Targum
Encyclopedia
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
(Tanakh
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim 鈥攈ence...
) written or compiled from the Second Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
period until the early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
(late first millennium). The two major genres of Targum reflect two geographical and cultural centers of Jewish life during the period of their creation, namely the Land of Israel
Land of Israel
The Land of Israel is the Biblical name for the territory roughly corresponding to the area encompassed by the Southern Levant, also known as Canaan and Palestine, Promised Land and Holy Land. The belief that the area is a God-given homeland of the Jewish people is based on the narrative of the...
and Babylonia
History of the Jews in Iraq
The history of the Jews in Iraq is documented from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 586 BCE. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities....
. Aramaic was the dominant Jewish language or lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
for hundreds of years in these major Jewish communities.
To facilitate the study of Tanakh and make its public reading understood, authoritative translations were required. As translations, the targumim largely reflect midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
ic interpretation of the Tanakh of the time, and are notable for eschewing anthropomorphisms in favor of allegorical readings. (Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as M奴s膩 ibn Maym奴n in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, for one, notes this often in The Guide.) This is true both for those targumim that are fairly literal, as well as for those that contain many midrashic expansions.
An Aramaic Bible is also used in the Syriac Church
Syriac Christianity
Syriac or Syrian Christianity , the Syriac-speaking Christians of Mesopotamia, comprises multiple Christian traditions of Eastern Christianity. With a history going back to the 1st Century AD, in modern times it is represented by denominations primarily in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
(see Peshitta
Peshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...
). In addition, targumim are used today as sources in text-critical editions of the Bible (BHS
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia
The Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, or ', is an edition of the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Leningrad Codex, and supplemented by masoretic and text-critical notes...
refers to them with the abbreviation 饾敆).
Two "official" Targumim
The two most important targumim for liturgical purposes are:- Targum OnkelosTargum Onkelosright|thumb|Interlinear text of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 6.3–10 with [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] Targum Onkelos from the [[British Library]]....
on the TorahTorahTorah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible鈥擥enesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
(The Law) - Targum Jonathan ben UzzielTargum JonathanTargum Jonathan - otherwise referred to as Targum Yonasan/Yonatan is the official eastern targum to the Nevi'im. Its early origins, however, are western i.e. from the Land of Israel, and the Talmudic tradition attributes its authorship to Jonathan ben Uzziel...
on the Nevi'imNevi'imNevi'im is the second of the three major sections in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh. It falls between the Torah and Ketuvim .Nevi'im is traditionally divided into two parts:...
(The Prophets)
These two targumim are mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
as targum dilan ("our Targum"), giving them official status. In the synagogues of talmudic times, Targum Onkelos was read alternately with the Torah, verse by verse, and Targum Jonathan was read alternately with the selection from Nevi'im (i.e. the Haftarah
Haftarah
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
). This custom continues today in Yemenite Jewish synagogues. The Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...
are the only Jewish community to continue the use of Targum as liturgical text, as well as to preserve a living tradition of pronunciation for the Aramaic of the targumim (according to a Babylonian dialect).
Besides its public function in the synagogue, the Talmud also mentions targum in the context of a personal study requirement: "A person should always review his portions of scripture along with the community, reading the scripture twice and the targum once" (Berakhot 8a-b). This too refers to Targum Onkelos on the public Torah reading and to Targum Jonathan on the haftarot from Nevi'im.
Medieval biblical manuscripts of the Tiberian mesorah
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
sometimes contain the Hebrew text interpolated, verse-by-verse, with the official targumim. This scribal practice has its roots both in the public reading of the Targum and in the private study requirement.
The two "official" targumim are considered eastern (Babylonian). Nevertheless, scholars believe they too originated in the Palestine because of a strong linguistic substratum of western Aramaic. Though these targumim were later "easternized", the substratum belying their origins still remains.
In post-talmudic times, when most Jewish communities had ceased speaking Aramaic, the public reading of Targum along with the Torah and Haftarah was abandoned in most communities. In Yemen, however, rather than abandoning the Aramaic targum during the public reading of the Torah, it was supplemented by a third version, namely the translation of the Torah into Arabic by Saadia Gaon
Saadia Gaon
Sa驶adiah ben Yosef Gaon was a prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the Geonic period.The first important rabbinic figure to write extensively in Arabic, he is considered the founder of Judeo-Arabic literature...
(called the Tafsir). Thus, in Yemen each verse was read three times.
