VaYigash
“And Yisrael
and all that was his set out and came to Be’er Sheva, and he slaughtered
sacrifices to the God of his father Yitzchak.
And Hashem said to Yisrael in visions of the night, and He said,
"Yaakov, Yaakov!" And he said, "Here I am." And He said, "I am God, the God of your
father. Do not be afraid of going down to Egypt, for there I will make you into
a great nation. I will go down with you
to Egypt, and I will also bring you up, and Yosef will place his hand on your
eyes.” (Beresheit 46:1-3)
Yosef reveals his identity to his brothers and tells
them to bring their father, their families and all of their possessions to
Egypt. He will resettle them in Egypt
and they will be saved from the ravages of the famine. The brothers return to Cana’an and they tell
their father that they have found their lost brother Yosef and that he is the
ruler of Egypt. Yaakov agrees to travel
to Egypt and see Yosef.
Yaakov and his family come to Be’er Sheva. There Yaakov has a vision and Hashem speaks
to him. Hashem reassures Yaakov that he
need not fear going to Egypt. He tells
Yaakov that in Egypt, Bnai Yisrael will become a great nation. He tells Yaakov that He will descend with
him to Egypt and that He will bring him back to Cana’an.
Unkelus renders his Aramaic translation of the
passage literally. Maimonides notes that this is unusual. One of the fundamental principles of the
Torah is that Hashem is not a material being.
This means that He does not have material form. Also, the characteristics of a material body
and its behaviors and activities cannot be ascribed to Hashem. For example, movement and position are
characteristics of a material body. It
is not possible for a non-material body to move or have position. However, for the sake of lucidity, the Torah
often uses such expression in relation to Hashem. Of course, it is not the intention of the Torah to suggest that
Hashem is material. The Torah resorts
to these expressions in order to communicate its message in a manner that is
accessible to the common reader.
Unkelus goes to great lengths in his translation to
avoid communicating any anthropomorphism – any suggestion that Hashem is
material. However, in this instance,
Unkelus’ translation characterizes Hashem as descending to Egypt and then
bringing Yaakov, or his descendents, back to Cana’an. This is precisely the type of expression that Unkelus typically
reworks in order to remove the seeming anthropomorphic connotation. Maimonides cites numerous instances in which
Unkelus reworks similar phrases in order to remove the suggestion of
anthropomorphism.
Let
us consider one of these examples. In
Sefer Shemot, Moshe tells Bnai Yisrael that they should prepare for
revelation. He tells them that Hashem
will descend upon Mount Sinai.[1] The expression “He will descend” is rendered
by Unkelus as “He will reveal Himself.”
Maimonides
explains that we would expect Unkelus to rework our passages based upon the
same principle. Rather than translating
the passages literally, Unkelus should rework it to avoid the anthropomorphic
suggestion.
Maimonides
responds with a subtle but important distinction. He explains that the Torah introduces these passages by telling
us that Hashem spoke to Yaakov in a vision.
The subsequent passages are an exact description of the message Hashem
delivered to Yaakov. Hashem said to
Yaakov, “I will descend with you.” Of
course, Yaakov understood this message in its proper manner – divorced of any
anthropomorphic element. Unkelus sees
no need to rework this phrase. Any reworking of the phrase would undermine the
intent of the Torah to communicate to the reader the exact contents of the
vision.
However,
in instances in which the Torah is engaged in the narrative of events, Unkelus
takes care to eliminate any anthropomorphic reference. Similarly, in Moshe’s directions to the
people, Unkelus reworks the narrative to eliminate the anthropomorphic
suggestion.[2]
Nachmanides
disagrees with Maimonides’ position and raises numerous objections. Let us consider one of his objections. Earlier in Sefer Bereshit, Yaakov fled from
his father’s home and traveled to Charan.
On his journey, he had a dream in which Hashem spoke to him. Hashem told Yaakov, “I will be with you.”[3] Unkelus
reworks this phrase to “My word will be with you.” Nachmanides notes that in this
instance, the Torah introduced the prophecy by telling us that it occurred in a
vision. According to Maimonides, there
is no need for Unkelus to rework this phrase.
It is part of a vision. Unkelus
should have rendered the phrase literally.
Based
on his objections Nachmanides comes to a completely different interpretation of
Unkelus’ intentions. Nachmanides
suggests that we should compare the translation of our passage to the
translation of Yaakov’s earlier prophecy during his journey to Charan. In our passage, Unkelus describes Hashem Himself descending with Yaakov. In the earlier prophecy, Unkelus describes
Hashem as assuring Yaakov that His word will be with him. Nachmanides suggests that these are very
different ideas and assurances. There
is a difference between Hashem Himself descending
with Yaakov and His word accompanying
him. Nachmanides does not elaborate on
the exact distinction. He explains that
the distinction can only be understood through Kabbalah. Although Nachmanides often includes
Kabbalistic explanations in his commentary, he does not explain the meaning of
these explanations.
Nachmanides
explains that Unkelus’ translation is not designed to avoid anthropomorphic
suggestions as it includes many.
Instead, it is designed to communicate the Kabbalistic interpretation of
the passages. Specifically, Hashem’s
interactions with humanity and the material world vary. Some are more “intimate” – in the
Kabbalistic sense – than others.
Unkelus’ translation is designed to communicate the “intimacy” of the
interaction cited in each passage.[4]
Maimonides
and Nachmanides differ in their understanding of Unkelus’ fundamental objective
in his translation of the Torah. Both
agree that Unkelus is not solely concerned with providing a literal
translation. They agree that other
considerations motivated Unkelus to deviate from the literal translation. According to Maimonides, Unkelus’ work is
not a mere translation. It is a
reworking to the Torah designed to present the text in a clear and accurate
form. Because of this objective, he
eliminates any anthropomorphic references.
It is not the Torah’s intent to suggest that Hashem is material. True to his objective, Unkelus reworks the
text and presents a reworked version free of anthropomorphic references.
Nachmanides
presents a radically different interpretation of Unkelus’ objective. According
to Nachmanides, Unkelus’ work is designed to incorporate an element of
Kabbalistic scholarship into the text.
It is a presentation of the Torah’s text interwoven with this
Kabbalistic element. In other words,
according to Maimonides, Unkelus is clarifying
the text. According to Nachmanides, he
is elaborating on it.
This
dispute has an interesting practical implication. The Talmud explains that we obligated to review the weekly
portion each week. This review consists
of reading each passage twice and the Targum – Unkelus’ rendering – once.[5] Tosefot ask
whether the Talmud’s stipulation of Unkelus can be extended to other
translations. For example, can one
fulfill his obligation though studying the passages in an English
translation? Tosefot and others
conclude that the Talmud’s requirement cannot be fulfilled with other
translations. They offer an interesting
explanation for their position. Other
translations may occasionally provide some commentary on passages. However,
Unkelus’ work interprets various passages that are not possible to comprehend
from the original text.[6]
According to Maimonides, this argument makes perfect sense. Unkelus provides an accurate and clear
presentation of the material of the Torah.
Another translation may not meet this standard. Therefore, the Talmud’s specification of
Unkelus cannot be extended to other translations.
However,
according to Nachmanides, Tosefot should have presented an even stronger
objection to other translations. They
do not include a Kabbalistic element!
One of the essential elements of Unkelus’ work is not included in these
other translations.