Megillah, Daf Gimmel, Part 2

 

Introduction

Today’s section contains yet another unrelated statement by R. Jeremiah and some say R. Hiyya b. Abba. The topic today is the translation of the Torah into Aramaic. A very interesting sugya.

 

ואמר רבי ירמיה ואיתימא רבי חייא בר אבא: תרגום של תורה – אונקלוס הגר אמרו מפי רבי אליעזר ורבי יהושע.

 

R. Jeremiah — or some say R. Hiyya b. Abba — also said: The Targum of the Torah was composed by Onkelos the convert under the guidance of R. Eliezer and R. Joshua.

 

The Targum Onkelos is the most well-known Aramaic translation of the Torah and in Yemenite synagogues it is to this day read in the synagogue along with the Hebrew. It is referred to with great frequency by commentators, especially Rashi. However, we should note that the Targum Onkelos that we have today is probably not identical to the Targum they used in the Talmudic period. Rather, our Targum is according to most scholars a later creation. In any case it is interesting that according to tradition Onkelos (not a Jewish name, perhaps from Greek) the convert created this work, under the guidance of two very famous rabbis, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua.    

 

תרגום של נביאים – יונתן בן עוזיאל אמרו מפי חגי זכריה ומלאכי, ונזדעזעה ארץ ישראל ארבע מאות פרסה על ארבע מאות פרסה. יצתה בת קול ואמרה: מי הוא זה שגילה סתריי לבני אדם? עמד יונתן בן עוזיאל על רגליו ואמר: אני הוא שגליתי סתריך לבני אדם; גלוי וידוע לפניך שלא לכבודי עשיתי, ולא לכבוד בית אבא, אלא לכבודך עשיתי שלא ירבו מחלוקת בישראל. ועוד ביקש לגלות תרגום של כתובים, יצתה בת קול ואמרה לו: דייך!

מאי טעמא – משום דאית ביה קץ משיח.

 

The Targum of the Prophets was composed by Jonathan ben Uzziel under the guidance of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, and the land of Israel [thereupon] quaked over an area of four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs, and a Heavenly Voice came out and exclaimed, "Who is this that has revealed My secrets to mankind?"  Jonathan b. Uzziel stood up and said: "It is I who have revealed Your secrets to mankind. It is fully known to You that I have not done this for my own honor or for the honor of my father’s house, but for Your honor l have done it, that disputes may not increase in Israel."

He wanted to reveal [by] a targum [the inner meaning] of the Writing, but a Heavenly Voice went forth and said, Enough!

What was the reason? — Because the date of the Messiah is foretold in it.

 

The translation of the Prophets was done by Jonathan ben Uzziel under the guidance of the prophets who lived during the rebuilding of the Second Temple. There is a fascinating story appended here that the earth quaked at the translation of the Prophets. God, speaking through a Heavenly Voice, was greatly disturbed that the meanings of these books were revealed to the nations of the world. This is potentially a reference to Christianity and maybe other breakaway sects that read cryptic verses in the prophets as foreseeing the coming of the Messiah or in the case of Christianity, Jesus. The verses in books such as Ezekiel and Isaiah were the subject of great mystical speculation and therefore there is a trend in rabbinic literature to want to keep these verses out of the hands of competing groups. Nevertheless, we should note that Jonathan ben Uzziel did translate the Prophets. In the end, at least when it came to this case, his wish to share the Jewish treasures with the world.

God, however, says no when it comes to translating the Writings. The Book of Daniel is part of the Writings and in it there are apocryphal visions of the end of the days, the coming of the Messiah. [I should note that many of these visions are already in Aramaic, albeit a different dialect].

Traditional Tanakhim today contain Targum Yonatan for all of the Tanakh. However, only the Targum Yonatan on Prophets is actually Targum Yonatan. The other is ascribed to him.  