The private study requirement to review the Targum was never entirely relaxed, even when Jewish communities had largely ceased speaking Aramaic, and the Targum never ceased to be a major source for Jewish biblical exegesis. For instance, it serves as a major source in the Torah commentary of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi
Rashi
Shlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
."
For these reasons, Jewish editions of the Bible which include commentaries still almost always print the Targum alongside the text. Nevertheless, later halakhic authorities argued that the requirement to privately review the targum might also be met by reading a translation in the current vernacular in place of the official Targum, or else by studying an important commentary containing midrashic interpretation (especially that of Rashi).
Targum Ketuvim
The Talmud explicitly states that no official targumim were composed besides these two on Torah and Nevi'im alone, and that there is no official targum to KetuvimKetuvim
Ketuvim or K蓹峁会竾卯m in actual Biblical Hebrew is the third and final section of the Tanak , after Torah and Nevi'im . In English translations of the Hebrew Bible, this section is usually entitled "Writings" or "Hagiographa"...
("The Writings"). An official targum was in fact unnecessary for Ketuvim because its books played no fixed liturgical role. The Talmud (Megilah 3a) states that Jonathan ben Uzziel wanted to compose a targum to the Ketuvim, however a bat kol (voice from heaven) came forth and forbade it. The reason given is that the Ketuvim (specifically the book of Daniel) foretell the date of the Messiah's coming, which was forbidden to be revealed.
Nevertheless, most books of Ketuvim (with the exceptions of Daniel and Ezra-Nehemiah, which both contain Aramaic portions) have targumim, whose origin is mostly western (Palestine) rather than eastern (Babylonia). But for lack of a fixed place in the liturgy, they were poorly preserved and less well known. From Palestine, the tradition of targum to Ketuvim made its way to Italy, and from there to medieval Ashkenaz
Ashkenaz
In the Bible, Ashkenaz is Gomer's first son, brother of Riphath and Togarmah , thereby a Japhetic descendant of Noah. A kingdom of Ashkenaz is called together with Ararat and Minni against Babylon In the Bible, Ashkenaz (Heb. 讗址砖职讈讻植旨谞指讝) is Gomer's first son, brother of Riphath and Togarmah (Gen....
and Sepharad
Sepharad
Sepharad, or Sefarad, or Sfard, is a biblical place name of uncertain location. It is mentioned only once in the Bible, in the Book of Obadiah . There are, however, Persian inscriptions that refer to two places called "Saparda": one area in Media and another in Asia Minor...
. The targumim of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job are generally treated as a unit, as are the targumim of the five scrolls. (Esther has a longer "Second Targum
Targum sheni
The Targum Sheni is an Aramaic translation and elaboration of the Book of Esther, that embellishes the Biblical account with considerable new apocryphal material, not on the face of it directly germane to the Esther story...
" as well.) The targum of Chronicles is quite late, possibly medieval, and is attributed to a Rabbi Joseph.
Other Targumim on the Torah
There are also a variety of western targumim on the Torah, each of which was traditionally called Targum Yerushalmi ("Jerusalem Targum"). An important one of these was mistakenly labeled "Targum Jonathan" in later printed versions (though all medieval authorities refer to it by its correct name). The error crept in because of an abbreviation: The printer interpreted the abbrevation T Y (转"讬) to stand for Targum Yonathan (转专讙讜诐 讬讜谞转谉) instead of the correct Targum Yerushalmi (转专讙讜诐 讬专讜砖诇诪讬). Scholars refer to this targum as Targum Pseudo-JonathanTargum Pseudo-Jonathan
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan is a western targum of the Torah from the land of Israel . Its correct title is Targum Yerushalmi , which is how it was known in medieval times...
. To attribute this targum to Jonathan ben Uzziel
Jonathan ben Uzziel
Jonathan ben Uzziel is known as the author of Targum Jonathan. He is also said to have written a book of kabbalah known as Megadnim. He was one of the 80 tannaim who studied under Hillel the Elder. His tomb is in Amuka, Galilee near Tzfat, Israel...
flatly contradicts the talmudic tradition (Megillah 3a), which quite clearly attributes the targum to Nevi'im alone to him, while stating that there is no official targum to Ketuvim. In the same printed versions, a similar fragment targum is correctly labeled as Targum Yerushalmi.
The Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim as they are also called, consist of three manuscript groups: Targum Neofiti
Targum Neofiti
Targum Neofiti is the largest of the Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim. It consists of 450 folios covering all books of the Pentateuch, with only a few damaged verses....
