As pointed out in earlier reviews of this series, the Neofiti translation of the Hebrew Bible swerved radically often from being a literal translation of what it was supposed to be translating. The translator offered his readers more than what is in the Torah. He spiced his translations with theology, sermons, and imaginative elaborations on what he supposed happened even though the details are not in the biblical text. This is book 5A of the 19 book Michael Glazier series offering an English translation of the currently existing Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Bible, called Targums. The following are some examples appearing in this volume.
The author adds drama to the Ten Commandments in chapter 5. For example, he begins: "The first word that went forth from the mouth of the Holy One, may his name be blessed, was like shooting stars and like lightning and like torches of fire: (a torch of fire) to the right and a torch of fire to the left. It flew and winged swiftly in the air of the heavens, and came back and went around the camps of Israel. And it came back and became engraved on the tables of the covenant, and it cried out thus and said: ‘My people, children of Israel, I am the Lord your God….'"
The translator emphasizes the consequences of the violation of the command not to take God's name in vain by referring to life after death: "on the day of the great judgment the Lord will not acquit him who takes the holy name of the Lord in vain."
He expands the commands that only comprise a few words in the original Hebrew. The people are not even allowed to be companions or partners with murderers and adulterers and thieves and false witnesses and people who covet so that their children do not learn from them.
He adds that the punishment for theft is famine and the punishment for false testimony is attacks by wild beasts and the punishment of coveting is that rain does descend.
Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of seventeen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides. The Orthodox Union (OU) and Yeshiva University publish weekly chapters of Drazin and Wagner's book Let's Study Onkelos on www.ou.org/torah and on www.yutorah@yutorah.org. His website is http://booksnthoughts.com.
The views expressed in this review/article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Jewish Eye.
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