Thursday, March 17, 2005

LEONARD GREENSPOON has an essay on the problem of translating the sacrificial terms in Leviticus in the Forward this week ("PORTION: Translations And Transliterations - Leviticus 1:1-5:26"). He advocates a radical solution:
In my opinion, all readers, and especially Jewish readers � for whom these chapters should retain a lively relevance as they did for talmudic rabbis (most of whom, like us, lived after the fall of the Jerusalem Temple, and the end of its sacrificial system) � are best served by transliterating these terms rather than translating them: Thus, we would have in chapter one, "olah"; in chapter two, "a minchah offering/gift", and in chapter three, "an offering of shelamim" (Fox anticipates this with his "slaughter-offering of shalom"). To my mind, this is the best way to alert readers to the fact that, at this point, they need to take some extra time to consider both the nature and purpose of these rituals.

In the best of all worlds, this approach would lead all readers to go look up these offerings and learn something about them. But in our world I fear it would just make Leviticus a more intimidating book than it already is to lay people. But it would be an interesting experiment.

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