Some Notes on Torah Reading

Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”  Exodus 19:5-6  NASB

My voice – The Torah is God’s voice written down.  The oral Torah is the traditional interpretation and explanation of God’s voice written down.  For the Jews, both are necessary.  That means we need a process for combining both in our exegesis.  Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, in The Living Torah, provides some direction in the section, “Translator’s Introduction”.

It is obvious that the Torah contains much idiomatic usage, and translating it literally (as do most translations) distorts the meaning of the text.  To a large degree, the “Oral Torah” consists of a tradition as to how to render the idiomatic language of the Torah . . . To translate it literally would not only go against tradition, but would be incorrect.  The Talmud itself warns of this.  In one of the most important teachings regarding translation, the Talmud says, “One who translates a verse literally is misrepresenting the text.  But one who adds anything of his own is a blasphemer.”[1]

The narratives of the Torah were meant to read like a story, and this too must be preserved in translation.  In telling a story, there is no room for heavy language or complex sentence structure.  Sometimes one Hebrew sentence will be broken up into a number of sentences in English; at other times, two Hebrew sentences may be joined into one in the translation.  The final goal is always clarity and readability.[2]

An example of idiom is the manner in which the Torah handles dialogue.  In English, this is handled by setting each statement in quotation marks and beginning it as a new paragraph.  There is no need to repeat the name of the person speaking.  In Hebrew, the same goal is attained by repeating the expression, “And he said” before each statement.  Translating this literally can be very awkward and repetitive.[3]

The only exception to this rule [providing the simplest and clearest translation] has been where Torah law is concerned.  Here, we have consistently translated the passages so that they reflect the final decision in Jewish law.  For the most part, this means following Maimonides’ code (the Yad).  Where law is concerned, literary considerations are secondary.[4]

Pay special attention to Kaplan’s exception.  This explains why it is impossible to simply read the Torah Law in common English translation and walk away thinking you know what it means.  In the end, the Torah is a Jewish document and must be read as such even if in the process of discovery we uncover Jewish paradigmatic interpretations.

Topical Index:  Torah, oral Torah, interpretation, exegesis, Law, Aryeh Kaplan, Exodus 19:5-6

[1] Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, The Living Torah: The Five Books of Moses and the Haftarot (Moznaim Publishers, New York, second edition, 1981),  p. v.

[2] Ibid., p. vi.

[3] Ibid., p. vii.

[4] Ibid., p. vii.