Taste of Torah for Parashat Behar

Torah                   Leviticus 25:1 - 26:2

Haftarah               Jeremiah 32:6 - 32:27

The original is unfaithful to the translation. - Jorge Luis Borges

What is lost in the good or excellent translation is precisely the best. - Friedrich Von Schlegel

Translating from one language to another... is like looking at a Flanders tapestry from behind. - Miguel de Cervantes

Reading poetry in translation is like kissing through a handkerchief. - Hayim Nahman Bialik

Dear Friends,

One of the favorite destinations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the Liberty Bell, which is housed in a special pavilion.  On the bell is the famous quotation found in Leviticus 25:10:  "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof".  Except that is not what it really says in the Torah.  This verse is part of our Torah portion this week, Parashat Behar.  The parashah begins with a description of the sabbatical year, a Shabbat for the land every seven years, so that it can rest.  Then we are told to count seven sabbatical year cycles and in the fiftieth year we are to declare the Yovel, the Jubilee year.  The Yovel is not really so much about liberty for the people as it is about releasing the land to the original tenant families. 

(I am not using the word "owners" deliberately, as we read in the Torah:  "...for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me" [Leviticus 25:23].)  The lives of people are affected by the calling of a Jubilee year, one cannot have this much change in land-holdings and not affect people.  There are also people who have become indentured as a result of their debts.  The release of these people is part of the observance of the Yovel, but this is still not liberty in the way that we think of it.  A better translation would be "You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants."  Better translation or not, we still hear the words on the Liberty Bell when we read this part of the Torah.  The translation of an earlier time is so much a part of how we see the verse that it is hard to see it any other way.  Another verse that we hear similarly is the very first verse in the Book of Genesis.  We hear "In the beginning..." despite the fact that the grammar of this verse is complicated and a better translation is "When God began..." 

Most of us learn the Bible through translation and the translation of the Bible into English has made it much more accessible to us.  But it is easy to forget that we are one layer removed and that translations have their own biases and quirks.  Many things shape a translation:  language, attitudes, words, knowledge, archeology, theology, etc.  The fact that translations shape our understanding of the text gives us two choices when we study Torah or Hebrew Scripture, we can approach the text on its own terms and learn Hebrew, or we can remind ourselves of the effect of translation by reading more than one translation.  When we learn Hebrew, even if we gain only a very small understanding of the language, we open a new window into how to see the beauty of the text and how to understand it.  When we read more than one translation, we see the places in each verse that create difficulty, which can be interpreted in different ways, depending on how we see the words.  Using more than one translation gives us a glimpse into the complexity of the text, helps us not to take it for granted.

May we each have a Shabbat [a Sabbath, a Saturday, the seventh day of the week, a day of rest] Shalom [hello, good-bye, peace, whole, complete],in other words, a peaceful day of rest, refreshment, and rejuvenation.

Shabbat Shalom & a blessed week,

Rabbi Batsheva Appel

Director of Rabbinic Services

Our constant amazement at the wonder of God's creation is limited by the fact that we tend to see the world as human-sized.  Yet, when we encounter the most powerful forces in God's creation, then we remember to see the universe "God-sized".  Cyclones, tornados, floods, fires, earthquakes, all have taken a terrible toll on so many people in the past few weeks.  We sorrow with those who have lost loved ones as well as with those whose lives have been turned upside down.  Even though we are only human-sized, we too are God's creation and can be a powerful force in our world as we work to help those who need our help and comfort those who need our comfort.

Please share this message with family and friends, especially those who do not have access to email, and when your congregation gathers for services I invite you to read this Taste of Torah from the bima.  As always, please be in touch.  I’d particularly appreciate hearing about simchahs, moments of joy, [i.e. births, birthdays, engagements, anniversaries, graduations] or illnesses or other challenges in your family or community.