful
accurately say people."
and unjust deliver me."
Orlinsky's colleagues on
In passing, Orlinsky ad-
the Revised Standard Ver- dressed the question that
sion— still being revised— troubles many people about
understand this, he said. new Bible translations, the
"Actually, the Hebrew does
question that came up espe-
not mean "Happy is the cially when the Revised
man,' it means 'Happy are Standard Version was first
the people who . . " And issued: What of the "ca-
that's the way the passage is dence, rhythm, and
now translated.
majesty" of the King James
"What women's lib did is Bible?
force us to think about
"One never likes a new
something we just hadn't translation," Orlinsky said,
thought about, something "because the old is so famil-
we should have realized just iar. But if you repeat the
from our knowledge of the new translation as few as
ancient Hebrew. Because five times, it's astonishing
we were put on the spot, it how well it reads."
dawned upon us that ish
He cited "in the begin-
does not always mean sin- ning' seems inevitable,
gular male, it often means sanctified by trandition."
people." The translation But the passage really
now for the first really re- means "When God began,"
produces the intentions of which is the way the new
the writer. "And we have RSV has it And "if you say
also satisfied 52.4 per cent 'When God began' several
of the world's population."
times — with reverence—it
Similarly, Psalm 43.1: sounds great. In the begin-
"'Judge me 0 God and de- ning? In the beginning
fend my cause against un- what?"