Abstract
Since the beginning of Zionism, argues Abend-David, Modern Hebrew speakers have felt a sense of ownership of (if not copyright in) the Hebrew Bible. A strong argument to the contrary is presented by Ghil’ad Zuckermann and Gitit Holzman who claim that Modern Hebrew speakers only think that they understand the language of the Hebrew Bible, and that they should read it in Modern Hebrew adaptation. What does a translation of the Bible from Hebrew to Hebrew look like? Does it, as Zuckermann and Holzman claim, make an important contribution to the popular understanding of the Bible? Or is the significance of such a “translation” in the political statement that it makes? Does it, as some might feel, undermine the justification of Zionism?
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Notes
- 1.
William Tyndale was executed in 1536 for his involvement with an unauthorized translation of the scriptures.
- 2.
One might think here (among others) of the death warrant that was issued against author Salman Rushdie , who translated a part of the Quran in his 1989 novel, Satanic Verses, or of William Tyndale, who was executed in 1536 (see above).
- 3.
Usually dated to the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897.
- 4.
The term “state school” is the British equivalent of “public school” in American English .
- 5.
Among 515,000 Google results for this expression which is commonly used to describe the revival of Modern Hebrew in the beginning of the twentieth century, one might look at the official website of the Academy of the Hebrew Language at http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/English/Pages/Home.aspx
- 6.
Literally meaning “holy tongue” but used to refer to pre-Modern Hebrew that was used by East European Jews for religious purposes, commerce and official correspondence.
- 7.
For more on this point, see Naomi Seidman’s article, ‘A New Garb for the Jewish Soul’: The JPS Bible in the Light of the King James Bible’ (Seidman 2013: 483).
- 8.
The name, Ram, is an acronym of the publisher’s name, Rafi Mozes. It also creates a word that means “high” or “elevated”.
- 9.
Proverbs 6:32; Proverbs 7:7; Proverbs 9:4; Proverbs 10:13; Proverbs 11:12; Proverbs 12:11; Proverbs 17:18; Proverbs 24:30.
- 10.
The translation of verses into English are taken from the King James Bible.
- 11.
Judges 3:29; Judges 20:44; Judges 20:46; 1 Samuel 9:1; 1 Samuel 14:52; 1 Samuel 31:12; 2 Samuel 23:20; 2 Samuel 24:9; 1 Kings 1:42; 2 Kings 5:1; 1 Chronicles 10:12; 1 Chronicles 11:22; 1 Chronicles 26:8; 2 Chronicles 13:3; Ruth 2:1.
- 12.
1 Samuel 14:52; 1 Samuel 31:12; 2 Samuel 23:20; 2 Samuel 24:9; 1 Kings 1:42.
- 13.
Judges 3 29; Judges 20 46; 1 Samuel 9 1.
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Abend-David, D. (2018). Divorce Already?! Should Israelis Read the Tanakh (Bible) in Translation?. In: Boase-Beier, J., Fisher, L., Furukawa, H. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75753-7_24
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