Rabbinic Translation
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. Exodus 12:21 NASB
Go and take for yourselves – You probably didn’t know this, but translators of the Hebrew text into English make decisions about which rabbi they will follow. That’s right, rabbi! Since the rabbis don’t always agree about what the text means, translators choose which rabbinic interpretation they will use, without telling you what they’re doing, of course. You are left thinking that the verse you’re reading in English is what the Hebrew Bible says, but you don’t know that even before it was translated, there were debates about how it should be read in Hebrew. You think you’re reading the word of God, but what you’re really reading is one of the possible rabbinic viewpoints. It’s disturbing, isn’t it? You thought you knew what God wanted you to know, but you discover that what you know is what some rabbi decided.
Here’s an example:
“The verb doublet mishkhu u-kekhu (Fox: ‘Pick out, take’) in Exodus 12:21 is redundant. The Ishmaelian exegesis therefore interprets the first word (mishkhu, ‘draw’) in a reflexive sense: ‘withdraw yourself’ (from what? from idolatry?). Rabbi Akiva, for whom the lamb was intrinsically important, had to interpret away the redundancy differently: pick one out if you already have a lamb, and acquire one if you do not. The verb [la]-kakh had the meaning of property acquisition (especially through purchase) in rabbinic Hebrew.”[1]
In this case, the translators followed the path of Rabbi Ishmael and interpreted the word reflexively. But is that what the text really says? Those who followed Rabbi Akiva (and a good portion of modern Jewish orthodoxy does) would have interpreted the text differently. The Complete Jewish Bible translates this verse:
Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Draw forth or buy for yourselves sheep for your families and slaughter the Passover sacrifice.”
But the Sefaria translates:
Moses then summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover offering.
Two Hebrew Bibles—two different readings. You might say, “Why does this matter? They are basically the same. The Hebrew text is the same so who really cares?” Maybe you already know the answer. If you read Hebrew, you might be aware of these two versions. Maybe. I think it’s more likely that even in Hebrew you will read the text according to the way you were taught, and that means according to the rabbinic path chosen by your teacher. But if you read in English, you are at the mercy of the translator, and he probably never told you which rabbi he followed because that would be to admit that his view is rabbinic, not Christian. All of this makes me wonder where we ever got the idea that we could read the Word of God and actually hear God’s words. It’s much more complicated, isn’t it?
Oh, now don’t despair. Trust is not the same as accuracy.
Topical Index: mishkhu u-kekhu, translations, Exodus 12:21
[1] Gordon Tucker, in Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations (ed. and trans. by Gordon Tucker, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2007), p. 84, fn. 27.
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