THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, August 6, 1982 45 Bible Translation Completes 25-Year Taskfor Prof. PHILADELPHIA — At 78, Prof. H.L. Ginsberg of the Jewish Theological Seminary is the senior member of a team of Judaic scholars that labored for more than a quarter of a century to produce the first translation of the Bible by a committee of scholars from the original Hebrew into the vernacular in 2,300 years. For this concluding phase of the project, Dr. Ginsberg, o retired last September Sabato Morais professor of biblical history and liter- ature at the Seminary, edited the Five Megillot. These volumes — The Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamenta- tions, Ecclesiastes and Esther — together with the Book of Jonah, were corn- plete in 1969. The megillot have b-e-erfin-corputated iritb the current JPS translation of "The Writings." Prof. Ginsberg's involve- ment with the project dates back to its inception, when he joined the Torah Com- mittee in 1956. Translation of "The Torah," first of the three-volume series, was completed in 1963. Sub- sequently, Prof. Ginsberg served as chairman of the committee of translators for "The Prophets (Nevi'im), the second volume, pub- lished in 1978. When work first began in translating "The To- PROF. GINSBERG rah," Dr. Ginsberg re- called recently, the origi- nal concept had been to revise and bring up to date the 1917 JPS trans- lation, which itself was essentially a revision of earlier translations. It soon became evident, however, that much-more than a revision was needed. A new transla- tion was required, one that would render the traditional text in a mod- ern English idiom. "We had to feel our way. We had to liberate ourselves from the burden of tradi- tional translation and de- cide just what tone would fit the subject," Prof. Ginsberg said. "We wanted to make our translation as intelligi- ble as possible for the gel- neral reader while retain- ing the meaning and flavor of the original text." All the thees and thous Ben-Gurion's 1944 Prophecy JERUSALEM — Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, was one of the greatest figures in Zionist history. His unique combi- nation of vision and action finds expression in the fol- lowing excerpts from his 1944 speech entitled "The Imperatives of the Jewish Revolution": "The Jewish Revolution is not the first or only one in the history of the world, but it is perhaps the most dif- ficult . . . all other revolts, both past and future, were uprisings against a system, against a political, social or economic structure. Our revolution is directed not only against a system but against destiny, against the unique destiny of a unique people. "This Jewish people preserved its values and its prophetic hopes and these, in turn, preserved it. These intangibles were the source of the morale which enabled us to withstand the pressure of the mighty empires on our borders and to feguard our unique char- ter. "The very uniqueness of the Jewish people became the power by which it has left its mark on the history of man and by which it con- tinues even now to be a creative force in the world. "Yes, individuals may have surrendered and left our ranks — but the nation as a whole neither surrendered nor lost heart ... resisting fate is not enough. We must master our fate, we must -- take destiny into our own hands. This is the doc- trine of the Jewish revo- lution — not surrender to the Galut (exile) but make an end of it . . in a word, to achieve independence. "The first imperative of the Jewish revolution is, therefore — to guard jeal- ously the independence of our movement . . . the sec- ond indispensable impera- tive is (to maintain) the unity of its protagonists .. . the third, and perhaps most important, is halutziot (pioneering). "No greater or more ur- gent task awaits our youth leadership than ingather- ing and resettlement . . . but even personal commitment is not enough, you must be the nucleus for enlisting Jewish youth throughout the country . . . make pioneers of the youth of our country. This is the greatest and most urgent need of the Jewish revolution." were dropped immediately and the modern English idiom was adopted. "It found favor in his eyes" be- came "he approved." This philosophy was adopted by the committee that translated "The Prophets" and "The Writ- ings"; the latter covers the period from earliest pre- exilic times to the Second Century CE. "The transla- tion of Ecclesiastes and Esther are different from any pervious versions," Dr. Ginsberg declared. "Esther is an extravaganza. Purim was meant to be a spoof. This translation reflects the essence and spirit of the spoof. The style and flow of the story is captured by the use of the modern English idiom." Similarly, Dr. Ginsberg explained, the principal terms of Ecclesiastes are translated differently. Its opening statement, tradi- tionally translated as "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," now becomes "Utter futility, utter futil- ity, all is futile." "The literal rendering fails to convey the current nuance," Prof. Ginsberg noted. "The basic point being made by the author is that there is no use concen- trating on the acquisition of worldly goods since all of life, ultimately, is futile." Another example cited by Dr. Ginsberg comes from the ancient Hebrew love poem, Song of Songs, where an earlier literal transla- tion from the Hebrew reads, "My beloved put forth his hand through the latch and my bowels moved for him." As Dr. Ginsberg noted, "It was the author's obvious in- tent to portray an emo- tional, rather than a biolog- ical, response." This is evi- dent from the new JPS translation, which reads "and my heart was stirred and his tumult." For Prof. Ginsberg, to- gether with his colleagues on the translation commit- tees, the publication of "The Writings" represents the culmination of a lifetime of scholarly accomplishments. Orchestra plus Disco Music just for you 358 3642 - INFANTS • BOYS • GIRLS APPAREL • THRU SIZE 16 NEW STORE POLICY 20%- OFF. REGULAR MERCHANDISE AT ALL TIMES 'except selected Items FOR THE EARLY BIRD! 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