 

ותרגום של תורה אונקלוס הגר אמרו? והא אמר רב איקא בר אבין אמר רב חננאל אמר רב: מאי דכתיב +נחמיה ח’+ ויקראו בספר תורת האלהים מפרש ושום שכל ויבינו במקרא. ויקראו בספר תורת האלהים – זה מקרא, מפרש – זה תרגום, ושום שכל – אלו הפסוקין, ויבינו במקרא – אלו פיסקי טעמים, ואמרי לה: אלו המסורת. – שכחום וחזרו ויסדום.

 

But did Onkelos the convert compose the Targum to the Pentateuch? Did not R. Ika said in the name of R. Hananel in the name of Rav: What is meant by the verse, "And they read in the book, in the law of God, with an interpretation and they gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading?" (Nehemiah 8:8):  "And they read in the book, in the law of God": this refer to the [Hebrew] text; "with an interpretation": this refers to Targum; "And they gave the sense" this refers to the verse stops; "And caused them to understand the reading": this refers to the accent marks, or, according to another version, the massoretic notes? 

They forgot them and went back and established them.

 

The Talmud now asks whether Onkelos, living in the first century C.E. actually composed the Targum. According to an interpretation of a verse from Nehemiah, the Jews who returned from the first exile in Babylonian already had a Targum. So how could Onkelos have composed it?

The answer is the same we saw on the previous section—the Targum was originally composed by the time of the return from the Babylonian exile, it was forgotten, and then Onkelos went back and composed it again. As we can see, the Bavli likes to use this answer when it has conflicting traditions as to how founded a certain institution.

The interpretation of this verse also refers to the "stops"—the separation into verses, and the Masoretic notes. These are not just for how we sing the verses in the public reading of the Torah; they are essential for understanding how to read and understand the verses.     

 

מאי שנא דאורייתא דלא אזדעזעה, ואדנביאי אזדעזעה? –

דאורייתא מיפרשא מלתא, דנביאי איכא מילי דמיפרשן, ואיכא מילי דמסתמן.

דכתיב +זכריה י"ב+ ביום ההוא יגדל המספד בירושלם כמספד הדדרמון בבקעת מגדון, ואמר רב יוסף: אלמלא תרגומא דהאי קרא לא ידענא מאי קאמר: ביומא ההוא יסגי מספדא בירושלים כמספדא דאחאב בר עמרי דקטל יתיה הדדרימון בן טברימון ברמות גלעד, וכמספדא דיאשיה בר אמון דקטל יתיה פרעה חגירא בבקעת מגידו.

 

Why did the land not not quake because of the [translation of the] Torah, while it did quake because of that of the Prophets?

The meaning of the Torah is expressed clearly, but the meaning of the Prophets is in some things expressed clearly and in others enigmatically. [For instance,] it is written, "In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon" (Zechariah 12:11) and R. Joseph said: Were it not for the targum of this verse, we should not know what it means. [The Targum (in Aramaic) is as follows]: ‘On that day shall there be great mourning in Jerusalem like the mourning of Ahab son of Omri who was killed by Hadadrimmon son of Rimmon in Ramot Gilead and like the mourning of Josiah son of Ammon who was killed by Pharaoh the Lame in the plain of Megiddo."

 

The Talmud asks the obvious question—why was God okay with translating the Torah but not okay with translating the Prophets? The answer is that the meaning of the Torah and its laws is usually quite apparent. People can understand it without a Targum. However, as anyone who has ever read anything from the Prophets knows, many of the verses are difficult to understand. It was the meaning of these verses that God did not want revealed to the rest of the world.

As an example of a cryptic verse the Talmud chooses Zechariah 12:11, which R. Joseph said could not be understood without the Targum. The verse refers to the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddon but without some interpretation we can’t know what that refers to. The Targum explains it as referring to two people who were killed in two separate events: Ahab son of Omri, whose death is told in I Kings 22 and Josiah son of Amnon whose death is told in II Kings 23. Note that the Targum splits the verse from Zechariah into two events—one involving Hadadrimmon and the other involving the plain of Megiddo.