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Jewish World Review May 16, 2008 / 11 Iyar 5768 Torah talk ‘lost in translation’? By Rabbi Hillel Goldberg
JewishWorldReview.com |
In November, 1977, the late president of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, shattered a barrier. He came to Israel and addressed the Knesset. Before that, no Arab leader had acknowledged the existence of Israel. The late Israeli prime minister, Menachem Begin, welcomed Sadat with great solemnity and pomp, and then made his own contribution to the political breakthrough with a visit to Ismailia, Egypt, a month or so later.
This was the beginning of the "peace process."
A glitch occurred at Ismailia. Menachem Begin was in the midst of a very warm speech about Sadat and one of his assistants when the translator quoted Begin as calling Sadat's assistant a "good boy." It came off as very insulting, like the pre-Civil Rights era use of "boy" to refer to a grown black man. Grown black men weren't "boys," and neither was Sadat's assistant.
However, Begin, meant no insult. In Hebrew, a bachur tov literally means a "good boy," but when used with reference to a grown man it connotes "an up and coming young man of excellent prospects and abilities." Begin intended a compliment, but it was not captured by the translator from Hebrew to Arabic. The meaning, as they say, was "lost in translation." The translation, literally correct, was completely wrong.
A famous comment by the foremost commentator, Rashi, on the first verse of the first Torah portion read this week offers a window into the problems — and possibilities — of translation from Hebrew to English.
More important than Rashi's answer is his question: "What does the Sabbatical year have to do with Mount Sinai?"
The phrase has become a popular idiom in written and spoken Hebrew. But if I translate it literally — What does the Sabbatical year have to do with Mount Sinai? — no English speaker will have the slightest idea what I am talking about. Here is the correct translation of the meaning of these words:
What does this have to do with the price of tea in China?
Only the very first word of this translation is found in the original Hebrew, but this translation conveys the idiomatic meaning of the Hebrew. A literal translation is senseless to the English speaker.
You get the problem — and the potential.
The problem is clear. Literal translations can be awkward, or even dead wrong.
The potential is the creativity of the translator. He must deeply understand the Hebrew in order to find just the right phrase — and cadence — in the English.
Here are some of the finest translations from Hebrew to English that I know of.
Nachmanides (13th century) devised a pungent phrase for the deft cheat. Always within the letter of the law, the deft cheat still manages to steal, deceive or hate. Translated literally, Nachmanides' phrase describes this sinner as "the degenerate with the permission of the Torah" or "the degenerate within the realm of the Torah."
Not only are these translations awkward, they don't quite convey the condemnatory tone and elegant concision of the phrase. Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, long time dean of the yeshiva in Gush Etzion, Israel, earned a doctorate in English from Harvard. His fine sense of both Hebrew and English led him to this translation:
"A scoundrel with a Torah license."
Another crisp Hebrew phrase that has gained circulation translates literally as "Honor him, but suspect him." This is a phrase for negotiations, meaning, "Show respect to the person on the other side of the table, but keep your eyes wide open." I came up with a translation that locates the fitting idiomatic English phrase whose meaning captures the Hebrew precisely:
"Trust and verify."
Popular spiritual lyrics are attributed variously to Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav (18th-19th centuries) and the Alter of Novorodock (Rabbi Joseph J. Hurvitz, 19th-20th centuries). They translate literally this way:
"This world is a very narrow bridge. The essence is not to be afraid at all."
This clumsy wording, while literally faithful to the original, robs the song of its punch. Rabbi Yechiel J. Perr, long time dean of the Yeshiva of Far Rockaway, never went to college. He developed a fine sense of English on his own. He translates the lyrics this way:
"This world is a very narrow span. Cross it — if you're unafraid, you can."
The first five letters of Rabbi Israel Salanter (19th century) are notoriously elliptical. In preparing my doctorate I needed to translate passages from these letters. One three-word phrase, in particular, stumped me. It could literally be rendered, "There is no integrity in a person" or "there is no integrity in humankind." The late Rabbi Nachman Bulman, who, among his many other talents, was a professional translator, rendered the phrase this way:
"There is no upright man."
The late Rabbi Aryeh Levin, the tzaddik (saint) of Jerusalem, frequently used a phrase that is so pithy and ripe that people think it is biblical (from the book of Psalms, for example). In fact, its origin is unknown. One might literally render it, "The salvation of the L-rd is like the momentary pause of an eye." This translation does not capture the phrase's image of the eye, nor does it clearly convey the meaning of the phrase: G-d's help comes in an instant.
The late Charles Wengrov translated the Hebrew version of "A Tzaddik in Our Time," the biography of Rabbi Levin. It is an excellent translation. He rendered the line this way: "G-d's rescuing help comes like the twinkling of an eye."
My wife Elaine, who has a very fine sense for these matters, feels that "G-d's rescuing help" is awkward, that a cleaner rendering is available. She renders the line this way:
"G-d's salvation comes in the twinkling of an eye."
Even though Bialik said that translation is like "kissing a girl through a veil," some translations do capture the original.
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To comment, please click here. JWR contributor Rabbi Hillel Goldberg is executive editor of the Intermountain Jewish News.
© 2008, Rabbi Hillel Goldberg
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