Jewish English Bible translations
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Jewish English Bible translations are modern English Bible translations that include the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) according to the masoretic text, and according to the traditional division and order of Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim.
Jewish translations often also reflect traditional Jewish interpretations of the Bible, as opposed to the Christian understanding often reflected in non-Jewish translations.
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[edit] Lack of centrality
In general, English Bible translation has been less central and not as widespread among Jews as among Christians (the latter having produced dozens of modern translations and versions in English along with sets of initials to distinguish them). This is partially due to the fact that English became the major spoken language among Jews only in the era since the Holocaust. Before then, even Jews in English-speaking countries were still part of an immigrant culture to a large extent, which meant that they could either understand the Hebrew Bible in its original language to a certain degree or, if they required a translation, were still not fully comfortable in English. Many translated Bibles and prayer books from before the Holocaust were still in Yiddish, even those published in countries like the United States.
A further reason that English Bible translation is less central to Jews than Christians is that often, those Jews who study the Bible regularly still do so, to a greater or lesser extent, in its original language, as it is read in the synagogue. Even those who require translations often prefer a bilingual edition.
Nevertheless, Jewish translations of the Bible to English have become far more widespread, especially since the 1980s, and been made available in numerous complementary versions and styles. This article lists many Jewish translations with short descriptions (and sometimes with links to fuller, in-depth articles about specific translations).
[edit] Isaac Leeser translation
The first Jewish translation of the Bible to English was the 19th century effort by Isaac Leeser. Leeser began his translation in 1845, completed it in 1853, and it was commonly called The Leeser Bible.
[edit] Jewish Publication Society translations
The translations of the Jewish Publication Society of America (JPS) have become the most popular English translations of the Hebrew Bible. JPS has published two such translations.
[edit] Old JPS (1917)
The first JPS translation was completed in 1917, and was based on the scholarship of its day; its literary form was consciously based on that of the King James version. The Old JPS translation is used in a number of Orthodox Jewish works published before the 1980s, such as the Pentateuch and Haftaroth edited by J. H. Hertz and the Soncino Books of the Bible series.
[edit] New JPS
The 1917 translation was felt to be outdated by the 1950s, and a new effort developed that involved cooperation between numerous Jewish scholars from a variety of denominations. Their translation of the Torah was started in 1955 and completed in 1962. The entire Tanakh was finally published in one volume in 1985, and a bilingual Hebrew-English version appeared in 1999 (also in one volume). The translation is usually referred to as "The New JPS version", abbreviated NJPS (it has also been called the "New Jewish Version" or NJV).
The translators of the new JPS version were experts in both traditional Jewish exegesis of the Bible and modern biblical scholarship. The translation attempts in all cases to present the original meaning of the text in a highly aesthetic form.
The New JPS translation is used in the official Torah commentary of Reform Judaism, and in the official Torah commentary of Conservative Judaism. This translation was most recently used in The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195297512).
[edit] Living Torah and Nach
Perhaps the first Orthodox translation into modern English was The Living Torah by Aryeh Kaplan (New York: Moznaim Publishing, 1981 [2nd edition]). It was later supplemented by The Living Nach in the same style (by Yaakov Elman and others) after Kaplan's death. The Living Torah is available online.
Though Rabbi Kaplan's translation claims to present a straight translation of the text, it many cases it actually intersperses the translation with later rabbinic commentary and Jewish law. This characteristic is shared by some other Orthodox translations, such as ArtScroll (see below).
[edit] Judaica Press
Another Tanach available online is The Judaica Press Complete Tanach with Rashi's commentary. [1]
[edit] ArtScroll Tanach series
Mesorah Publications is an Orthodox Jewish publisher of Bible translations, rabbinic literature and Jewish prayerbooks. Their Stone Edition of the Chumash (Torah) and Stone Edition of the Tanach (also called the ArtScroll Tanakh) have become very popular in the Orthodox Jewish community, and are in use by some non-Orthodox Jews as well. It is considered by many Orthodox Jews to be the best of the English translations.[citation needed]
Their translations have been criticised by a few Modern Orthodox scholars, e.g. B. Barry Levy, and by non-Orthodox scholars as mis-translating the text. This dispute comes about because, it is claimed, the editors at Mesorah Publications consciously attempted not to present a literal translation of the text, but rather to smooth out differences between the plain meaning of the text and later interpretations of the text by medieval biblical commentators such as Rashi.
[edit] Torah translations
Because the Torah is read in a yearly cycle in the synagogue, there are many Jewish translations of the Torah only (without Nevi'im and Ketuvim).
[edit] Fox
Everett Fox has translated the Torah and the book of Samuel for Schocken Press. Presumably more books will follow. Inspired by the German translation prepared by Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, it is represented to be a highly accurate translation which tries to preserve both the poetic sound of the Bible and as much literality as can be done within English.
[edit] Robert Alter
Alter's translation of the Torah keeps an eye on style and biblical poetics.
[edit] References
- B. Barry Levy. Our Torah, Your Torah and Their Torah: An Evaluation of the ArtScroll phenomenon in Truth and Compassion: Essays on Religion in Judaism, Ed. H. Joseph et al. Wilfred Laurier University Press, 1983.
[edit] External links
- JPS 1917 Edition of the Hebrew Bible in English (Mechon Mamre)
- Online Jewish translation of the Bible With Rashi's commentary by The Judaica Press at Chabad.org