I, Fragment Targums, and Cairo Geniza Fragment Targums.
Of these Targum Neofiti
Targum Neofiti
Targum Neofiti is the largest of the Western Targumim on the Torah, or Palestinian Targumim. It consists of 450 folios covering all books of the Pentateuch, with only a few damaged verses....
I is by far the largest. It consist of 450 folios covering all books of the Pentateuch, with only a few damaged verses. The history of the manuscript begins 1587 when the censor Andrea de Monte (d.1587) bequeathed it to Ugo Boncompagni - which presents a oddity, since Boncompagni, better known as Pope Gregory XIII, died in 1585. The route of transmission may instead be by a certain "Giovan Paolo Eustachio romano neophito." Before this de Monte had censored it by deleting most reference to idolatry. In 1602 Boncompagni's estate gave it to the Collegium Ecclesiasticum Adolescentium Neophytorum (or Pia Domus Neophytorum, a college for converts from Judaism and Islam) until 1886 when the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
bought it along with other manuscripts when the Collegium closed (which is the reason for the manuscripts name and its designation). Unfortunately it was then mistitled as a manuscript of Targum Onkelos until 1949 when Alejandro D铆ez Macho
Alejandro D铆ez Macho
Alexandro D铆ez Macho was a Spanish Catholic priest and Hebraist. In 1951-52 he invited professor Alexander Sperber of New York to the University of Barcelona to work with Spanish scholars on the manuscripts of the Targum Neofiti.-References:...
noticed that it differed significantly from Targum Onkelos. It was translated and published during 1968-1979 and has since then been considered the most important of the Palestinian Targumim as it is by far the most complete of these and, apparently, the earliest as well.
The Fragment Targums (formerly known as Targum Yerushalmi II) consist of a large number of fragments that have been divided into ten manuscripts. Of these P, V and L were first published in 1899 by M. Ginsburger, A, B, C, D, F and G in 1930 by P. Kahle and E in 1955 by A. D铆ez Macho. Unfortunately these manuscripts are all too fragmented to confirm what their purpose were but they seem to be either the remains of a single complete targum or short variant readings of another targum. As a group they often share theological views and with Targum Neofiti, which has led to the belief that they could be variant readings of that targum.
The Cairo Genizah Fragment Targums originate from the Ben-Ezra Synagogues genizah in Cairo. They share similarities with The Fragment Targums in that they consist of a large number of fragmented manuscripts that have been collected in one targum-group. The manuscripts A and E are the oldest among the Palestinian Targum and have been dated to around the seventh century. Manuscripts C, E, H and Z contain only passages from Genesis, A from Exodus while MS B contain verses from both as well as from Deuteronomium.
Peshitta
The PeshittaPeshitta
The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the Syriac tradition.The Old Testament of the Peshitta was translated into Syriac from the Hebrew, probably in the 2nd century AD...
is the traditional Bible of Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
-speaking Christians (who speak several different dialects of Aramaic). Many scholars believe that its Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
is based on rabbinic targumim (lightly "corrected" to accord with the Septuagint), and it is generally reckoned to have been translated between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D.
English translations of Targum
- Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Targum Onkelos at the Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies - English translations by J.W. Etheridge
- The Aramaic Targum to Psalms - a translation of the targum to Psalms by Edward M. Cook
- The Aramaic Targum to the Song of Songs - a translation of the targum to Shir HaShirim by Jay C. Treat
- The Aramaic Targum to Ruth - a translation of the targum to Ruth by Samson H. Levey
- Targum Ruth in English, translated by Chris M. M. Brady.
- The Aramaic Targum to Lamentations - a translation of the targum to Lamentations by C.M.M. BradyChristian M. M. BradyChristian M. M. Brady is an American targumist, Jewish studies scholar and academic. He is Dean of the Schreyer Honors College, Penn State University and is an Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies...
Other sources on Targum
- The Jewish Encyclopedia Entry on Targum
- The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon - contains critical editions of all the targumim along with lexical tools and grammatical analysis.
- Targum - Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
article - The Targumim and Halakha by Jose FaurJos茅 FaurJos茅 Faur is a Sepharadi Hakham , teacher and scholar. He was a Rabbi in the Syrian-Jewish community in Brooklyn for many years and brought many people closer to Judaism and to the Tora...
, analyzing the status of the Targumim in Jewish law